Sylvia Plath is a name often equated with modern poetry, mental health, and tragedy. However, her tragedy can often outweigh so many of her other qualities, with some people going as far as even romanticising her crippling mental health. Sylvia was a multi-layered woman who never stuck to one title or role, and this was further explored in her various works of writing.
One of the most popular works of writing includes her only complete novel, “The Bell Jar.” This book was published in January 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas after she had left her marriage with Ted Hughes over adultery, and sadly, only a few weeks later, she committed suicide at the young age of 30.
The official plot of “The Bell Jar” follows the main character, Esther Greenwood, on her internship in a magazine in New York. Esther is an academically gifted yet personally challenged character who is studying on a scholarship, yet faces multiple professional and academic set backs further. Even though her ambition aims to defy what is expected of women in 1950s society, her reality does not seem to match. Throughout the book, we see her struggle against her surroundings and her internal self as she falls deeper into clinical depression.
However, outside the official plot, the book is highly personal and autobiographical, with the main character Esther becoming a mirror into Sylvia’s personal struggles, ideologies, and life events. Plath herself described writing The Bell Jar as taking a collection of episodes from her life and throwing them down on paper. This level of personal information even caused her mother to ban the publication of the book, and it was not available in America till 1971.
The book mainly focused on female identity in a conservative 1950s society and the curse of female ambition. If we look at Esther’s life, she is a highly gifted young poet who is ambitious, gifted, and witty, and yet she faces more professional disappointments than her extremely average boyfriend, Buddy Willard, who is studying to be a doctor. Esther’s ambition and wit are then still seen as lesser when compared to that of a man, something Sylvia faced herself.
The relationship between Buddy and Esther mirrors so many aspects of Sylvia’s relationship with Ted. For example, in the book, Buddy admits to having cheated on Esther, and yet he still expects her to be pure before their marriage. A clear example of the different moral standards that men and women faced in society then — and, frankly, even now — and a reflection of the infidelity of Ted Hughes.
The book, in quite a sophisticated manner, dissects the double standards and social expectations that are set on women, all in the name of respect and expectations from a woman’s perspective. At the same time, in the form of Esther, Sylvia creates a character who herself is a defiance of these expectations with the way she acts, lives, and dreams.
At every turn and in every failure, Esther hit on the quiet realisation that if she didn’t make it, she would be pushed into the inevitable life of getting married and having kids — far from what she dreamed of. Through the book, we see her realise that a life with Buddy is her form of hell, and she would much rather choose her ambition over love, which society would not let her do.
Maybe Sylvia felt this way herself, a pang of regret for choosing love. This love ultimately left her powerless, desperate, and on the verge of despair. Through the second half of the book, the double standards of society become a catalyst for the further deterioration of Esther’s mental health as she recounts the inhumane treatments she faced for her clinical depression.
One of these treatment methods was clinical psychology, which Sylvia had endured herself, giving a harrowing account of how often the treatment for mental health conditions could be worse than the diagnosis itself. The book inevitably ends on a dark note, similar to Sylvia’s life itself, with suicide.
The book is brutal, honest, and often dark, but Sylvia gave every girl who read it an example of how they could also be multi-layered, witty, ambitious, clumsy, and more. Esther’s character resonates with many of her readers, as she defies societal norms and expectations.
In a world where female characters can be placed in a box of perceptions, expectations, and tropes, Esther’s character is one that defies society’s expectations even today. The book is a retelling of feelings that we women often face as we traverse through the maze of society’s double standards and heightened expectations.
The Bell Jar is a classic, a legend in post-20th-century literature, and though Sylvia Plath has been an extraordinary writer when it comes to her works about mental health, womanhood, internal struggles, etc., she also has her own list of shortcomings.
Sylvia’s work often contained racist undertones, as was normal for her time. For example, in The Bell Jar, the descriptions of the few people of colour are dehumanising, including the description of Esther herself, who is described as “yellow as a Chinaman” when describing her jaundiced skin as she tries to fit into a new city.
The works of Sylvia Plath were revolutionary then and to some extent even now. Her work is a mirror for the internal struggles that so many women silently face in this hypocritical society that has barely changed. Sylvia does not write for the powerful and the perfect; she writes for the broken, the vulnerable, and the thoughtful, which are her biggest superpowers.