"The Applicant" is a poem written by American

confessional A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall where the priest from some Christian denominations sits to hear the confessions of a penitent's sins. It is the traditional venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Luther ...

poet

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

on October 11, 1962. It was first published on January 17, 1963 in ''

The London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and poetry. A number of Nobel Laureates, including Annie Ernaux, Albert Camus, Doris Les ...

'' and was later republished in 1965 in ''

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki *, a Russian film directed by Yevgeni Kotov * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', a 1989 and 1991 ...

'' alongside poems such as " Daddy" and "

Lady Lazarus "Lady Lazarus" is a poem written by Sylvia Plath, originally included in ''Ariel,'' which was published in 1965, two years after her death by suicide. This poem is commonly used as an example of her writing style. It is considered one of Plath's b ...

" two years after her death. The poem is a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

'interview' that comments on the meaning of

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

, condemns

gender stereotypes A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...

and details the loss of identity one feels when adhering to social expectations. The poem focuses on the role of women in a conventional marriage and Plath employs themes such as the

conformity Conformity or conformism is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to social group, group norms, politics or being like-minded. Social norm, Norms are implicit, specific rules, guidance shared by a group of individuals, that guide t ...

to gender norms. It was written a few days after Sylvia Plath’s decision to divorce

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

and it has been interpreted as a comment on her isolation within that relationship and the lack of power women held in her society.

Biographical Background

Before ''Ariel'' was published, Plath studied at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

, a liberal arts school in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. She obtained a scholarship and attended the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where she would meet her future spouse, Ted Hughes. Plath and Hughes met on February 25, 1956 and were wed June 16th, 1956 at St George the Matyr, Holborn in London. Plath and Hughes had their first child,

Frieda Hughes Frieda Rebecca Hughes (born 1 April 1960) is an English-Australian poet and painter. She has published seven children's books, four poetry collections and one short story and has had many exhibitions. Hughes is the daughter of Pulitzer Prize win ...

, on April 1, 1960 and six months later, Plath published '' The Colossus,'' her first collection of poetry, in October. Plath fell pregnant again, however had a miscarriage in February 1961. Plath later fell pregnant and gave birth to their son

Nicholas Hughes Nicholas Farrar Hughes (January 17, 1962 – March 16, 2009) was a British and American fisheries biologist known as an expert in stream salmonid ecology.Daddy", "

Tulips Tulips are spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes in the ''Tulipa'' genus. Their flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly coloured, generally red, orange, pink, yellow, or white. They often have a different coloure ...

" and "

". Not long after, Plath committed suicide by gas inhalation in her kitchen while her two children were sleeping. However, prior to writing 'The Applicant', Plath was notorious for her writings on a loss of identity and connection to the world in ''The Colossus'', particularly in "The Stones" and "Medallion". Plath herself notes that these poems show that "the speaker has utterly lost her sense of identity and relationship to the world". This confessional style of writing is carried on to her writings of ''Ariel'', in particular, "The Applicant".

Description

Structure, form and rhyme

Plath wrote the poem in

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...

poem that consists of 40 lines. The poem was written with quintains and no regular rhyming scheme.

Subject matter

“The Applicant” was composed with very

and condemning tones which included

reprimand A reprimand is a severe, formal or official reproof. Reprimanding takes in different forms in different legal systems. A reprimand in custody may be a formal legal action issued by a government agency or professional governing board (e.g. medic ...

ing the conventional way of living and the

that presented themselves within the public and private

sphere A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

of society. Plath ridiculed the role of women in a conventional marriage, which is linked to her marriage to Ted Hughes. Plath and her then husband Ted Hughes were married between 1956-1962 and had two children together. Plath’s second pregnancy ended in a

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...

and Plath confessed that Hughes domestically abused her two days before the miscarriage. In 1962, it was discovered that Hughes was having an

affair An affair is a relationship typically between two people, one or both of whom are either married or in a long-term Monogamy, monogamous or emotionally-exclusive relationship with someone else. The affair can be solely sexual, solely physical or ...

with German Poet

Assia Wevill Assia Esther Wevill ( Gutmann; 15 May 1927 – 23 March 1969) was a German-Jewish woman who escaped the Nazis at the beginning of World War II and emigrated to Mandatory Palestine, via Italy, then later England, where she had an affair with ...

which led to Plath and Hughes divorcing. Initially in “The Applicant”, Plath comments on the idea that women are something to fix a man, asking the applicant what is wrong with them and how can they be fixed. This, is furthered as the personified “it” is presented as the solution. This is a direct condemnation of the social

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of ...

that a woman was nothing more than a product to ‘fix’ a man. Plath continues this metaphor throughout, emphasising that the woman is a powerless thing that is provided to the male with no choice in the matter, reflecting Plath’s isolation and feelings of being trapped in her relationship with Hughes.

