Historical Approach, Sylvia Plath's Daddy, includes in-depth analysis as well as ket biographical facts pertaining to the poem's meaning

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A single poem called "Daddy", written by Sylvia Plath just months before she took her own life illustrates several facts of her life. On an obvious level, the poem represents Plath's struggle within her own life to overcome male domination and beocme an independent individual free from her tormented past so dependant and fearful of men. This represents most women in her era. She first reflects on her relationship and perception of her father and later, her husband's influence on her life. The poem also addresses political circumstances before and during her life, using imagery of the Holocaust to express her own inner turmoil. "Daddy" also indicated Sylvia Plath's diminishing spirit and hints at her future suicide. Sylvia Plath's confessional poem "Daddy" sheds light on the suppression of women's indivuality in her era, her transformation to an unconstrained indentity free of her father's and husband's influence and through metaphorical imagery she reveals social and political circumstances in her life.

Plath's social conditioning and realization of societal notions of male dominance are evident ideas in this poem. Her voice as an individual free of dependence upon the opposing gender breaks through and illustrates the path to her personal revolution from relying on men. Having lived through the 30's, 40's and 50's (born in 1932, died in 1963), her portrayal of women as the weaker sex is no wonder. She herself had a domineering and rather cold father who died when she was only ten and later suffered the same conditions with her husband, Ted Hughes. She also experienced the difficult gender inequalities of society in her quest to find sufficient employment and her career as a writer. The first five lines of this poem indicate a feeling of suffocation and suppression, from men and particularly her father, having...