a comparative study of the role of mirror in making/unmaking identity in “mirror” by sylvia plath and “miror” by andrée chédid

Images reflected by mirrors have long been depicted and admired as neutral representations of human beings in literature. authors and poets always resort to mirrors – and anything with the reflection of a mirror on it such as water – to exteriorize the latent reality which will be otherwise inexpressible, and without which the journey of self-discovery will remain fragmentary. focus on mirrors, however, has not always been so idealistic. the truth depicting nature of the mirror has also been shunned by many. to bring these two opposite views together, two poems about mirrors are examined to illustrate these two contrastive points of view. in her poem, “miror”, andrée chédid celebrates mirror and its truth showing quality; sylvia plath, however, shuns and detests the truth shown through the mirror in her poem, “mirror”. in an attempt to disclose the double role of mirror as a breaking point, i intend to use jacques lacan’s concept of mirror-stage and its role in identity formation to discuss the need for an identity and simultaneous escape from it. the study of these two poems, one by an american poet and the other by an egyptian-french poet will portray the alternative path from progression to regression and vice-versa in quest of identity which is being alternately formed and hidden.