Sylvia Plath Known to be one of the best and tortured poets of her time, Sylvia Plath entranced many readers with her melancholic writing. Her life, difficult and hard from early on was reflected in her poetry. She saw poetry as an escape, but it quickly consumed her life. After she met and fell in love with fellow poet, Ted Hughes, she let his career fall before hers. Her poems often reflect the troubles in their marriage and highlighted the toxic relationship that she was so deeply committed to. She used poetry as a therapy and wrote about her troubled relationship with her father, her crippling depression and the marriage she believed to be a fairytale that ended up being a path to mutual destruction. Plath’s life was difficult from
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Her most famous poems are mainly the ones depicting the troubles she had with both herself and the relationships that she had with others. “The Bell Jar” published shortly before her death in 1963, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, was one of her most positively reviewed pieces. It paralleled her life in many ways; the main character, Esther Greenwood, had many characteristics and accomplishments similar to Plath. Both women had successful careers as poets, went to school in England and married men while they were over there. Plath also weaved different feminist themes throughout the novel. She decided to write Esther’s character as a spitfire who had many lovers, something that was quite scandalous in that time period. The novel did not paint Esther as a hussy, only a sexually liberated woman who did not let society rein in on her personal choices (SparkNotes). “The Bell Jar” also offers a glimpse into the mental health struggles that Plath faced. Not only did Esther and Plath share the same career path, they shared the same struggle of poor mental health. In the book, Esther receives electroshock therapy to try and relieve her symptoms. Plath also took part in this procedure, in an attempt to try and alleviate her severe depression. In both cases the procedure was unsuccessful, and both women tried to commit suicide even after the
Her most famous poems are mainly the ones depicting the troubles she had with both herself and the relationships that she had with others. “The Bell Jar” published shortly before her death in 1963, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, was one of her most positively reviewed pieces. It paralleled her life in many ways; the main character, Esther Greenwood, had many characteristics and accomplishments similar to Plath. Both women had successful careers as poets, went to school in England and married men while they were over there. Plath also weaved different feminist themes throughout the novel. She decided to write Esther’s character as a spitfire who had many lovers, something that was quite scandalous in that time period. The novel did not paint Esther as a hussy, only a sexually liberated woman who did not let society rein in on her personal choices (SparkNotes). “The Bell Jar” also offers a glimpse into the mental health struggles that Plath faced. Not only did Esther and Plath share the same career path, they shared the same struggle of poor mental health. In the book, Esther receives electroshock therapy to try and relieve her symptoms. Plath also took part in this procedure, in an attempt to try and alleviate her severe depression. In both cases the procedure was unsuccessful, and both women tried to commit suicide even after the