The Disquieting Muses

Sylvia Plath was well-known for her struggle with what is recognized today as bipolar disorder. The arc of the poem can be seen as a metaphor for a lifelong struggle with mental illness. The speaker remembers the three faceless ladies gathered around their crib after christening; they wonder if their mother made some foolhardy error that led to the figures being sent to their bedside, the sort of vengeance for a slight one might see in a classic fairy tale. Many people living with mental illness see it as an external force that has been a constant presence throughout their lives, and the parallels between the faceless ladies and the speaker’s mother support this idea.

In the third stanza, the speaker recounts a memory with their mother and brother, fending off a storm to keep the windows safe from damage. But when they finally do break anyways, the speaker blames the figures who hover around them—and by proxy themselves. This is an illogical yet natural response a child has to the world, displaying both the centrality they feel about their place in the universe and the awareness of malevolent forces at work within them.