Critical Essay on The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
...st honors in 1955 and went on to Newnham College, Cambridge, in England on a Fulbright fellowship. The next year she married the English poet Ted Hughes and taught for two years as an English instructor at Smith College. In 1960. In 1960 Plath returned to England with Hughes and published a collection of poems called The Colossus. Her second novel, The Bell Jar, was published in 1963 under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas." During the final three years of her life, Plath abandoned the restraints and conventions that marred much of her early work, and wrote with great speed. She produced numerous confessional poems of stark revelation, channeling her long-standing anxiety, confusion and doubt into poetic verses of great power and pathos. Nevertheless, at her creative peak Plath committed suicide on February 11, 1963 in London. The Bell Jar was reissued under Plath's own name in 1966, and reached American shores in 1971 after copyright problems delayed its publication in the United States. Several works were also published posthumously, including Ariel (1965), Crossing the Water (1971), Winter Trees (1971), Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams (1977), and The Collected Poems (1981). The Bell Jar was first published in London in January 1963 by William Heinemann Limited publishers under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, for Sylvia Plath questioned the literary value of the novel and did not believe that it was a "serious work." More importantly, the novel had numerous parallels to the life of its author. Both Sylvia Plath and her fictional counterpart, Esther Greenwood, lost their father at early ages and hail from the Boston area. Sylvia and Esther were both poets who were noted for winning prizes and scholarships; although the college which Esther attends is not stated explicitly in The Bell Jar, it is a prestigious women's college that could easily be Sylvia Plath's own Smith College. As stated earlier, Sylvia Plath received financial aid for tuition from Olive Higgins Prouty, the novelist and author of Stella Dallas, who later became a friend and patron for Plath, thus paralleling the relationship between the fictional philanthropist Philomena Guinea and Esther Greenwood. In one scene, Esther would like to slit her wrists, but feels the need to experiment first. Instead of taking the razor to any vital arteries in her body, she opts to let the blade fall somewhat harmlessly on her calf. During this short and horrifying excerpt of the story, Plath utilizes imagery to excite the reader. The ‘small, deep thrill’ is in response to the biology of the situation. Of most parts of the body, an area with exceptionally low numbers of nerve endings is the calve. It would take the available nerve endings at least a few seconds to send the information of being severed to the brain, almost in conjunction with Esthers witness to the blood. Plath then compares the welling up of her blood to fruit, which is obviously a hint towards one of her goals. If Esther is to be a tree that continues to bear the fruit of blood, the only possible outcome is her eventual destruction. For most of society, the phrase, “to bear fruit,” claims a prosperous and triumphant tone. This direct association between suicide and reward leaves no room to object. Replicating the events of the firs...