The Role of the Nativity in Magi and Carol of the Brown King :: Magi Carol Brown King Essays

The Role of the Nativity in Magi and chirrup of the Brown King What were the Three Wise Men searching for when they followed the north-central Star? They were obviously seeking the Christ child, but they were also searching for the truth and righteousness that he represents. Sylvia Plath in her poem Magi and Langston Hughes in his poem Carol of the Brown King discuss the merit of their respective minority groups through allusions to the nativity. Plath uses the journey to discuss both the ignorance of philosophers quest for the truth and its neglect of females, and Hughes uses the righteousness of the nativity to emphasize the importance of blacks. Plaths poem Magi ridicules the intellectuals theory-based search for truth They mistake their star, these papery godfolk (15). Instead of searching for the meaning to life through living, they seek it in inanimate books. Plath says of the abstracts, Theyre the real thing, all right the Good, the True, howalways, her other references t o them are contradictory, indicating that this is mockery (6). When she remarks that they hover like dull angels, she explains that they are not spoiled with anything so double-dyed(a) as a nose or an eye, and yet, what is a face without features (1-2)? These abstracts are pure as boiled water, loveless as the multiplication table, but how could something so lifeless describe life (8)? By describing the dullness of the abstracts, Plath indicates their unsuitability to guide the search for truth. While the abstracts lead the papery godfolk to the crib of some lamp-headed Plato, Plath leads her readers to the crib of a baby girl (16). While the abstracts are pure as boiled water the infant is also pure the heavy notion of Evil tending her cot is less than a belly ache (7,13). However, although the theory-filled abstracts are loveless as the multiplication table, the child is nourished by Love the mother of milk, no theory (8,14). The abstracts truth is founded in theory the babys t ruth is founded in love. Plath is content that the papery godfolk do not seek the crib of her baby girl. What girl ever flourished in such company? (18). This question attacks the male-dominated hierarchy in which no women of her time prospered. The main message of Plaths poem is that we learn truth in the shoal of life, but why did she use a baby girl instead of a boy?