Plath & Hughes - 'Fever 103' and 'Fever'

Question 1

What is the main argument/topic sentence of Plath’s ‘Fever 103’?

Answer 1

Plath’s ‘Fever 103’ explores how her hurt from betrayal and deception has led to her realisation of her own self worth and desire to be independent , ultimately purging all men from her life.

Question 2

What is the context for Plath’s ‘Fever 103’?

Answer 2

This poem was especially influenced by her suffering from Hughes’ extramarital affair with Assia Wevil .

Question 3

What is the first quote for the ‘Fever 103’ argument? WHat technique?

Answer 3

‘fat Cerebus who wheezes at the gate. Incapable of licking clean the aguey tendon, the sin, the sin’ - imagery

Question 4

What is the argument for ‘fat Cerebus who wheezes at the gate. Incapable of licking clean the aguey tendon, the sin, the sin’?

Answer 4

Plath begins by characterising her society as evil, as seen in her imagery, ‘fat Cerebus who wheezes at the gate. Incapable of licking clean the aguey tendon, the sin, the sin,’ revealing how even the threat of meeting Cerebus in hell is insufficient in deterring people from being hurtful and sinful.

Question 5

What is the second quote for ‘Fever 103’? What technique?

Answer 5

Love, love, the low smokes roll from me like Isadora’s scarves, I’m in a fright one scarf will catch and anchor the wheel

Allusion to Isadora

Question 6

What is the argument for, ‘Love, love, the low smokes roll from me like Isadora’s scarves, I’m in a fright one scarf will catch and anchor the wheel’?

Answer 6

She reveals that her pessimistic view is due to her past experiences of toxic love through the simile, ‘Love, love, the low smokes roll from me like Isadora’s scarves, I’m in a fright one scarf will catch and anchor the wheel,’ in which the allusion to Isadora emphasises how her love has strangled the life out of her, reflecting her bitterness at Hughes’ betrayal.

Question 7

What is the third quote for the ‘Fever 103’ para? What technique?

Answer 7

Greasing the bodies of adulterers, like Hiroshima ash

allusion to Hiroshima

Question 8

What is the argument for, ‘Greasing the bodies of adulterers, like Hiroshima ash’?

Answer 8

Her pain is further reinforced by her allusion to Hiroshima, ‘Greasing the bodies of adulterers, like Hiroshima ash,’ which likens her immense pain of betrayal to radiation poisoning.

Question 9

What is the fourth quote for the ‘Fever 103’ para? What technique?

Answer 9

‘too pure for you or anyone’

assertive tone

Question 10

What is the argument for, ‘too pure for you or anyone’?

Answer 10

Her hurtful marriage ultimately sparks her epiphany that she is ‘too pure for you or anyone,’ where her assertive tone reveals that she perceives herself as too good for Hughes and society, resulting in her desire to sever all ties to impure men.

Question 11

What is the fifth quote for the ‘Fever 103’ para?

Answer 11

‘I am a pure acetylene virgin attended by roses’

metaphor

Question 12

What is the argument for ‘I am a pure acetylene virgin attended by roses’?

Answer 12

Her epiphany eventually culminates in a renewed self perception as expressed in her metaphor, ‘I am a pure acetylene virgin attended by roses,’ revealing that her traumatic marriage has purified her into a more divine being, freed of men and unrestricted by her patriarchal society.

Question 13

What is the concluding sentence for ‘Fever 103’?

Answer 13

It could thus be seen that ‘Fever 103’ reveals how Plath’s traumatic experiences with Hughes has led her to liberate herself from all the men in her life in order to be her best self.

Question 14

What is the argument for Hughes’ ‘Fever’ para? (I.e topic sentence)

Answer 14

On the other hand, in ‘Fever’, Hughes reframes Plath’s view that the breakdown of their marriage was due to Hughes’s extramarital affair, and argues that it was Plath’s extreme behaviour which drove them apart.

Question 15

What is the context for Hughes’ ‘Fever’?

Answer 15

This poem presents Hughes’ perspective of his failed marriage with Plath by alluding to the illness that Plath suffered during their honeymoon in Spain.

Question 16

What is the first quote for ‘Fever’, what technique?

