Mirror Analysis

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Mirror Analysis Written in 1961 and published in 1971, Mirror was brought to its readers eight years after author Sylvia Plath’s tragic suicide. Telling the story of a woman who cannot stop looking at her reflection in various objects, it takes the voice of the mirror and through its free verse details how it both relates to the woman in question but also to other items or pieces in its viewpoint. The raw meaning of this piece appears to the reader to be around the idea of revelation, acceptance and truth particularly to the female observer. Looking at the poem as a whole continuum the reader may see a number of various themes touched upon or represented in mirror. A main theme that it is prevalent is the idea of what a mirror does, shows the viewers true reflection. “I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions” This demonstrates a viewpoint which is simultaneously both honest and unbiased with no emotional connection to the viewer. With no influenced preconceptions, ideals or beliefs the mirror plays the role of an un-influenced perceiver, showing only what it sees before it without obstruction of built in beliefs. This idea births the question of what the woman of the poem is really looking at beyond her physical appearance, it is in fact her very essence, her sense of self. It is asking her to face her true self inside and out, much more profound than the physicality that makes her up. The mirror is represented in two obvious ways, first as a simple mirror presumably in the household and later in the form of water, a lake, in which the woman finds herself gazing into. Inevitably she has aged and finds this concept hard to accept, mainly the way it has changed her physical appearance. “In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman rises towards her…” The loss of looks and more profound changes internally like the loss of innocence cause
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