Florian Denisa

Grupa 5 An III s2
Romana -engleza

Sylvia Plath, Lady Lazarus
-Feminism development-


Since ancient times, women have been kept behind by society. They took care of the house,
bringing children into the world and cooked for everyone, but not given the respect and
importance it deserves. Being trapped in domestic worship, women have not had a chance to
develop other talent besides housework. They had no say in decision-making within the family
or in society. To prevent all these conventions of society and their grant women equal rights to
men, began a social movement called femin Feminism can be defined as a philosophy that
promotes equal rights for women in the social, economic and political life. According to this
philosophy, as men work is appreciated and valuable, as it should be taken into account the
contributions of women. All those who believe in this philosophy, regardless of age or sex, are
thought to be feminists. Feminists demand equal rights for all regardless of sex, age, wealth,
marital status and sexual preferenceism.
Feminist literature is identified by several characteristics of the feminist movement . Feminist
literature authors understand and explain the difference between sex and gender . They believe
that although the sex of a person is predetermined and natural kind is created by society, along
with a special perception of gender roles , which , they believe, may change over time.
Dominance of a genre over another is a common concept in almost all societies , and that it is not
in favor of women is a characteristic of feminist literature . It says that any company that does
not offer channels of learning and development for both sexes equally is not a complete and
impartial society .
Critics argue that there is no great difference between male perpetrators and female and that it
was necessary to identify a separate class called feminist literature or look for traces of feminism
in literature . However, if you read any such works , you will realize how critical these writers
approach oriented men and how society tries to understand the beliefs and needs of the opposite
sex through a subjective approach.
Women in feminist literature are always presented as protagonists , who most often do not
easily accept the traditional role of women established by the company . They are ready to make
their own decisions , to express the choice to decide for yourself and be prepared to face the
consequences of these choices , actions and decisions. Although it is a daughter , a mother , a
sister or a wife, every work of feminist literature dealing first woman as a woman. Do these
relationships, roles and stereotypes give these characters their feminine identity . Their identity is
defined by the choices and beliefs which are then associated with these roles. It is important to
note that not all works of feminist literature have happy endings , neither the character nor the
author. Women were ostracized by society that demanded egalitatatea openly and had to face
more negative consequences due to their protests .
Women were treated as important topics not only in feminist literature , but many literary
works written by men. For example , Henrik Ibsen , Norwegian author and playwright , often
focused on women , their problems on society and the decisions they have taken on their
personal values and beliefs .
Not all , but some works of feminist literature (especially non -fiction ) shows and
emphasizes women's suffrage and demand equality in society, in terms of political, social and
economic. In modern feminist literature , assault against a male-dominated society has become
more direct and honest , and women demanded a closer look at the patriarchal and capitalist
approach towards feminism.
ay are what seem to be the most interesting components of this poem.
Sylvia Plath (27 October 1932 11 February 1963) was an American poet, novelist, short
story writer, and essayist.
Plath is a feminist writer of modern literature which completely changed literature.The poem
is clearly about the concept of reborn as phonix bird .
One of her great frustration is the inability of people to understand its countless desires and
simultaneously kill her strength to go faraway.One theory that definitely has Plath was that the
speaker was a survivor of the Holocaust .
This poem definitely reveals Plath 's obsession for death.
There is a theory that says that the speaker might be a Holocausts survivor. Wounds will
never be cured and she will always have to live with those consequences but also fight to revive .
The speaker could be certainly anyone who has suffered or has been through horrible things
and his only chance is to forget everything.
However the text reveals that wounds can never be healed and that people can not get over
the horrible things that have happened at some point in their lives.
Plaths poetry is often associated with the Confessional movement. The first and probably the
most obvious reference to this is " For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge/For the hearing
of my heart/ It really goes. " . This certainly does not refer to some material or money
consequence, but the consequences that your wounds can leave on your heart and mind.
Herr God, Herr Lucifer/ Beware /Beware./ Out of the ash/ I rise with my red hair/ And I eat
men like air. is another clue, yet it is much more subtle than the first. The hair could be that of
a human. The "with" is key. This could be pointing towards the fact that before she rose, she did
not have the hair that she is describing.Maybe she has the consequences of what it happen in
Holocaust but her hair has grown back now. Suicide or the attempt thereof, is a very personal
and vunerable thing. Yet throughtout the poem Ms. Plath retained a sort of in-your-face kind of
strenghth, especially in the last line. She eats men like air. The violence of this statement is
jolting in its intensity, and it reflects the sanguine soul within a person that is contemplating or
has attempted suicide.
All these things point to the fact that the Holocaust was something Plath had on her mind as she
wrote "Lady Lazarus"
One of the first things that should be pointed out in the poem is the subtle and very
mysterious clues to the fact that the speaker is a phoenix . The phoenix was the name given to
mythical bird with red feathers by the Ancient Greeks.The bird have the strength to rise again
from the ashes. Its clearly that Plath makes reference that resurrection is the resurrection of the
Phoenix bird that the text we find that , it Plath says , " Dying/ Is an art, like everything else,/ I
do it exceptionally well, which means that after the resurrection itself so many times.
Plath 's poem is a poem full of symbols and hidden things but in the end does not mean only
one thing , namely her pleasure for death and rebirth .
Plath was one of the most important writer of modern poetry.She make clear that not only man
could make poetry but women too and very well in my opinion.

Bibliografie:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/feminist-literature.html
http://www.sylviaplathforum.com/ll.html