Feminist reading of 'Lady Lazarus' by Sylvia Plath

Plath's poem Lady Lazarus takes a religious story about a man and changes the focus onto a woman, presenting to us a female perspective on the patriarchy, opening it up to us to female suffering endured at the hands of a patriarchal society, the poem focuses around them themes of dying and coming back to life, resembling the Bible story of Lazarus whom Jesus resurrected from the dead. Whilst this is viewed as a miracle in the bible, Plath takes on a more nihilistic approach, near death experiences and failed suicide attempts.

"I have done it again one year in every ten i manage it" this idea of death being an almost ritualistic ceremony commencing every ten years in woman's life could be interpreted to show the damaging effects of the male gaze on women. We in a sense 'murder ourselves' throughout puberty in order to fit into beauty standards dictated by men so we can feel desired. "My face a featureless fine Jew linen" there's a sense of depersonalization in this line, as if we are so shaped by the patriarchy we no longer have autonomy over ourselves, we become unrecognisable, Plath begins to challenge this with the line peel off the napkin O my enemy do i terrify?" From this I infer that Plath is showing that when men are faced with women as we truly are, and not playing up to their expectations of what a woman should be, they in a sense are repulsed. The connotations of suicidal ideations throughout this poem could represent Plath's own battle with the patriarchy, feeling that suicide is the only way to break free from patriarchal norms, or defy it.

"The peanut crunching crowd shove in to see" its as if a woman's life, her triumphs and struggles are deemed as performative, we are not allowed to exist if it is not somehow appealing to the opposite gender, even with matters of mental health, it is viewed as nothing but 'hysteria' a laughing matter to men. This contradicts the fate of Lazarus in the bible or death was met with sorrow, and his resurrection met with joy. Women simply are not given the same sympathy. "Dying is an art like everything else, I do it exceptionally well." Even in this quotation we get the sense that everything in a woman's life is deemed as a performance. " a miracle that knocks me out there is a charge" its as if the only way women can be listened to is when they perform the biggest show of them all, suicide. "I do it so it feels real." Plath highlights the lack of freedom women have over their own body and lives, causing suicide to feel like the only real decision women can make for themselves without it being for the male gaze. A patriarchal society teaches women to be 'show pets' performing tricks for their husbands, living just to appease them, and when your trapped in a society that deems you as nothing but an object, the only freedom you gain is from choosing to not play your given role anymore.