Literature allows a greater understanding of the fundamental concerns and experiences by reflecting a broad range of emotions through the representation of the human condition. Ted Hughes' anthology Birthday Letters (1998) effectively presents experiences related to the human condition, specifically underpinning the sense of conflict, both the constant conflicts of contrasting ideas as well as differing perspectives of marriage between Plath and himself, in his two confessional poems, Minotaur and Red. Similarly, Richard Brooks’ film adaption of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), also depicts the family’s constant tension and conflicting perspectives throughout the text. Both these texts broadens and furthers the reader’s insight on the intrinsic…show more content… Through the visual imagery of Plath, the poem characterises her as a violent sociopath which characterises her unstable health as Hughes remembers “that high stool you swung that day” and downplays her rage by the fact that he was only “twenty minutes late”, presenting the conflicting perspectives in the second stanza. The metaphorical, mythical allusive depiction of her father as the “Minotaur” intensifies the argument that Plath still obsessed over her father and was the reason behind her trauma as the “goblin snapped his fingers” showing his control over Plath, which was the cause of her mental breakdown, and conflict can be presented by the juxtaposing prose given by Hughes. The poem exempts Hughes from the blame of Plath’s death through the use of an accusatory tone and repetition of the personal pronoun “you” and can be further explored by the sarcastic tone of irony of “Marvellous!... That’s the stuff you’re keeping out of your poems!”, which shows Hughes’ differing perspectives as he tries to distance himself from the blame of her death and instead implying that it was all a consequence of her mania indecencies and uncontrollable rage that led her to her downfall. Through this poem, Hughes is able to give a deeper meaning of the human condition of conflict as he presents the different perspectives between his
