Mirror
The Mirror
A poem by Sylvya Plath. The poet brings out the fact that mirror
is accepted as the most truthful after God but is the most hated by people who
expect a more beautiful reflection of their figure than what is real. When they
fail to see them look beautiful in the mirror, they grow sad and turn away from
the mirror and feel happy seeing fake their images reflected in the dim light
of the moon and candles.
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.
1.
What qualities of the
mirror make it worthy of being called the eye of the little God?
Qualities
such as truthfulness, unmistedness and exactness are some of the qualities that
make the mirror worthy of being called the eye of the little God.
2.
What are preconceptions? How
does the mirror remain without preconceptions?
Preconception is a judgement made without accurate knowledge of something.
Usually most preconceptions go wrong. The mirror goes without any
preconceptions because it never makes a false judgment, nor does it destort the
truth, nor is it influenced by softness of relations and attatchments.
3.
Explain the use of
personification in the second line.
In
the second line, ‘whatever I see, I swallow immediately,’ the non living
object, mirror, is perceived with the quality of swallowing that is associated
with living things.
4.
Explain, ‘just as it is.’
The
mirror claims that it never makes any alteration or deformation, however better
or worse, to any of the objects that comes in front of it.
5.
Why does the mirror claim
that it is unmisted by love or dislike?
Ultimately
the mirror is truthful. It is not affected by any soft feelings for anyone. It
won’t reflect any one better or worse became it loves or hates that person.
Even though the opposite wall is part of mirror’s heart, it is said to have
speckles.
6.
Why do some people consider
the mirror to be cruel?
Everyone wishes to see his reflections appealing, young and colorful. But the
mirror, being strictly truthful, reflects everything as it is. Those who see
their reflections contrary to their expectations feel that the mirror is cruel.
7.
Why is the mirror called
the eye of a little God?
A little God possesses some of the qualities of the Almighty god. As the mirror
possesses qualities like truthfulness, true-conception and straightforwardness
together with its ability to see everything, it is called the eye of a little
God.
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.
1.
How does the mirror
meditate on the opposite wall?
The
mirror meditates on the opposite wall by thinking about it, by loving it as an
intimate friend and by thinking about its pleasant pink color and the
speckles upon it.
2.
What bond do the mirror and
the opposite wall share?
The
mirror and the opposite walls are intimate friends. Even though it is not clear
how the wall feels for the mirror, the mirror is terribly in love with the
wall.
3.
What is the significance of
the line, “It is pink, with speckles?”
The
mirror cannot tell a lie even at the cost of losing its friendship. The
opposite wall is beautiful pink in color but it is also speckled. While telling
the pleasant truth that the wall is pink, the mirror doesn’t hold back the
fact that it also has speckles that limit its beauty.
4.
What do separate the mirror
and the opposite wall?
The
mirror and the opposite wall are separated by people who come to see their
reflection in the mirror and stay there for long and the fall of night.
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.
1.
Why is the mirror called a
lake?
A
lake is deep, dark and has its bottom muddy. Due to this anything that is lost
in it can never be taken back. Similarly the objects once reflected in the
mirror cannot be seen again. Moreover, both the mirror and the lake have a flat
surface that can reflect objects that come against them.
2.
Why do people turn to the
candle lights and moon light?
Both the candles and moon shed a dim light. In this dim light one cannot see
the wrinkles and lines on his or her skin, and therefore appear to be younger
and prettier and therefore love to see themselves in such dim lights.
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.
1.
How was the mirror
important for the woman? Why is it still important for her?
When
the woman was a young girl she spent hours in front of the mirror admiring her
beauty and making it up endlessly. She was like a fish that cannot live without
water. But now she is no more beautiful and young yet she comes to the mirror
expecting that the mirror would give her one of those young images that the
mirror had captured in it years ago.
2.
What does the woman search
in the mirror? Does she find it in the mirror? Why?
The
woman is searching for her lost beauty in the mirror. No, she doesn’t find her
lost beauty in the mirror because the mirror, being very truthful, doesn’t show
any artificial reflection that is not true.
3.
How do you understand the
woman being compared to a fish?
The
woman, when she was quite a young and pretty girl, used to stay in front of the
mirror for hours on end just like a fish stays in the water. The girl, like a
fish does in the water, existed inside the mirror as a reflection.
4.
Why is the woman compared
to a terrible Fish?
A terrible fish is one out of water and dying. The woman here is old and dying.
She cannot accept the change in her. She still wishes to remain young and
pretty while death is drawing nearer.
