The Beast
The Beast - meaning Summary
Entrapment by a Monstrous Presence
The poem depicts an invasive, animalized male presence that transforms the speaker’s world into filth and confinement. Domestic and bestial images—bullman, sty, dustbin, fish puddle—trace a shift from uneasy intimacy to utter degradation. The speaker becomes subordinate, naming herself "Duchess of Nothing," suggesting loss of identity, agency, and hope. The pervasive gloom and claustrophobic setting link the poem to themes of entrapment and mental despair in Plath’s work.
Read Complete AnalysesHe was the bullman earlierm King of the dish, my lucky animal. Breathing was easy in his airy holding. The sun sat in his armpit. Nothing went moldy. The little invisibles Waited on him hand and foot. The blue sisters sent me to another school. Monkey lived under the dunce cap. He kept blowing me kisses. I hardly knew him. He won't be got rid of: Memblepaws, teary and sorry, Fido Littlesoul, the bowel's unfamiliar. A dustbin's enough for him. The dark's his bone. Call him any name, he'll come to it. Mud-sump, happy sty face. I've married a cupboard of rubbish. I bed in a fish puddle. Down here the sky is always falling. Hogwallow's at the window. The star bugs won't save me this mouth. I housekeep in Time's gut-end Among emmets and mollusks, Duchess of Nothing, Hairtusk's bride.
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