Mirror
Sylvia
Plath
I
am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever
I see, I swallow immediately.
Just
as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
I
am not cruel, only truthful –
The
eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most
of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It
is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I
think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces
and darkness separate us over and over.
Now
I am a lake. A woman bends over me.
Searching
my reaches for what she really is.
Then
she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I
see her back, and reflect it faithfully
She
rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I
am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each
morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In
me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises
toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
Appearances
have become a central focus to our current society. We witness both
women and men fretting over their looks emphasizing the importance of
appearances. Therefore, this poem addresses the theme of appearances
and truth through a mirror. The mirror is first described as “silver
and exact” (Plath 1). The color silver represents the comprise
between the colors black and white so it is often associated with
neutrality and objectivity. Therefore, Plath mentions the color gray
and the word “exact” to express the mirror's objectivity.
Furthermore, the mirror's objectivity is reiterated when Plath
describes the mirror as truthful and sincere. Plath hopes to depict
mirrors in the first stanza as truthful objects which she will later
contradict at the second stanza. Nevertheless, Plath goes on to
describe the mirror as possessing “the eye of a little god”
conveying the mirror's superiority (5). A mirror is a truthful object
that does not lie and is characterized as pure and innocent. By
emphasizing the purity of the mirror, Plath is saying that in the
beginning of our lives we focus on our appearances in an innocent
manner. To add on to her claim, she humanizes the mirror by quoting
“I think it is a part of my heart” (8). Plath then creates a
shift in her poem at the beginning of the second stanza. She now
calls and characterizes the mirror as “a lake” (10). It is
interesting to note that Plath describes the mirror as a lake because
she is implying that the mirror is now subjective and flawed. When
someone look for their reflection on the lake, their appearances can
often be distorted. Therefore, Plath creates this significant shift
regarding mirrors and appearances. She then introduces a woman who
constantly looks at the mirror for support. However, this woman is
not even satisfied by the mirror so she “turns to those liars, the
candles or the moon” (12). The mirror is obviously not satisfied
with the woman's actions since it calls the candles and moon as
liars. The mirror is disappointed and a little bit offended that the
woman attempts to distort her appearance. Previously, the mirror was
used to telling the truth but this woman rejects the truth. Because
the mirror sees great distress and anxiety from the woman, it begins
to evaluate its value and innocence. The mirror finally realizes that
its innocent and pure nature is being stripped away by the woman. The
woman relies on the mirror to feel better about herself pressuring
the mirror to lie. The mirror feels responsible for the woman and
wishes to be “important to her” (15). Yet, the mirror never gives
in to this temptation and expresses the truth about the woman once
again. The mirror states that the woman “drowned a young girl”
meaning that the woman has killed her own innocent views on
appearances (17). The woman's obsession on her appearance destroyed
the real meaning of beauty and made her self-conscious. Now, the
woman looks like a “terrible fish” conveying that her recognition
of true beauty is gone forever (18).
