Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

life after unsuccessful suicide attempts. The first stanza of the poem, again, addresses the

repetition of attempts in Plath’s life, “I have done it again./ One year in every ten./ I manage

it----”. There are hints that every 10 years Plath has a near-death experience, which later in the

poem on line 35 Plath’s confirms, “the first time it happened I was ten”, when she tried to slit

her throat (FamousAuthors.org, 2012). Again, when she in her 20s and tried to overdose of

sleeping pills, and the third successful attempt when she was 30 by putting her head in an oven;

a direct nod towards her attempting a third time in stanza 3, “This is Number Three”. With the

poem written 4 months before her death, and the first lines alluding at a pattern of every 10

years, the poem is warning those who she cared for. The themes of self-destruction and death

are represented in the poem through imagery and symbolism. Line 10, “peel off the napkin” is

a metaphor for the whiteness of her skin being like a napkin, and with pale being often used to

show death or sickness. Peeling off the napkin displays an image of self-destruction and

paranoia. A comment about her own skin on the 5 th line, where it is “Bright as a Nazi

lampshade”, refers to the fact that the Nazis used to have lampshades made from the skin of

inmates, which would beam a bright white light (Gettysburg Times, 1951). The imagery and

symbolism also comes from her father supporting the Germans and who is said to have saluted

“Hitler in the privacy of his home” (Alberge, 2012). Plath is highlighting, that like the

victimized Jews, she is also a victim, her oppressor being in the form of her father whom she

blames for her obsession with death and suicide. Due to her father “abandoning” her early on,

she has since had the uncontrollable will to die, which could possibly scare her or possibly

excite her; 11-12 “O my enemy./ Do I terrify?------- ” , seemingly suggesting that Plath

recognizes death is her enemy, but is unsure if she fears it. Adding to the potential mystery,

Plath switches the famous belief of cats having nine lives to cats having nine times to die. In

stanza 7, which could possibly show her obsession with death and with cats for being able to

die nine times, and overlooking the nine chances of life; or foreshadowing her fightening