Image of death Essay

As she attempted suicide, â€Å"I am not his yet.† She is possibly tempting death as the quote â€Å"†¦..how badly I photograph†, suggests death may have been stalking her and Plath is possibly taunting him back as he insults her, or it may also be that Plat is not ready for her death photograph yet. Plath shocks the reader by talking about children in coffins in such a matter of fact manner, â€Å"He tells me how sweet the babies look in their hospital icebox†, paradox, as the beautiful and ‘sweet’ children are linked to death, â€Å"†¦Ionian death gowns†, again Plath contradicts the beauty of the gowns with the horrifying image of death. Plath uses simple but very harsh descriptions to portray death amongst children, â€Å"†¦two little feet† very graphic in a simplistic way. Plath explains death is in two forms, a traditional view of death and the other one a more modern view of death. She portrays the death as very laid back, â€Å"He does not smile or smoke† as before cool people, celebrities and models smoked, so people followed them but death does not as he’s not trying to be popular. The â€Å"other† death Plath describes with â€Å"†¦hair long and plausive† and also suggest that this death does smoke â€Å"†¦the other does that† giving this death a more positive feel, making him more modern and more appealing. An act of masturbation, seen as a powerful act as it’s done alone â€Å"Masturbating a glitter†¦Ã¢â‚¬  almost as if Plath is saying that death thinks he’s special as he’s masturbating a glitter, â€Å"†¦he wants to be loved† paradox, as you can’t love death. Plath suggests the idea of rigourmortus although it’s ironic as she’s still alive â€Å"I do not stir†, or it may be Plath suggesting that she’s dead on the inside, and that her emotions may have gone stiff. In contrast to Plath’s poem â€Å"Death and Co.†, Hughes poem â€Å"Examination at the Womb-Door† emphasises on death owning existence as even as soon as you are born you face death but death still being inferior to God, as the examiner being God the questions throughout the poem are very authoritive, suggesting that Hughes may think that God has authority over death. The title could possibly be Hughes signifying the point of crossing into the physical world. It seems as if sees death as the starting point: Man has been living, just to get experience to pass an exam before God, also giving a very ominous feel to death, the ultimate fear of all mankind and a sacrilegious tone to the poem. It maybe that Hughes sees the soul as immortal as when the crow is asked â€Å"But who is stronger than death?† the crow replies â€Å" Me, evidently† as the crow is immortal due to the rebirth cycle, so despite the body’s death, the soul remains, therefore the crow is in fact stronger than death. Hughes uses negative adjectives and pronouns throughout the poem possibly to remark the deficiency of the human body against death.