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Aliciana Lopez

Mr. O’Meara

Ap Lit-1

12 October 2020

Mirror

In “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath, the poet uses a mixture of metaphors and allusions to convey

humanity’s tendencies to perceive themselves in an ill manner so much that they lose who they

are to those self-perceived misconceptions.

The usage of metaphors within this poem assists the denotative references for a mirror. In

the first stanza, Sylvia Plath depicts the mirror as an object without any influences. It illustrates

truth without any misconceptions that humans tend to see when looking in a mirror. It is

described to be “unmisted by love or dislike,” which illustrates the mirror’s lack of ability to

shed any judgment or disdain towards those who look at their reflection. It signifies the

metaphorical comparison between how a mirror only reflects what it can see with no

“preconceptions,” while society tends to look deeper within themselves and can either love or

dislike who they are within and on the outside. This concept is further depicted when the poem

states, “The eye of a little god,” which allows for the reader to understand the mirror is

all-knowing, and can only see what is reflected within itself. An object in the world, can not

depict any sense of feelings towards a living person. Humanity has the ability to take these

objects, like a mirror, look at it and the reflection they see is their own misconceived perception

of what they view themselves to be. Not the truth, but their own judgment of themselves, which

is illustrated in the phrase, “then she turns to those liars...I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.”

She took her own image of herself and misinterpreted it, yet the mirror can only reflect the truth.
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In addition, the mirror that just sits on a wall, without movement, constantly retaining the

repeating visual of someone continually looking in that mirror. The visual of seeing someone

come into the light and look within the all-seeing mirror every day implies one’s self-obsession

with image. Illustrated with the transitional phrase “Faces and darkness separate us over and

over,” Faces and darkness seem to be both separated and together in a simultaneous way. The

transition can illustrate that the darkness is just the person deflecting light away from the mirror,

or rather the person themself is portraying the darkness onto that mirror. Connecting this back to

“the eye of a little god,” the mirror sees reality, and this darkness that overcomes the mirror

when a person stands in front of it “over and over” again depicts that the only darkness is coming

from the person themselves and not the mirror. It can only reflect what that person sees even if it

is not a true reality.

Within the second stanza, the poem continues the previous shift with “Now I am a lake.”

By the lake consisting of a much larger reflection than a mirror, the water often in motion depicts

distorted figures, while the mirror only reflects without distortion. Comparing a four-cornered

mirror to a large lake can make it seem as if it is being looked within for a deeper meaning than

just what that mirror can portray. Society can take a lifeless object and turn it into something to

fill their destructive ideas about themselves. A mirror without a mind of its own is taken to be

seen as reflecting back a woman’s self-perceived hatred. Creating a continuing cycle of

obsession with one’s “flaws.” This ties into the allusive phrase, “In me she has drowned a young

girl, and in me an old woman.” This woman who has repeatedly looked at her reflection through

this mirror has depicted her self-infatuation, in an unhealthy manner, so much that she lost who

she is and only focuses on the flaws she herself sees. It turns this open lake, that she so deeply

stares into due to her internal struggles, into what no longer reflects reality, but her own allusions
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forming an internal hatred. Humanity tends to search for flaws they feel need to be fixed, even if

it is who they are. They can become obsessed and drain out their happiness into a destructive

obsession.

How someone perceives who they are and whether they like what they see, can cause

them to either be internally astounded or be filled with destructive emotions. From one’s

reflection in the water to the reflection they can see as they are passing by a mirror, may be

detrimental to themselves, if they are not happy with who they are within or their physical

attributes on the outside. Society tends to focus on looks so much that it corrupts their daily lives,

but those internal images of oneself can stay there throughout their entire life if they do not

choose to be happy with who they are. In order to be content and live a good life, one has to

move past self-destructive thoughts and learn to love themselves.