It soon becomes crystal clear that this is no ordinary interview.Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath And A Summary of The Applicant The Applicant is a poem that explores the meaning of marriage, gender stereotype and social pressures by using the framework of an interview, in which the speaker questions the applicant, a male.As the poem progresses it becomes apparent that the male interviewee is being given the chance to own something, namely a wife.
The wife is a commodity, a thing of the market-place, and the applicant has to be the right sort of person to receive her. As Sylvia Plath herself explained: In this poem.the speaker is an executive, a sort of exacting super-salesman. He wants to be sure the applicant for his marvellous product really needs it and will treat it right. Applicant By Harold Pinter Full Of PowerfulWritten on October 11th 1962, the poem was first published in the London Magazine, 17th January 1963 and appeared in the book Ariel, in 1965, which has since become a classic volume, full of powerful poetry, despite or because of, the controversy surrounding its content and editorship. The Applicant is an important contribution to the debate over the role of the woman in conventional marriage, which first started to be seriously questioned in the early 1960s when Plath wrote this poem. Subsequent developments in politics and social issues - inequality and feminism especially - have helped keep this poem in the spotlight. It questions in a rather subverted, slightly sarcastic way, the notion that society knows best and that a woman should be treated like a domestic thing, ready to do whatever her husband needs her to do. ![]() This poem could have been inspired by the rise of satirical shows on t.v. It is full of typically vivid Plath imagery and delivers quite a body blow to the conformist point of view. The speaker seems to be interviewing a male applicant come seeking a job but those initial questions reveal something quite different. Is the candidate all there, or is he lacking a body part Or is he a kind of misfit Such questions puzzle, such poetic lines break awkwardly. The idea seems to be that, in order to make it in society, you have to lose pieces of yourself. Consumerism and societal pressures reinforce the stereotypes. The Applicant First, are you our sort of a person Do you wear A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch, A brace or a hook, Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch, Stitches to show somethings missing No, no Then How can we give you a thing Stop crying. Open your hand. Empty Empty. Here is a hand To fill it and willing To bring teacups and roll away headaches And do whatever you tell it. Will you marry it It is guaranteed To thumb shut your eyes at the end And dissolve of sorrow. Will you marry it It is waterproof, shatterproof, proof Against fire and bombs through the roof. Well, what do you think of that Naked as paper to start But in twenty-five years shell be silver, In fifty, gold. Analysis of The Applicant - Stanza by Stanza The Applicant is Sylvia Plaths satirical, sarcastic and dark take on the role of women in marriage. Its a kind of parody on a religiously based institution, only instead of a priest there is a salesman; the husband is the applicant and the wife is a commodity. The first line takes the form of a question, which is fitting and quite straightforward and logical, but from then on the poem starts to diverge, taking the reader into uncharted territory as the speakers sales pitch is revealed.
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