Medusa by Sylvia Plath
"Medusa" is a poem by Sylvia Plath that explores themes of maternal suffocation and the struggle for self-identity. The title refers to both the mythological figure and a genus of jellyfish, connecting the idea of entrapment and the primal bond between mother and child. The poem presents a vivid imagery of a watery environment, likening the speaker's experience to being ensnared by the tentacles of a jellyfish, representing the overpowering influence of the mother. Through this metaphor, Plath expresses a desire for separation and autonomy, questioning if true escape from this maternal grasp is possible. The poem contrasts the cold detachment of the father seen in Plath's earlier poem "Daddy" with the stifling, undefined nature of the mother figure. The speaker's acknowledgment of suffocation reflects a yearning to reject this maternal influence in order to forge an individual identity. Ultimately, "Medusa" culminates in a powerful declaration for the medusa's withdrawal, signaling a pivotal moment of asserting selfhood against maternal constraints. This poem delves into complex dynamics of familial relationships, encapsulating the struggle between dependence and the quest for personal freedom.
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Medusa by Sylvia Plath
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1965 (collected in The Collected Poems, 1981)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
As “Daddy” exorcises the powerful father, the companion poem “Medusa,” written four days later, casts off the engulfing mother in order to free the emergent self. Medusa is a genus of jellyfish, and Judith Kroll has pointed out that Plath’s mother’s name, Aurelia, is a synonym for medusa. In this poem the scene suggests a delayed birth, a watery womb-world where the jellyfish’s tentacles continue to enwind and stifle the speaker, despite her desire for separation. Picturing herself as a ship chased by the medusa, she asks, “Did I escape, I wonder?” The medusa is compelling: “My mind winds to you/ Old barnacled umbilicus, Atlantic cable.”
If the father is cold and distant in “Daddy” but sharply outlined and precise, in “Medusa” the mother is a blob without definition. She is “Fat and red, a placenta/ Paralysing the kicking lovers.” She complains of suffocation and renounces the mother as she has the father in her desire to be herself. With the epithet “Blubbery Mary,” the image slides from sea to church: “I shall take no bite of your body,/ Bottle in which I live,/ Ghastly Vatican.”
The mother-medusa is swollen and grotesque; she presents a model of martyrdom and negativity whose attraction must be denied if the speaker is to be potent as an individual. Thus the poem concludes with a demand for the medusa’s withdrawal:
Green as eunuchs, your wishes
For Plath, reaching selfhood does not involve the introjection of the parent figures but necessitates their rejection. This is the message of both “Daddy” and “Medusa.”
Bibliography
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