Recently in English class, we have each been asked to lead a discussion on a poem of Syliva Plath's. I was given the poem 'The Jailor' - a poem in which Plath depicts a male/female relationship, with the man as a dominating 'jailor' figure, and the woman his abused prisoner. Despite his constant physical and emotional violence towards her, the persona of the poem realises they are dependent on one another, and that she cannot escape.
So, with this poem, I have based my discussion points around patriarchal domination/rebellion, the formulation of identity/mental instability, and ambivalence/victimisation.
Here, the most interesting theme for me is that of the persona's ambivalence: why, despite suffering so much, does she feel drawn to the abusive jailor figure? She has been 'drugged and raped', burnt with cigarettes, and reduced by forced starvation to a feeble, feverish state by this man - whom the reader assumes to be her partner. Plath spends the entire poem setting up the character of this persona as 'the victim': that is her identity. She is literally crushed, killed over and over by her relationship: 'hung, starved, burned, hooked.'
So why does she remain with the jailor, allowing herself to be his 'indeterminate criminal'?
There are two possible answers for this.
Firstly, she is a character entirely defined by her victimisation: part of which even she admits is, if not self-inflicted, self-cast - hence the movie-set like setting of the poem ('the same placard of blue fog is wheeled into position / with the same trees and headstones) and the fact that it is her 'red and blue zeppelin' that drops her 'from a terrible altitude'. She is defined solely by her relationship with the jailor. And in turn, he is defined by her. He can only be the jailor with a prisoner; thus he relies on her equally for his identity. 'What would he do, do, do without me.' is the final line of the poem, phrased not as a question, but as a statement, through which she directly reasserts her importance to him (and thus her power over him).
Secondly, there is the fact that, as far as the persona of 'The Jailor' is concerned, the codependence on which her relationship is founded equates with love.
So where does this link in with Rihanna? Well, when my Lit. group were discussing 'The Rabbit Catcher' (a poem with a very similar message to 'The Jailor'), several people were annoyed at Plath. They claimed she was self-obsessed, self-indulgent and pathetic: if her relationship was really as bad as she claimed, she should have just ended it. "She should just get over herself." someone said.
I think this point of view totally underestimates the ambivalence that people in a position such as the persona of 'The Jailor' are subjected to. They are genuinely torn.
And this is something that Rihanna discusses in her latest interview on her relationship with Chris Brown. She expresses the suffering of her ambivalence with painful honesty, which just goes to show the courage it has taken her to get out of that relationship and to now talk about it in front of millions.
So I think it is important to look at Plath's 'domestic' poetry in context: whether or not it is exactly based on her own relationship with Hughes is largely irrelevant. 'The Jailor' is a poem with a message about a woman who is in an abusive relationship. And the emotions she expresses are true to life, and are incredibly painful and difficult to overcome. It is not something that you can just 'get over'. As Rihanna said:
I am strong. This happened to me. I didn't cause this. I didn't do it. But it's happened to me, and it can happen to anybody.
Not everyone in the same position is as strong as Rihanna, who was able to face up to the situation and get herself out of it. The feeling of entrapment is not something we can underestimate. 1 in 4 women will be subjected to domestic abuse in their lifetime. This is a problem that we should be united to end, not something to ignore or underestimate.
No one is able to speak for all womankind, or for all abuse victims, or for all of any 'group' of people: everyone is individual. But every voice is relevant. And this is why we cannot ignore the words of someone like Plath, however self-obsessed and 'pathetic' she may appear, whether her poems are based on fact or are simply fiction. Her voice has a relevancy today, and her poems make a point that we shouldn't ignore.
An interesting read, Jen!
ReplyDeleteDomestic violence is such a horrible thing. It really worries me, because it's such a widespread thing but it's also so secret. Lots of people will be abused and never disclose the awfulness of their situation.
I'm getting increasingly annoyed with Plath, and I wish she was less self-absorbed, but I appreciate the relevancy of her message here. I'm not totally convinced by the Hughes thing -- I think any man who found himself married to her might have been in an unfortunate position when it came to accusations of abuse! -- but like you say, it's largely irrelevant when it comes to the message she puts across.
The Rhianna story is really important because it will raise awareness!!!
Apparently there are a huge number of men who are abused by their wives but it goes largely unheard of because society expects women to be the victims -- 'oh, let's feel sorry for the helpless woman as she is attacked by the big strong man' -- and I think it's really important that feminists take a stand on this and stand against all kinds of domestic violence!
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I know, domestic violence is a truly awful thing, whoever is abused. It's extra-frightening because it's something that goes on 'behind closed doors', whilst also being widespread.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for Plath for all the stick she's getting from our English groups atm. I think the whole perception of her being self-obsessed is largely critic-based: by basing basically all criticism on her work from an almost purely biographical basis overshadows the other contexts of her work that must be taken into account, like literary, historical, etc.
I think that Plath just tends to 'write what she knows', and although this may seem like she's just really self-indulgent, portraying herself as the victim all the time, I think there is a sense of her almost scolding herself for this in some poems - like 'The Jailor'. And depression is so all-engulfing, it's almost impossible for the sufferer to see beyond it sometimes: I think that's also had an effect on her work.
It is important - and I think that she has been a great role model by handling it the way she has. She's so brave, not only facing the whole domestic violence thing, but the media too!
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I think domestic violence should be taught in schools: it's roots, it's effects, the psychological damage.
ReplyDeleteWhen I did general studies psychology, the teacher was talking about potential warning signs that your partner will begin to abuse you... maybe these should be taught?
Obviously there will always be those who are beyond help -- in that they are mentally unbalanced and violent -- but I think the government could do a lot more to destigmatise this issue and improve education!!!
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That's a really good idea. Even having a couple of assemblies on it would be helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt's something so widespread with such a huge impact of millions of lives that it really should be something the government should do more to tackle.
It's often something that comes up on Children in Need, isn't it? But it needs to become less of a 'charity issue' and more of an 'everyone issue', with more people involved and educated in ways to stop/tackle domestic violence.
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