Interpretation

Margaret Freeman has interpreted "The Applicant" as an

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of Animals *Exploitation of labour **Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery **Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts an ...

of the traditions of marriage; making a

mockery Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mocke ...

of the

sanctity Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

of marriage through being structured with a "series of threes which invoke

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church

banns The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans" (from a Middle English word meaning "proclamation", rooted in Frankish and thence in Old French), are the public announcement in a Christian parish church, or in the town cou ...

, the language of the Anglican wedding ceremony, the institution of marriage, and, by extension, the biblical texts on which the idealised cultural model of Anglican marriage is based." Freeman has furthered this by noting that “will you marry it” is repeated three times throughout the poem, which “directly invokes the church banns, announced in the parish three times before a wedding to ask ‘if there is any just cause why these two should not be joined in holy matrimony.'” Freeman has further interpreted this poem as a "

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. F ...

scenario between a speaker and an addressee about an object" where there is no one clear speaker/addressee as there is an ambiguity that pervades the poem: "The object is the treat in the infantilising space, product in the sales space, daughter in the

betrothal An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

space, and bride in the marriage rite space. The addressee is the child, customer, applicant, and groom in the four respective spaces." However, Freeman notes that there is a slip in the "blend" of the possible interpretations with that of the speaker as there could be links to a "father" figure in each of the scenarios but this connection is not "projected onto the speaker" to represent the lack of a relationship between Plath and her father. Manuela Moreira denotes that Plath employs the idea of gender stereotypes through the ambiguity of the genders of the "product" and "applicant". Though it is not specifically mentioned initially that the product is the woman, using phrases such as "To bring teacups and roll away headaches" alludes to a woman due to the notion that it was "part of a woman’s role to bring teacups and do whatever she was told, given her absence of agency, as demonstrated with the line “And do whatever you tell it.”" Moreira further interprets the applicant as an

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an ind ...

of the gender stereotypes in a conventional marriage stating that "the transgression of gender roles takes place, since the woman who had remained invisible, will accomplish the task of filling in the man’s empty head." Moreira also interprets the applicant as a comment on the body of a woman, more specifically, the missing body of the female as "the female body lives

incarcerated Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered "false imprisonment". Impris ...

to be released as an objectified body." Moreira's interpretation is linked to Plath's feelings of entrapment within her relationship and society. Carol Margaret Houston has interpreted "The Applicant" as a comment on the role of women in society as well as the role of women in the private sphere of society. Houston notes that "“The Applicant” alerts women to the pitfalls of marriage and the way women are expected to provide all manner of remedies for their husbands." This condemnation of the role of women is what Houston believes to be Plath's strongest quality in her writings, as she highlights the inequities in society with her own experiences of married life, noting that "Plath structured her metaphors and imagery in order to demonstrate her expectations and disillusionment with marriage." Moreover, Houston commented on "The Applicant" treating marriage as a social construct that dehumanises those within the marriage, as they lose who they were as an individual and become a reflection of the person they are married to. Houston explicitly states that "if a woman chooses to live in the state of marriage then she will become what she has married, that is, an otherwise intelligent woman will become a lesser being. A married woman gives up her independence in favour of her husband’s wishes."

Critical reception

Critic Linda Wagner-Martin comments that "The Applicant" shows Plath breaking away from the social expectations of poetry, in particular female poets, and alongside poems such as "Purdah" and "Lady Lazarus", "The Applicant" shows "the persona moving from her conventional state of social acceptance to the flourish of triumph, no matter how unconventional her behaviour has become." Wagner-Martin criticises that Plath uses "The Applicant" as an

against gender norms, "this ondescendingvoice insults her with regularity: an empty head, a naked body, a scenario right out of the Hallmark anniversary charts, this woman does not even merit the dignity of a feminine personal pronoun, instead, she is an “it”". The

dehumanisation upright=1.2, link=Warsaw Ghetto boy, In his report on the suppression of the Nazi camps as "bandits". file:Abu Ghraib 68.jpg, Lynndie England pulling a leash attached to the neck of a prisoner in Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, Abu Ghr ...

