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Duality In Sylvia Plath's Two Sisters Of Persephone

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Duality occasionally results as the cause for suffering, while it is a product of the mind, it can often revolve around condemnation and the fear of judgement. Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Two Sisters of Persephone” illuminates the idea of the duality that exists within a woman’s personality. The title “Two Sisters of Persephone” suggests that there are two sisters being described in this poem, when in reality, Plath allures the reader by revealing that the two designated qualities actually deal with the two lives that Persephone endured as the Goddess of the Spring and the Queen of the Underworld. Plath conveys the concept of dualism through the purposeful use of structure, and depicting imagery to illustrate the contrasting lives of the renowned deity, Persephone. Primarily, Plath illuminates her emphasis on contrast through the use of caesuras. The first caesura, “Two girls there are: within the house” (1), introduces the foil of Persephone’s dual personalities. This is significant as it elucidates the concept of there being two people within one character setting. In this case the two girls portrayed in the house allude to the existent impression that women are two-faced. Women are known to have two sides for they only ultimately show what is perceived as face-value, and preserve their other individual persona hidden. Similarly, Plath uses a second example of a caesura, “One sits; the other, without” (2), to clarify the erratic contrast amongst her two personalities. This is

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