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Who Is <em>Mad Men</em>'s "Lady Lazarus"?
By
Jen Carlson
Published May 7, 2012
Modified May 7, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published May 7, 2012
Modified May 7, 2012
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Other references to suicide in the episode: the elevator drop, and Megan cooking barefoot, which worries Don as it could cause electrocution.
This post has more SPOILERS than our usual Mad Men posts, so stop reading now if you haven't seen last night's episode. Previously: The Rolling Stones play Forest Hills, Queens, the Charles Whitman shooting spree in Austin, the Richard Speck murders, that "thing'"happened in Bed-Stuy, Roger takes LSD, and Peggy goes to Minetta Tavern.
Last night's episode of Mad Men was titled "Lady Lazarus," also the title of a Sylvia Plath poem—but while the poem is about the pain of recreating oneself and rising from the dead, parts of the episode still left us with a feeling that a certain someone was going to stick his head in an oven soon. To look at it simply: we seem to have a Lady Lazarus and a Sylvia Plath on our hands here, and they both appear to be men (though your further analysis of the poem and what this all means is welcome!).
The reference to Plath's poem seems to be in relation to Don Draper ("For the eyeing my scars, there is a charge / For the hearing of my heart—It really goes / And there is a charge, a very large charge / For a word or a touch / Or a bit of blood"). Don has been transforming this season, and at the end of the episode he's alone with some other meaningful words, listening to the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" (the album Revolver was released in August 1966), which right up front delivers the lyrics, "It is not dying, it is not dying." Don is still growing into his new skin.
Pete Campbell, on the other hand, seems to have crawled inside of Don's old skin, and now can't find his way out. He does seem to be dying, and in the first scene even mentions that his life insurance policy covers suicide "after two years." The entire season so far has had an undertone of dread, particularly in Pete's storyline, which makes sense as the 1960s were about fear just as much as they were about experimentation and reinvention. There's also potential for a non-suicidal death lurking around every corner, with Pete's bad driving, and now his new skis (more on that ski company over at DCist).
Meanwhile, on a lighter note, the ad team is currently tackling Cool Whip, which didn't come onto the market until 1967, but seems to be in the final stages of testing during the episode. Here's an ad from 1971:
Recently we saw Roger Sterling trip on acid at a party where the Tibetan Book of the Dead was mentioned. Fun fact: John Lennon wrote "Tomorrow Never Knows" (which he called "my first psychedelic song") while tripping on LSD. He "recorded himself reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, played it back while tripping on LSD, and wrote the song."
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lady lazarus
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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