The Munich Mannequins

Plath opens her poem with a sort of thesis statement about perfection: it is “terrible” and “cannot have children” (Line 1). As the only line in the poem to contain a complete thought, this sentence is an emphatic beginning to an otherwise more enigmatic poem.

Her next four lines expand upon the coldness of perfection by connecting it to female fertility. Just as a mannequin could not procreate, living models embodying this standard of perfection, the speaker states, cannot bear children. As it is as “[c]old as snow breath” (Line 2), perfection “tamps the womb” (Line 2). The womb is associated with rebirth and regeneration through her use of the image of “yew trees” (Line 3) and the “tree of life” (Line 4). The naturalness of menstruation and pregnancy is highlighted in her description of periods as the “unloosing [of] their moons, month after month” (Line 5). The speaker’s definition of perfection through the use and disuse of the womb reflects the impossibility for women to escape from being reduced to their bodies, and the objectification of their bodies for the purposes of men. Models, as a result of their disinterest in pregnancy, have eggs that serve “no purpose” (Line 5) and, by extension, the women themselves then do not serve their purpose.

The next thought is broken up over two lines in two different stanzas, which complicates its meaning. In the first part, the “blood flood” (Line 6), referring to menstruation, is positioned as a “flood of love” (Line 6). The career woman represented by the model has a monthly period, and the continuation of their pursuit of a career is a “flood of love” (Line 6). Yet the second part adds that this is the “absolute sacrifice” (Line 7). Working women have sacrificed motherhood. But this thought could, despite criticizing women for not having children as is their natural purpose, hold a second, more critical reading of motherhood. Motherhood requires women to sacrifice their careers and their identities when they must primarily focus on childrearing and housework.

The next thought also begins ambiguously, with the subject unclear. After reading the complete thought, the subject, “It” (Line 8), is likely motherhood. The mother becomes the child’s “idol[]” (Line 8), as she is the center of their world that contains only the child and the mother. By including a line break before the reference to the mother and child as “Me and you” (Line 9), Plath separates them from others, visually representing that isolation.

Again, Plath’s use of pronouns creates an initial dual meaning. In the same stanza as the one talking about mothers, the speaker refers to “their sulfur loveliness” and “their smiles” (Line 10). Initially, the reader would think this refers to mothers. Yet the next line reveals she has actually switched subjects and has returned to describing the mannequins. The initial description of their beauty as like “sulfur” (Line 10) is contradictory, as sulfur is toxic, and likewise has an association with the devil.

The mannequins the speaker sees “lean” (Line 11) in the windows of Munich, causing the speaker to describe the city as a “morgue” (Line 12). This word allows the speaker to create layers of meaning. On one level, it reinforces the image of the city as cold and dead. The visual of mannequin bodies being kept in a morgue emphasizes the sterility and death the speaker has associated with perfection while also supporting the poem’s description of women as objects. It also recalls the damage the city sustained during World War II.

The speaker then returns to describing the mannequins. She describes them as “[n]aked and bald in their furs” (Line 13). Despite their clothing, these mannequins strike the speaker as emotionally naked and devoid of feeling. The mannequins simply stand on silver poles. The speaker describes them as nothing more than “[o]range lollies on silver sticks” (Line 14), waiting to be consumed. Looking at them is “[i]ntolerable” (Line 15) for the speaker, who is bothered by how they are “without mind” (Line 15).

The speaker then her attention away from the mannequins to the outside environment. She describes how the “snow drops its pieces of darkness” (Line 16). This image continues the speaker’s association of snow with darkness and death. After another stanza break, she continues the thought by observing that “[n]obody’s about” (Line 17)—like the speaker in her society, this line has been isolated from the rest of the thought.

Without a reason that is immediately clear to the reader, the speaker turns to describing hotels and their guests. Guests are “opening doors” (Lines 18) and “ setting / Down shoes for a polish” (Lines 18-19). In her description of the guests, Plath uses synecdoche, where a part represents the whole. Though similarly disembodied, the “Hands” (Line 18) and “toes” (Line 20) are physical and real body parts. These people, then, are in direct contrast with mannequins. In this way, the speaker is once again removing the mannequins and their artificial perfection from the real world and the feminine domestic world.

The speaker’s next shift towards considering the house windows on the street continues the speaker’s examination of the domestic. She begins this stanza with a lyrical exclamation on the “domesticity” of these windows (Line 21). But looking from the outside, the speaker is physically separate from those by the window inside the houses. She describes the “baby lace” (Line 22) curtains and “green-leaved confectionery” (Line 22) that she can see in the windows. The speaker seems to yearn for this life while also feeling separated from it; she is literally on the outside looking in. This moment seems particularly confessional, as Plath herself tried to balance a career with domesticity.

She imagines the residents inside the houses as “thick Germans slumbering in their bottomless Stolz” (Line 23). Their thickness contrasts with thin mannequins. Unlike the speaker, these people are sleeping deeply, fulfilled in their life and secure in their identity. Stolz is a masculine German word meaning pride, often in relation to your own culture. By qualifying their pride as “bottomless” (Line 23), she seems to both yearn for their contentment while also mocking this life.

Her next sentence begins with the word “And” (Line 24), suggesting that there is a missing phrase at the beginning of this thought. These last five lines are more fragmentary than the beginning of the poem. She mentions “black phones on hooks” (Line 24). Her initial observation is a comment on their appearances, describing them as “[g]littering” (Line 25). This physical description mirrors the physical descriptions surrounding the mannequins, while the glean emphasizes the artificiality of both objects. This single word halts the speaker in her tracks as it also seems to remind her of the snow itself. She ends her reflection with the observation that “snow has no voice” (Line 27). This final comment illustrates how the speaker recognizes that women, including the speaker herself, are voiceless in their own society.