Plath's Voice Through Esther Greenwood
Sylvia Plath is known for her tragedy. Her story is one of sorrow and torment from her mental illness, which tragically ended in her suicide. I had heard of The Bell Jar before beginning the story in class but was ignorant of the prejudiced view I already had of this book in my mind. The idea that this was centered around Sylvia's tragic suicide lingered in my mind while analyzing this. One aspect of this book that I truly grappled with was the ending. I wondered how Plath could write this, merely months before her death. I had Esther and Plath so deeply intertwined in my mind unconsciously, and I think that is exactly how Plath wrote Esther for her audience.
Her works in poetry directly become about her in a sense, even when she does portray her experiences as another character. However, it seems that Esther can tell a story without it directly being about her. In The Bell Jar, she tackles the misogyny that the medical system is built upon as she writes about her experiences with Buddy's classmates and Dr. Gordon, two prime examples of the problem in the medical field. Esther also voices her thoughts on social standards for women and how the people around her not only push them onto her but will never really understand her. When she tells Buddy she won't ever get married, he mocks her and laughs. This gesture infuriates Esther and further perpetuates the idea that Buddy doesn't get her. All these grievances pile onto each other in a combination that suffocates Esther. She feels more alone than ever and has no idea what her future will look like. The uncertainty of her life swirls around her and begins to slowly kill her, in the way we see her mental decline rapidly approaching and ending with her being institutionalized.
Plath uses The Bell Jar not only as a self-insert type of literary work but also as a place to insert her inner thoughts about the world around her and how she feels about it. In her ending of The Bell Jar, it is most prevalent on how she hopes to continue her life. Her poetry reflects a darker and deeper sense of her mental state from "Daddy" in which she writes of her grappling with her fear of her father and blaming him for the issues she now faces in her marriage with fellow poet Ted Hughes. In her other acclaimed work, "Lady Lazarus," she writes of her intense need to be reborn and her anger towards a patriarchal society. Very obviously, these works are deeply connected to The Bell Jar, but in my readings between the two. I believe Plath created Esther as a brighter future for herself. Plath has an incredible ability to deflect from herself while still getting her point across. I think this ability in what a lot of modern readers struggle with, separating Esther from Plath when reading The Bell Jar and already being aware of the horrors Plath faced throughout her life and how her passing looms over the book as a whole and almost doesn't allow the reader to see the two as separate.
Plath's choice to create Esther with so many connections to her life allows her to share her own grievances as Esther and voice the thoughts that plague her mind. The ability to lift the metaphorical bell jar and physically write a story about yourself but it isn't really you may have given Plath a release from her life. A life where she suffers like she is now but eventually receives the right kind of treatment and can overcome this episode of depression and hopefully begin the journey of recovery. Esther may have been a cry for help from Plath, or her literary voice to explain her mind and her suffering.
Hi Emmie! You do a great job here discussing the complexities of how much Sylvia Plath directly relates to Esther Greenwood. It is definitely interesting to consider Plath's intention behind writing The Bell Jar and ending it on such an optimistic-seeming note, and as a reader it makes you wonder whether Plath was really that optimistic at the time of writing it. You also do a great job highlighting the fact The Bell Jar is a book with a big reputation given the author's life story. Great work!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that it is crucial to read _The Bell Jar_ as a story of survival and recovery, and to remember that Plath herself is revisiting and contemplating these events and experiences a decade later. So there is some "historical" perspective on the time period and the culture she is writing about in the novel: the author is now more confident in her critiques of medical institutions and traditional marriage and compulsory motherhood, and she is writing about Esther as an older and wiser, more experienced person. And we also must remember Plath's mother's report that Sylvia Plath intended, in her own words, to follow up this novel/memoir with a portrait of Esther as "healthy" again, tracing her own experiences at the end of her college career and after (when she found some success with poetry and had her relationship with Ted Hughes, which didn't sour for a few years).
ReplyDeleteThe author of _The Bell Jar_ does not know the ending of her own life story at the time she is writing the book, and this is vital to keep in mind. Even "Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy" feature a strong voice that is buoyant and about survival and even vengeance--they don't sound like the poetry of a defeated person in the depths of despair. And even the fact that Plath is able to write about these matters with such a tone and style says a lot about where she was at the time she was writing: in the novel, as her illness takes over, she can't even read her own handwriting, let alone write a poem or a novel.
Hi Emmie, this was a great comprehensive post that connected all of Plath's and works! Your starting snippet was super interesting to me. I feel like this book could really cover two stories depending on your knowledge and outlook beforehand. When armed with knowledge of Plath's tragic death, the book's story itself seems much more bleak even with Esther's eventual recovery. However, when reading the book blind, it feels more like a story of perseverance and growth, only for readers to later find out the tragic twist of Plath's death.
ReplyDeleteHey Emmie! I really like how you portrayed the relationship between Sylvia Plath and Esther, and how you brought up the idea of Esther representing what Plath wanted for herself. Along with Esther being implied to recover the way that Plath wanted to, I wonder if she had also planned to not marry and have kids and if maybe that was related to how their futures diverged. Overall, you did a really good job of analyzing the novel using its context and history. Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting analysis of how Plath shows herself through Esther while still leaving room for a different future. I also liked how you compared the societal issues that they experienced. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHey Emmie, The way you explored the complex connection between Plath and Esther, especially how you acknowledged the struggle readers face when trying to separate the two, was really good. Your point about Plath using Esther as both a self-insert and a hopeful projection of a brighter future adds so much depth to the way we interpret the novel’s ending.
ReplyDeleteHi Emmie! I love how you found Plath's voice through Esther, and I completely agree. I especially found it interesting that you could see this book and Esther as a cry for help from Plath. There is clearly a lot of suffering throughout the novel, but I think it is also important to think about the more positive, hopeful ending, which may have related to Plath's life, and rather than being a call for help the novel may have been a way for Plath to show others who were struggling that everything will be okay.
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