Answer 16

You dreamed you were clambering into the well-hatch… the best place to find oblivion from your burning tangle

Imagery

Question 17

What is the argument for ‘You dreamed you were clambering into the well-hatch… the best place to find oblivion from your burning tangle’?

Answer 17

Hughes initially characterises Plath as melodramatic during her illness in Spain, ‘You dreamed you were clambering into the well-hatch… the best place to find oblivion from your burning tangle,’ where the imagery emphasises her fanatical and exaggerated nature by wanting to cool herself in a well despite it just being a fever.

Question 18

What is the second quote for Hughes’ ‘Fever’, what technique?

Answer 18

‘I bustled about. I was nursemaid…I liked the crisis of the vital role,’

metaphor

Question 19

What is the argument for ‘I bustled about. I was nursemaid…I liked the crisis of the vital role’?

Answer 19

Due to her hysterical needs, Hughes devotes himself to caring for her as depicted in his metaphor, ‘I bustled about. I was nursemaid…I liked the crisis of the vital role,’ colliding with her perspective that he caused her pain, as seen in Fever 103, ‘your body hurts me as the world hurts God’.

Question 20

What is the third quote for Hughes’ ‘Fever’ para? What technique?

Answer 20

‘I spooned it into your helpless, baby-bird gape, gently, masterfully, patiently, hour by hour,’

imagery

Question 21

What is the argument for ‘I spooned it into your helpless, baby-bird gape, gently, masterfully, patiently, hour by hour’?

Answer 21

He further characterises himself as a parent to her during her sickness, as emphasised in his imagery, ‘I spooned it into your helpless, baby-bird gape, gently, masterfully, patiently, hour by hour,’ conveying her dependence on him during her sickness, and colliding with her perspective that she can survive without men.

Question 22

What is the fourth quote for Hughes’ ‘Fever’ para, what technique?

Answer 22

And I thought how sick is she? Is she exaggerating? And I recoiled just a little, just for balance, just for symmetry

Question 23

What is the argument for, ‘And I thought how sick is she? Is she exaggerating? And I recoiled just a little, just for balance, just for symmetry’?

Answer 23

However, Plath’s constant exaggerations lead to his scepticism towards her behaviour, ‘And I thought how sick is she? Is she exaggerating? And I recoiled just a little, just for balance, just for symmetry,’ where his rhetorical questions punctuate a shift from his initial fondness in caring for her to cynicism, reframing Plath’s perception of herself as ‘too pure for anyone’, to the idea that she was too dramatic for anyone to handle.

Question 24

What is the fifth quote for Hughes’ ‘Fever’ para? What is the technique?

Answer 24

The stone man made soup. The burning woman drank it

metaphor

Question 25

What is the argument for ‘The stone man made soup. The burning woman drank it’?

Answer 25

Ultimately, this deteriorates their relationship, as seen in the metaphors, ‘The stone man made soup. The burning woman drank it,’ revealing the negative impact of Plath’s melodramatic nature on her marriage, driving Hughes to be detached from her to preserve his own sanity.

Question 26

What is the concluding sentence for Hughes’ ‘Fever’ para?

Answer 26

Thus, Hughes’ ‘Fever’ collides with Plath’s assertions that their deteriorating marriage was due to his affair and suggests that it was instead due to her extreme personality.

Question 27

What are the five quotes for ‘Fever 103’ in order?

Answer 27

1. fat Cerebus who wheezes at the gate. Incapable of licking clean the aguey tendon, the sin, the sin
2. Love, love, the low smokes roll from me like Isadora’s scarves, I’m in a fright one scarf will catch and anchor the wheel
3. Greasing the bodies of adulterers, like Hiroshima ash
4. too pure for you or anyone
5. I am a pure acetylene virgin attended by roses

Question 28

What are the five quotes for ‘Fever’ in order

Answer 28

1. You dreamed you were clambering into the well-hatch… the best place to find oblivion from your burning tangle
2. I bustled about. I was nursemaid…I liked the crisis of the vital role
3. I spooned it into your helpless, baby-bird gape, gently, masterfully, patiently, hour by hour

4.And I thought how sick is she? Is she exaggerating? And I recoiled just a little, just for balance, just for symmetry

5. The stone man made soup. The burning woman drank it