of the female is a comment on society and Plath's unconventional way of voicing her discontent with society. Critic Barbara Hardy comments on the style of writing that Plath utilises in "the applicant' and notes the “unfailing grim humour” that Plath uses to comment on the hegemony of society and how she uses this humour as an attempt to dismantle the social expectations of the time. Hardy also states that Plath possesses a “rationally alert intelligence” within her style of writing and the content of her poetry, particularly in poems such as "Lady Lazarus", "Daddy" and "The Applicant". Anita Plath Helle comments on Plath's ability to

ridicule Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mocke ...

the private sphere of society as well as commenting on her direct condemnation of the stereotypes of the public sphere: "how far can one push the boundaries of personification, functionality, and gender roles in the postwar dream kitchen while maintaining its

legibility Legibility is the ease with which a reader can decode symbols. In addition to written language, it can also refer to behaviour or architecture, for example. From the perspective of communication research, it can be described as a measure of the p ...

?" Helle continues this by commenting on how Plath "uses housewifery to normalise kitchen craziness" and, alongside many other critics, notes that "The Applicant" mocks the sanctity of marriage and the gender stereotypes of a traditional marriage/household. However, unlike other critics, Helle notes that Plath uses "The Applicant" to place the males in the traditionally female role of the typical housewife, and "while Plath effects a change-about in the housewife's form, she alters the eligible man's gender. The applicant-groom takes on the female functionality through appliance shopping". Critics Tanu Gupta and Anju Sharma, like many other critics, have focused on Plath's indictment on the gender roles of the time and the social hegemony that surrounded this. Gupta and Sharma have detailed "The Applicant" to be about the loss of the woman's true self as she had to give parts of herself to fix her male partner. Gupta and Sharma, too, have commented that "The Applicant" makes a

of the private and public spheres of society. Gupta and Sharma's interpretation of "The Applicant" is that "women are imposed, hurt, made into puppets, hollow or blank with no identities or no wills. Plath’s

ambivalence Ambivalence is a state of having simultaneous conflicting reactions, beliefs, or feelings towards some object. Stated another way, ambivalence is the experience of having an attitude towards someone or something that contains both positively and n ...

toward men, marriage, and motherhood in The Applicant" and the guilt she surely felt help to explain the degree to which her poems are associated with suffering. They reflect not only her perception of external reality, but they project her inner reality as well."

Related themes

Gender

Plath is known for her comments on the gender stereotypes and her condemnation of these stereotypes within married life. Linda Wagner-Martin comments that Plath often criticised the hegemony to only see women as mothers and motherly beings rather than focussing on the work they produced and other qualities that would otherwise give them substance. Poems such as "Morning Song" detail Plath's struggle with motherhood and how, because of the social pressure to instantly love your child and neglect to acknowledge illnesses such as

postpartum depression Postpartum depression (PPD), also called perinatal depression, is a mood disorder which may be experienced by pregnant or postpartum women. Symptoms include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and extreme cha ...

, she struggled with motherhood. Wagner-Martin comments that "Plath made a self-conscious decision to study women. Her critique of the

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

of the

feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...

; her critical consciousness of women’s emotional,

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

and

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

loyalty and their subservience to men can be shown as developing continuously." Moreover, Plath also wrote poems on the false ways that women maintained their beauty in "Face Lift" and "The Rival". The role of gender was a commonality in Plath's writings; often her poems contained an indictment against gender and this is a theme that is present in "The Applicant" and other works.

Integration of the public and private spheres

Plath is a confessional poet and has been heavily criticised on integrating the public and private spheres of society. Alongside "The Applicant", poems such as "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus" are examples of how Plath used public

tragedies A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain ...

and fears such as the

holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

(particularly in "Daddy") to express her inner turmoil. Linda Wagner-Martin states that ""Daddy" mixed the sexual with the familia, the physical with the emotional, the father with the husband in a

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

ic swirl of energised language" and it was this mixture of various opposites that exploited both the public and private spheres. "Daddy" was written a day after "The Applicant" and Plath exploited the social hegemony by bringing the private sphere into the public sector and Wagner-Martin notes that ""Daddy" is the answer to the obsequious, fawning voice that wants a job, that wants to be married" in "The Applicant".

References

External links

Text of the poem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Applicant (poem) 1962 poems Sylvia Plath American poems