Doktor Sylvia Plath Essay

Plath then mocks her audience on the premise of their shameless interest in her saved suicide attempt, similar to the attitude of many who view the Holocaust concentration camps with awe and detachment. She relates that those who come to see her after her suicide attempts do not really care about her, they only want to see the horrific event that occurred from a safe distance. She relates back to Germany when she introduces the character of “Herr Doktor” in lines 64-72. “Herr” is the German word for Mister, and “Doktor” the German word for doctor. She ridicules the doctor for not truly caring about her mental health, just like the audience, but only wanting to put on a show for those who standby to watch. In this way, she relates to the Jews in the …show more content…
/ Flesh, bone, there is nothing there” . She uses this as a metaphor for her own life. She feels empty inside: doctors can search inside of her for an answer or something of value, but find nothing except her flesh and bone. She says the Nazis find only a wedding ring, a tooth filling, and a “cake of soap” among the ash. The cake of soap refers to the rumor that the Germans used the fat of their victims to make soaps (Schwartz). She feels as if she has been used like the Jews were in this way, and is essentially worthless. The last lines of the poem describe her rising out of the ashes to “eat men like air.” In the ending tercet Plath connects her own anorexia to that of the starvation of the Holocaust victims. The title of the poem connects to the last lines as “Lazarus” is a bible reference to someone whom Jesus resurrected from the dead. She feels as if she has been resurrected as a phoenix, a symbol of rebirth, and is now more empowered than ever before (Collins). At the time Plath wrote this poem, she was in severe depression and committed suicide soon after