

Daddy by Sylvia Plath – Love and Hate Relationship

Daddy by Sylvia Plath – Love and Hate Relationship

The speaker in Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” reveals a love/hate relationship with the title character. While throughout the poem it is revealed that the speaker feels hatred, she also cannot escape from the affection she feels for him also. The final statement, “I’m through”, implies that the speaker is done trying to work on becoming closer and bandaging her broken relationship with Daddy. The speaker creates an image of her father, using metaphors and references to describe the relationship. Her father is a Nazi, devil, brute, vampire and bastard. However, the speaker feels she is tied down and cannot escape the barricades.

Although the speaker wanted to be with her father, she was fearful of him because he was a Nazi. She illustrates her home as a “black shoe in which [she] lived like a foot. ” Her childhood was dark and dreary with no father figure to look up to, as she grew up in the Polish town, Common. “Daddy, I have had to kill you/You died before I had time,” implies that the speaker had intended to kill her father yet, he had died before she had the opportunity to do so. “I used to pray to recover you. ” Despite the hatred she feels towards her father, the speaker longed to be with her father and craved love.

Nevertheless, she was never able to speak to him and claimed, “I never could talk to you/The tongue stuck in my jaw. ” The speaker would become tongue-tied whenever she would try to talk to her father. Throughout the poem, there are references to Nazi Germany and the tortures that Jews had to endure throughout World War II. The speaker would recognize every German as her father and would become overwhelmed with emotions of nervousness and angst at the mention of her father.

“I have always been afraid of you/With your Luftwaffe/And your Aryan eye, bright blue. She claims that her father is a Nazi and would cuff her away to a concentration camp. The speaker reveals that she thought of herself like a Jew, with her gypsy-like characteristics. Although she deeply fears her father, she could not deal with the loss of her father when they buried her and thus, attempted to kill herself to become closer to him. For years, the speaker tries to heal the broken relationship she has with her father yet, she is unsuccessful and loses hope. “I made a model of you/And I said I do, I do. ” She attempts to revive the image of her father by marrying a man like her father.

However, she is unable to do so and realizes that there is no point in trying to reconnect with a man she hates. The speaker uses the metaphor of a vampire to describe her father who “drank [her] blood for a year. ” She tells her father to “lie back now” and there is “a stake in [her father’s] fat black heart. ” This symbolizes that the vampire, otherwise known as her father, is dead now. The villagers are joyous and dance on his grave. The speaker resolves that her broken relationship with her father cannot be fixed. “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through. ”

The vivid imagery of the Holocaust and metaphoric references to her father has created the sense that the speaker’s relationship with her father was not on best terms. She reveals two sides of the coin through this poem. Although she felt affection and the need to grow closer to her daddy, she also felt hatred for what he was and whom he represented. The speaker’s relationship with her father is black, with no light at the end of the tunnel and no hopes of a better relationship. Although the speaker is revealed as indecisive between choosing what she wants from the relationship with her father, she ultimately settles and moves on.

Get Access To The Full Essay
Sorry, but only registered users have full access

How about getting full access immediately?

Become a member
We have received your request for getting a sample.

Please choose the access option you need:
