The Bell Jar

Plath had few options available to her and her overwhelming mental and emotional state hung, like a bell jar, “suspended” over her head at times trapping her to suffocate in her own despair, and occasionally the jar lifting, gifting Plath with sweet relief and fresh air. On the exterior, Plath was an intelligent, ambitious, and passionate girl who was too sensitive for her own good. She effortlessly hosted…

never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” - Laurell K. Hamilton. The novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is effective when it comes to covering the critical approaches. Esther Greenwood is an extremely depressed character who is working for a magazine, and spends her timing trying to be perfect to earn scholarships who created a “bell jar” that traps her in her own mind and distances herself from everyone else including society and her own mind (Baig 1) ,…

This poem was created at the same time as “The Bell Jar” right before Sylvia’s first suicide attempt in August 1953. This poem narrates a conversation between the poet and the reader, where the poet is telling the reader that if she closed her eyes ,she will forget about the world,and get in her…

Electroconvulsive Therapy, which uses electrodes to cause a minimal seizure and ultimately reduce symptoms of all different kinds of mental problems and disorders (Electroconvulsive)). This was what inspired her single novel published, titled The Bell Jar. After being hospitalized, she decided to return back to Smith College, then found out she could study at Cambridge University in England on scholarship. She took the chance and moved across the Atlantic Ocean. While at Cambridge, she fell in…

Mademoiselle magazine and spent that summer as the guest editor in the magazine’s New York office (Lague 1148). At the end of the summer, Plath attempted suicide and got psychiatric treatment and electroshock therapy, this event inspired her piece The Bell Jar, which…

Sylvia Plath established a brilliant academic record and exhibited talent both as an artist and as a writer, publishing her first short story in Seventeen magazine soon after finishing high school. Her academic and literary successes continued after her admission to Smith College in the fall of 1950. The recipient of several prestigious scholarships, she performed impressively in her college courses and published her works in several national magazines, earning, among other accolades, a summer…

Sylvia Plath’s autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar sets itself amongst the experiences in the life of a young woman, Esther in a male-dominated society. It has been open for debate due to the controversial themes discussed and the honest way Plath discusses them. One of these themes includes feminism and Plath’s supporting views on the subject by utilizing characters and scenes from her novel to provide the strong commentary on American women seen in the novel. The most unique woman present…

The poem “Tulips” was written after her stay at a mental health treatment center for a suicide attempt, which was also the basis for her only novel, “The Bell Jar.” The poem goes into more depth about how the hospital made her feel free from her life and troubles until the ‘tulips’ are made present in the story. The feeling of freedom is from the distance away from her distant and unloving husband, while the…

Patrick Amy Writing about Literature Dr. Lavelle Midterm March 6, 2015 Sylvia Plath: the Writer, the Pioneer, the Idol. In her brief and productive life, Sylvia Plath produced some of the more notable and controversial work than that of any of her contemporaries. Plath’s distinctive themes ubiquitous in her work enables her to broach a body of material that many other writers are incapable of: her dedication to exploring certain themes that others did not left an ineradicable mark on American…

everywhere by allowing others “to learn about suicidality (sic) from a study of the writings and lives of women such as Plath” (Gerisch). Thanks to Sylvia Plath and others like her, representation of women is less of a problem in today’s society. The Bell Jar, whether Plath realized it would or not, crossed many social boundaries that would continue to affect the greater good in the future. Plath’s personal testimony within the novel and her representation as a woman with mental illnesses had a…