In Plath’s poems “Contusion’ and “Edge” there is a central theme and image of death that is liberating and perfect. These themes and images are constant throughout many of Plath’s poetry, but in these two particular poems, the idea of death is more forthcoming. “Edge” the last poem that Plath wrote before she ended her life is also another reason why the poem seems so forthcoming. The poem could also be seen as Plath’s last words to the world before dying. Her use of imagery and allegory helps to portray her feelings about death in her poetry.
In the first stanza of “Edge,” the speaker talks about a perfect woman, but the woman is only perfect because she is dead, she says, “The woman is perfected. / Her dead/ Body wears the smile of accomplishment” (1-3). The woman is only perfect and accomplished because she is dead. Her death is an accomplishment because she has longed to be perfect in life, but only her death helped her to accomplish her perfection. The speaker's belief that death is the only way for women to be perfect is also a cry against society's views on female beauty. This theme of death as perfection continues in the first stanza of “Contusion”, the speaker says, “Color floods to the spot, dull purple. /The rest of the body is all washed, / The color of pearl” (1-3). The constant emphasis on color also shows that death in this poem is not associated with perfection as it was in “Edge”. The colors purple and white in the first stanza are associated with defeat, but could also be associated with purity. The color of the “purple body” could be associated with royalty, this royal color brings a sense of power to the washed-out body, therefore making death a magical transformation.
As the speaker continues in “Edge” she makes reference to Greek women, using this reference to the idea that death is power and strength or a cowardly act, she says:
The Illusions of a Greek necessity
Flows in the scrolls of her toga,
Her bare
Feet seem to be saying:
We have come so far (4-8)
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Plath’s reference to Greek women and their toga represents the shame of women committing suicide since ancient Greek times and their rituals for suicide, “Her bare feet” is also a significant aspect in this stanza. The women’s feet represent their constant struggles in life and their ability to overcome these struggles by death. The long journey that they endured in their lives is finally over, therefore they can walk without shoes into a perfect life after death because there is no longer a struggle or suffocation from the world around them. This idea of an end to struggle also ties into the third stanza of “Contusion”, she says, “The doom mark/ Crawls down the wall”
(8-9). This “doom mark” is death, it crawls all around her waiting to consume her and turn her into an object of perfection. This mark of death that is working to consume the speaker is also what will give her a sense of perfection in the end. Although there is a theme of defeat in this stanza, it could also be interpreted as a relief from a life of constant obstacles and struggles that the female speaker has to endure.
In the last stanzas of these two poems, the speaker closes with the continued theme of death and perfection being one and the same. In “Edge” the speaker compares death and morning to the daily life of a mirror, she says:
The heart shuts,
The sea slides back,
The mirrors are sheeted. (10-2)
The mirrors no longer need to reflect the image and imperfection of the woman because she is now dead and perfect. It no longer shows the constant struggles and obstacles of everyday life, the light in death is perfection. In “Contusion” the speaker continues with this idea of no longer condemning the woman because she is dead, she says, “She is used to this sort of thing. / Her black crackle and drag” (19-20). The mirror in “Edge” can no longer condemn the woman in “Contusion”, she is now dead and perfect. This mirror of imperfection has ceased the ability to reflect the condemnation and oppression of this woman, she is perfect in the eyes of society because she is no longer oppressed by the struggles around her. She has made a choice for herself and that choice is a perfect death.
It’s interesting that Plath wrote these two poems right before her death. In a way, they foreshadow Plath’s suicide but not as an act of defeat, but as an act of power. Plath’s references to things that people often overlook, such as “bare feet”, mirrors, and the colors of purple, black and white are what makes it so interesting. These three colors in the poem, in the order that they are presented, represent power, purity, and death. Her death was powerful because it was not a sign of defeat but a sign of empowerment and choice. Women have been oppressed for centuries, therefore Plath’s decision to end her life was a form of overcoming this oppression and making the decision to be perfect in death.
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