Alfred 1

Seun Alfred

AP Literature

Ms. White

12 October 2020

Discovering Identity

Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” is a powerful piece about the idea of self image and self

reflection. The poem talks of a woman who looks for but then denies the reality about herself,

she watches herself lose her youth and she was not pleased. As the woman ages and becomes

less appealing, she is reluctant about investigating the mirror, yet understands that she needs to

face the truth, regardless of whether it is terrible or not. This shows that the mirror is a symbol of

truth. The woman reminisces how she spent her childhood agonizing over her excellence and

looking for the approval of others. Plath uses a range of literary devices such as figurative

language and imagery to convey the importance of a truthful self search and time. Plath uses the

theme within “Mirror” to remind the audience that we should be conscious of the difference

between our internal and external lives so we don’t develop a false sense of reality.

Plath begins the poem from the perspective of the average mirror. She says, “I have no

preconceptions. Whatever you see I swallow immediately…” Plath uses the pronoun ‘I’ to

personify the mirror, almost making it human-like. In addition, the speaker or the mirror states,

“I meditate on the opposite wall” and “I have looked at it so long”. These phrases show the

mirror is given human-like actions and it's also given sort of a personality. Essentially, mirrors

portray an unbiased version of objects or people unlike candles or the moon, as seen post shift. It

is a very important symbol throughout the poem as Plath continues to search for the unbiased

truth.
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Approaching the second stanza, readers can see a shift in speaker where it goes from the

reflection of a mirror to that of a lake. Because the mirror fails to give her the answers she is

looking for, the woman turns to a lake. The speaker says “Now I am a lake. A woman bends over

me. Searching my reaches for what she really is” It seems that the woman is distraught and is

failing to discover her true self. It is evident that the woman has developed a false sense of

reality for herself, she goes back to the lake every morning to find who she really was internally.

Instead of looking into a mirror that’ll show her her true self, she turns to distortions: the candles

and the moon. Plath refers to these objects as “liars. Candles produce lighting, it can make one's

skin brighter and clearer, it doesn’t highlight every flaw and detail in contrast to the mirror. The

speaker goes on to say, “I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. She rewards me with tears…”

As stated previously, the woman is extremely unhappy with her self-image. Plath uses this

second stana to give readers an idea of the effects of false reality. If one fails to discover their

inner self, it may result in unrest as the woman is constantly seeking for her true self.

Finally, the author ends the poem with a very puzzling statement, “In me she has

drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises towards her day after day, like a terrible

fish.” This is the revelation of how she truly feels about herself. This last line perfectly highlights

the idea of self vanity and the pain it can inflict when one relies on it too much. The woman cries

profusely everyday and sees herself as a fish.

As stated previously, one can see a recurring theme of self image, a search for oneself

etc. In the first couple lines of the poem, Plath introduces us to the idea that mirrors have no

other job but to tell the truth about an image. It lacks filters, distortions, and fabrications. One

can say that the mirror symbolizes neutrality, this neutrality allows for the mirror to exalt itself as

a “little god” because of said truthfulness. Then we see a shift in tone, where the author uses
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strong connotations to reflect on another reality or dimension of the said mirror. The mirror shifts

into a lake. This shift contradicts the true qualities of a mirror because water can distort in image.

Water can never be steady, one can never see their true self. It seems like the woman is unhappy

with her present image as she “rewards” the mirror with her sorrows. One can infer that her

weeping makes the mirror pleased because it has done its job of showing her TRUE image. The

woman refers to that mirror every day in search of herself.

“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath adeptly explores the theme of a true self-search. Plath uses

personification and imagery to flawlessly outline the numerous cruel characteristics of vanity.

We should look past the shallow and value our true self within; something the author had battled

with throughout everyday life. We should be conscious of the difference between our internal

and external lives so we don’t develop a false sense of reality. The woman developed a false

sense of reality and was inflicted with heavy pains. In order to prevent this, we should follow the

path of the truth and only the truth. The truth will provide us life with its entirety, no distortions

and no fabrications.