Beleaguered Motherhood in "The Night Dances," "Nick and the Candlestick," and "Kindness" Xuan Vu 12th Grade

Due to the obligatory nature of motherhood, Plath exposes the co-dependent relationship between mother and child, unveiling the nuances of love, dependency and fear endured by women. Sylvia Plath's poetry collection "Ariel" uncovers the subtle yet inevitable suffering of women, especially when confronted by the expectation to bear a child.

Through "Nick and the Candlestick", Plath confesses the importance of children within a mother's life as they are the embodiment of hope amongst the bleak darkness. As "a miner", the speaker is in search of precious ores - a child - yet is only confronted by the "tears" of "waxy stalactites" emphasising her heartache whilst not pregnant. The imagery of "the earthen womb/exud[ing] its dead boredom" illustrates the mother's empty womb, unable to fulfil the purpose of holding a child due to previous "cold homicides" of her miscarriages. However, purity is soon offered by the child within the "old cave of calcium", which the speaker (the mother) gratefully accepts as though bearing a child will relieve her from the "vice of knives, a piranha". The mother's fluctuation between grief and hope is reflected by the motif of fire. Within the first stanza, "the light burns blue" indicating the speakers'...