Sylvia Plath s The Bell Jar - 1130 Words

Sylvia Plath is known as a profound writer, depicted by her lasting works of literature and her suicide which put her poems and novel of debilitating depression into a new perspective. In her poem â€Å"Lady Lazarus,† written in 1962, her mental illness is portrayed in a means to convey to her readers the everyday struggle of depression, and how it affects her view of her world, herself, and even those who attempt to tackle her battle with her. This poem, among other poetry pieces and her novel The Bell Jar, identify her multiple suicide attempts, and how the art of dying is something she has become a master of. Plath’s â€Å"Lady Lazarus,† about her trap of depression and suicide attempts, is effective and thought provoking because of her allusions to WWII Nazi Germany and the feelings of oppression and Nazism that the recurring images evoke. Beginning with the title, Plath takes a clear point of view as a Jewish person in the Holocaust. The Lazarus of Bethany, who was raised from the dead by Jesus, is the first allusion Plath incorporates. Lady Lazarus is a play on the Lazarus of Bethany, as Plath feels as if she has died several times from her failed suicide attempts, which she explains in the beginning of the poem. She believes she has tainted every decade of her life with an unsuccessful attempt, and can’t seem to go ten years without a new one. In the second stanza, she begins to introduce her allusions to the Holocaust and German Nazis, but not before she explains that she isShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Sylvia Plath s The Bell Jar 2248 Words   |  9 PagesTara Cameron Ms. Frega English 2.1 May 8, 2015 Sylvia Plath and Depression Sylvia Plath was a young and talented writer with the potential to exceed literary expectations. She was able to write a semi-autobiographical book about her struggle with depression and suicide, putting her personal story into the character of Esther Greenwood. The Bell Jar is the story of the hardships of a young woman named Esther who is clinically depressed and who struggles to keep up with the world around her. EstherRead MoreAnalysis Of Sylvia Plath s The Bell Jar 1573 Words   |  7 Pages How Sylvia Plath represent madness in the Bell Jar The book shows us a young girl who wants to be totally in charge of her own life where females were expected to be interesting and educated but only marry and be a good wife for ambitious men. She wants to enjoy life and experience every bit of it as she wants it to be. This would never work and in some ways she is born early. She would have been better in the ‘women s lib’ age ready for independence and happy of going places. Always able toRead MoreSylvia Plath s The Bell Jar1758 Words   |  8 PagesAmerica experienced similar oppressions, suppressions, questionings of worth and intelligence, and similar legal restrictions. American female authors such as Sylvia Plath and Adrienne Rich used their dexterous writing abilities to convey their feelings of displeasure in regards to women’s treatment in the 1950s and 1960s. In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood is a young woman of 1950s America, but she has thoughts, opinions, and feelings that do not align with those of her society. SimilarlyRead MoreSylvia Plath s The Bell Jar960 Words   |  4 PagesIn Sylvia Plath’s novel, The Bell Jar, Plath expresses her opposition to the idea of men having complete control over every aspect of women’s lives by utilizing the narrator Esther; a radical feminist, to speak out against conformity in a society run by men. Esther represents everything controversial about domesticity in the twentieth century. Throughout the novel she touches on taboo subjects such as radical feminism, rape, and resistance of patriarchal dictates, all of which were touchy topicsRead MorePersonal Growth Sy lvia Plath s The Bell Jar1177 Words   |  5 PagesPersonal Growth in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath uses this quote in The Bell Jar to show the main character Esther Greenwood struggles. The quote states as followed,â€Å"There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room. It s like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction--every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it s really you gettingRead MoreSylvia Plath s The Bell Jar2369 Words   |  10 Pageshowever, Sylvia Plath may be one of the most iconic. Many believe living with debilitating mental illness can aid in creativity. Throughout Sylvia’s short life, she produced brilliant yet immensely troubled writing. Sylvia Plath’s struggle with both Bipolar Disorder and Depression is communicated within her writing through her use of creativity, visceral language, and emotional rawness. Her inner turmoil can be interpreted in her brilliant and vehemen ce evoking poetry as well as her novel, The Bell JarRead MoreSylvia Plath s The Bell Jar, And Her Other Works1413 Words   |  6 Pagesend† (Goodreads). In Sylvia Plath’s final days, the things she desired, did in fact annihilate her. Sylvia Plath desired perfectionism and the need to feel like she acquired a meaning. As interpreted in the novel, The Bell Jar, and her other works; Sylvia Plath parallels her own traumatic path throughout her life and her downward spiral during the 1950s, explaining her struggle with her mental suffocation and the inexorable depression that contaminated her mind. Sylvia Plath’s emotional turmoilRead MoreWomen s Sexual Experience By Sylvia Plath s The Bell Jar 918 Words   |  4 Pagesfaced in terms of their sexual experience. Through the eyes of the main character, Ester Greenwood, the novel focuses on the struggle between what women were beginning to gain and the antiquated notions of female purity and innocence. Ultimately, The Bell Jar critiques the gendered double standard women faced regarding sex in the mid-twenty-first century in its exploration of purity, equality, and freedom. The novel begins when Ester is nineteen and â€Å"pureness was the great issue† (82). She is encumberedRead MoreThe Cause Of Sylvia Plath s Depression1447 Words   |  6 PagesThe Causes of Sylvia Plath’s Depression When reading any works by Sylvia Plath, it is easy to focus on the depression of her writing. However, it is important to understand why she wrote most her works about depression. Plath based her works on her own life experiences. Sylvia Plath’s most commonly known book, The Bell Jar, is thought to be an autobiography. Aurelia Plath, Sylvia’s mother, published the book Letters Home, a collection of all the letters Sylvia wrote to her mother. The letters sheRead MoreThe Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath1211 Words   |  5 PagesSylvia Plath Research Paper Title The Bell Jar place[s] [the] turbulent months[of an adolescent’s life] in[to] mature perspective (Hall, 30). In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath uses parallelism, stream of consciousness, the motif of renewal and rebirth, symbolism of the boundary-driven entrapped mentally ill, and auto-biographical details to epitomize the mental downfall of protagonist, Esther Greenwood. Plath also explores the idea of how grave these timeless and poignant issues can affect a fragile