'Mirror ' is a scathing comment on human prejudices and preconceptions. do you agree with? give reasons in support of your answer.
Answers
We must keep the most important thing in our mind while forming an answer to this question; Sylvia Plath, the poetess penned this poem in utter depression; and just after few days she committed suicide. The reason was her married life. Ted Hughes, another poet whom she had married in 1956, divorced her and remarried. This experience was quite painful for her.
Her disillusionment and contempt for humans is quite visible in the poem. She compares human nature to a mirror. According to her mirror is far better than a human being as it suffers from no prejudice, likes, dislikes, and preconceptions. It treats everyone equally; however, man suffers from the flaws of like and dislike; his dealing with others is influenced by his likes and dislikes.
So, the poem is a scathing comment on human prejudices and preconceptions.
Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Mirror’ is much beyond a woman looking into an inanimate mirror and reacting accordingly. The poetess has endowed the mirror with the ability to express its thoughts, so much so that the poem ends up being a commentary on human behaviour altogether.
The mirror makes it very clear to the readers that it is not like human beings at all for it states that it has ‘no preconceptions’. Humans are by default, prone to developing preconceived ideas without any solid basis. Racism is one such example. Just because of the difference in skin colour, horrendous practices like apartheid came into being. The same can be said to be true for the caste system that divided India into tight groups based on birth, and not on merit.
Further, the mirror declares that it is not affected by love or dislike. Humans on the other hand seem to sway under the influence of either. It is difficult for humans to be neutral. Some partiality does seep in because of affection or aversion towards someone. It stops people from being impartial in their daily lives, which is in sharp contrast to the mirror’s behaviour. The mirror is objective in its approach and ‘truthful’, while people may or may not be honest.
Similarly, society has set some unsaid standards. For instance, a woman cannot possibly show signs of aging despite of the fact that aging is a natural process. Society is fixated on women being youthful forever. Therefore, when the lady looks into the mirror and sees a more mature version of her than she wants to, she cannot cope with it and bursts into tears. Sadly, this seems to happen ‘each morning’, suggesting that the woman is struggling with her existence on a daily basis. It is ironical that though both men and women make up society, the standards established for women are both restricting and stereotyped while men are free of any such superficiality.
The poetess thus, by enlisting the characteristics of the mirror is drawing up a comparison between the mirror and human beings. This brings out the non-assuming nature of the mirror and the flawed nature of mankind. Given her insight into human nature, Plath’s poem is relevant even in today’s context, despite having been written half a century ago.