Critical Discourse Analysis of Sylvia Plath's "Daddy"

The study at hand critically analyzed Sylvia Plath’s most celebrated poem “Daddy” by applying Norman Fairclaugh’s Three Dimensional Model of Critical Discourse Analysis. The method consists of three main steps: linguistic description, interpretation and discourse as a social practice. The researcher clearly and thoroughly analyzed the linguistic details of the poem, leading to how the text could be socially interpreted which is followed by the last step of relating the content of the poem and its hidden ideologies to broader social, cultural and historical perspectives. Plath’s poetry has been considered an outright struggle for female liberation. The current study traced Plath’s attitude towards Patriarchal norms and how she was enslaved by them. The poem delves into the exploitation of women at the hand of man-centered societies and counters these cruel values through severely criticizing the values of patriarchy. The researcher found out that the poem preaches the ideology of feminism and liberation of women by tearing down the long standing edifice of patriarchy.