Lady Lazarus

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1965

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Ash

The word “ash” appears three times in “Lady Lazarus,” alluding to the aftermath of a fire. The speaker of the poem links herself with fire, especially when she alludes to and identifies at the end of the poem with a phoenix, a mythical creature that bursts into flames upon its death only to be reborn in the ashes. As well, the image of ash in combination with references to the Holocaust suggest the ashes of incinerated human remains (see below).

Though, in the context of the mythological phoenix, ash can imply rebirth, not everyone can see this potential in ash, only the speaker: “Ash, ash— / You poke and stir. / Flesh, bone, there is nothing there” (Lines 73-75). These repeated references to ash emphasize ash as the unknowable remnants of life. The speaker appears doomed to burn to ash, leaving nothing corporeal behind and disappearing altogether. A few lines later, however, the speaker draws on the image of the phoenix, which is a cultural symbol of death and resurrection. As the poem concludes, the speaker adapts the phoenix to stand for female empowerment: “Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air” (Lines 82-84). For the speaker, ash represents the possibility that she can rise again in order to enact revenge on those who have wronged her.

Religion and Spirituality

Throughout the poem, a motif of religion and spirituality enhances the unknowable nature of death and the possibility of life after the death. Allusions to Christianity and Judaism contrast with violent imagery that communicates some of humanity’s basest behaviors and intensifies the tone of cynicism that permeates the poem as a whole.

The title of the poem alludes directly to the Christian Bible story of Lazarus, and twice in the poem, the speaker uses the word “miracle” sardonically to describe her ability to come back to life. The poet’s use of the story of Lazarus, whom Jesus brought back to life, emphasizes the notion that a man is in control of her life, or lives, no matter if it is indeed a miracle. Unlike Jesus, however, whom Christians understand to be a benevolent and loving individual, the men who surround the speaker of the poem are threatening and heartless, engaging her in a “strip tease” (Line 29) she does not desire. The implication of sexual violence is present in this image as the speaker compares her role as a death artist to that of an unwilling sex worker who must charge a fee for her services in order to preserve her sense of dignity.

As well, references to the Holocaust, during which over six million Jews were murdered, are also present in the poem. The poet employs grisly imagery of “a Nazi lampshade” (Line 5) and compares her own face to “Jew linen” (Line 9), emphasizing her own identification with the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The imagery of the ash discussed above also suggestions the incineration or cremation chambers present at Nazi concentration camps, where human remains were burned. As well, the poet’s use of “Herr,” the masculine German form of respectful address, confirms the speaker’s identification with the Jewish innocents who died at the hands of Nazi men. Plath’s father was German, so the use of “Herr” in the poem may also suggest the poet’s conflicted relationship with her own authoritarian father who died when she was eight years old.

The Physical Body

The speaker explores skin, bones, flesh and other physical aspects of the body throughout the poem to symbolize the speaker’s objectification by men and her own dissociation from her body. At times, the speaker describes how she feels when she is subject to the dehumanizing male gaze, comparing her experience to that of a Caucasian Holocaust victim. The experience of objectification causes the speaker feels that her physical body, represented by an itemization of individual body parts, hinders her, so she chooses incineration and death. The speaker aims to die, perhaps because death ensures that her physical body can no longer experience harm or injury, literally and figuratively.

Though the speaker feels separate from her body and, sometimes, imprisoned by it, the speaker’s physical body is also a source of power. The speaker is aware of her power to capitalize on men’s desire to touch and look at her body, whether in the “strip tease” of Line 29 or in the act of poking and stirring the ashes of her physical remains. The power in the speaker’s flesh comes at the direct cost of her own wellbeing, so, to achieve her ends, she must detach from her physical body and compromise her true sense of self and her whole existence.