Interrogating "The Detective"

Abstract

In this essay, I consider many narrative perspectives Plath employs in “The Detective” in her attempt to disembody painful instances in her past; primary of these is her use of familiar detective tropes to create distance and increase intensity while attempting to expose truth. The poem follows a speaker through a house that is a time capsule of betrayal and disappearance. Plath’s appropriation of familiar literary figures Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson lends credibility to the investigation, while offering a victim the distance to defamiliarize herself with the crime of her own disappearance. Readers, whom I refer to as ride-along readers, are witnesses within these narrative pathways. They witness the killer’s consideration, the investigation, the mental processing of the investigator, and the recollection of the concerned client — who could be the victim herself. Plath’s use of shifting tenses, pronouns, and perspectives weaves a narrative that folds in on itself, carrying a reader through a distorted reality that is, in the end, quietly violent and tragic not only in the loss of life but also in the result of an ultimately failed investigation. While the investigation is unsuccessful, the effort is motivated by a desire for agency. I consider Plath’s motivations and commentary on the role of authors to investigate the broader relevance of their experiences. Plath’s work serves as a lesson for those who are in search of perspective and truth in their own journeys of self-discovery.