Mademoiselle

Sylvia Plath can very easily be considered one of the brightest minds in all of confessional poetry. She wrote hundreds of poems in her lifetime and three books: “The Colossus”, “Ariel”, and “The Bell Jar”. Despite all of her brilliance, she was plagued with a sea of mental illnesses. “The Bell Jar” was written to chronicle the events that occurred before and after her first suicide attempt. Her most famous poem, “Daddy”, mentions how she tried to join her father in death. There is even a psychological phenomenon named after her. Her life, though successful, was unhappy, as evidenced in The Bell Jar, Daddy, and the Sylvia Plath phenomenon. “The Bell Jar” is thought to parallel Sylvia’s first attempt at suicide. It is an atypical coming of age story that ends with Esther’s graduation from the mental asylum. Sylvia seems to project all of her thoughts and her feelings onto Esther and watches her own life again from a birds eye view. It can be assumed that this causes her to see how hard her suicide must have been on her friends and her family, and it could have possibly been therapeutic for her. It may have led her to try and see the good in the world, which explains the happy years she experienced in her life until she uncovered her husband’s affair. Esther, much like Sylvia, finally reaches maturity when she finds the strength to reject the conventional model of womanhood. At the end of her journey, Esther and Sylvia know the limits of their mental health and know that they…

A Summer in New York City Before The Trapping of a Bell Jar Pain, Parties, Work by Elizabeth Winder gives an account of the summer in New York City that Sylvia Plath talks about in her novel, The Bell Jar. This novel captivates in great and vivid detail the enjoyment that Sylvia Plath has in the summer of 1953. However, while Pain, Parties, Work sheds light on the vivacious side of Sylvia Plath during that summer, it doesn’t match the life that Sylvia portrays in her own novel. Sylvia in New…

Causes and Impact of Depression in The Bell Jar “The longer I lay there in the clear hot water the purer I felt, and when I stepped out at last and wrapped myself in one of the big, soft white hotel bath towels I felt pure and sweet as a new baby” (Plath 49). The aforementioned “purity” is attributed to transformation, the washing away of the dirt as she descends into a cleaner self. Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar morphs this idea of sanity and purity twisting it to make us all question if a glass…

Daddy and Lady Lazarus are poems written in 1963, by Sylvia Plath and were shortly released after her death. Sylvia Plath is a famous American poet born in October 27, 1932. Plath was really depressed since at the age of 10 after her Father's death. She tried to commit suicide multiple times and failed.Plath's famous Poems “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus” are mainly influenced on her depression and her complex relationship with her Dad and her husband Ted Hughes. Ted hughes leaving Plath left her…

Elements of Voice: The Bell Jar The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a timeless literary classic. One reason that this novel has transcended the ages since the 1960s is Plath’s expert use of the elements of voice. Few novels may stand the test of time. A vast knowledge of author’s craft is necessary to create a story that is intricate and detail-oriented without becoming overly specific and unrelateable. Sylvia Plath suffered from depression throughout her life, which led to her poetry and novels…

Often described as a perfectionist, Sylvia Plath was an enviable, popular, academically successful college student when her losing battle with depression began. Having published her first poem at eight years old, Plath was a writer at her core, and her journey with mental illness can be revealed and analyzed in her writing which gave Plath a method of coping with and externalizing her many debilitating anxieties. In her many published poems, stories, and essays Plath covers topics on identity,…

Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel “The Bell Jar”, briefs the story of an amazing, gifted poet, Esther Greenwood, whose falling apart piece by piece due to the pressure of society. Throughout the novel Esther gave many signs on how she's slowly falling apart. When working for the Ladies’ Day magazine in New York, Esther develops a mental illness. An illness that makes her unable to sleep then leads to her not being able to read and write. She then tries to commit suicide multiple times due to the lack of…

After Madame Ratignolle and Robert’s conversation suggests that Edna’s attraction towards Robert comes from Edna’s desire for an intimate physical and emotional connection she lacks with her husband, Mademoiselle Reisz, with her artistry, subverts that assumption. Edna’s love for Robert does not stem from the loneliness she suffers from her marriage, and she knows this but denies it anyway until Mademoiselle Reisz plays a prelude by Chopin. With the pianist’s help, Edna dejectedly acknowledges…

“Come whenever you feel like it. Be careful; the stairs and landings are dark; don’t stumble.” Page 64, speaker is Mademoiselle Reisz. Edna went to visit Mademoiselle Reisz because she wanted to hear her play the piano, it soothes her. Edna learns that she was receiving letters from Robert and wants to visit her more frequently. Not only does Edna want to see Mademoiselle Reisz to help calm her nerves and help her figure out her feelings, now Edna has an ulterior motive in her visits; to read…

For a brief moment, Viviana thought about raising her hand and telling Mademoiselle Poirier what the voice had told her; about why the soldiers were here, and what they were really attempting to do. Viviana wanted to tell Mademoiselle Poirier that there was something to fear and that no one outside of Bezonvaux was going to liberate them, at least, not anymore. There was a dreadful new war with Hungary and those strange clouds were coming in fast; pushed by the gales of York yet proceeding from…