Conflicting Perspectives

Exploring conflicting perspectives helps us gain a better understanding of our world. Do you agree? In your response make particular reference to your personal understanding of this elective.

A perspective is defined as a particular attitude or way of regarding something; a point of view. As individuals, our perspectives differ from each others due to our experiences and the impact of our surroundings and affect the way we live and interact with people and as a result of this, each perspective is as valid as the next, suggesting that there is never one singular, objective truth, but rather a series of perspectives which may or may not conflict. As a result, it is possible to gain a better understanding of our world by considering the often conflicting perspectives of others. This is demonstrated by the analysis of texts involved in the relationship between Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. With her mental issues influenced by her father, and his adulterous behaviour, it is easy to see where conflicts may arise. By analysing their respective poetic works, ‘Birthday Letters’ and ‘Daddy’, with different perspectives in mind, it helps us to better understand the situation before applying our own (possibly biased) judgement. By considering perspectives conflicting to ours in our every day lives, it allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the world around us.

The relationship between Hughes and Plath is rather infamous for it’s conflict. Hughes poem to his late wife, entitled ‘The Minotaur’, opens with an accusation directed at Plath. The use of striking visual imagery, “The mahogany table top you smashed”, instantly depicts her as violent and destructive. Plath’s apparent anger is also evident in “The high stool you swung that day, demented by my being twenty minutes late for baby-minding”. Hughes, while admitting he was guilty and the cause of her rage, implies, through use of sibilance, that she was prone to overreacting. Without knowing Plath’s side of the argument, we are left to consider other possible factors that could have contributed to her anger. Why was Hughes late for baby-minding? He was known to be adulterous, potentially the cause of her ‘overreaction’.