Biography of Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was a troubled writer to say the least, not only did she endure the loss of her father a young age but she later on “attempted suicide at her home and was hospitalized, where she underwent psychiatric treatment” for her depression (Dunn). Writing primarily as a poet, she only ever wrote a single novel, The Bell Jar. This fictional autobiography “[chronicles] the circumstances of her mental collapse and subsequent suicide attempt” but from the viewpoint of the fictional protagonist, Esther Greenwood, who suffers the same loss and challenges as Plath (Allen 890). Due to the novel’s strong resemblance to Plath’s own history it was published under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas”. In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath expresses the

Sylvia was born in Boston on 27th October 1932. She has grown up in a family environment which supports self-improvement and literal works. Sylvia’s father, Otto was a dominant presence in the house. He died when she was eight years old because of pulmonary embolism after an amputation surgery. After Otto’s death Aurelia worked too much to ensure a good living for her children. They moved from one place to another for many times. This situation caused an unstable family life for both children. Sylvia’s first published poem was published after her father’s death. She was a motivated and successful student at school. She earned a scholarship from Smith College in 1950 and continued to read

In 1963 on a cold winter day of February 11th, Sylvia Plath ended her life. She had plugged up her kitchen, sealing up the cracks in doors and windows before she was found with her head inside of her gas oven inhaling the dangerous fumes. She was only thirty years old, a young woman with two small children and an estranged ex-husband. A tragic detail of her life is that this is the second time she had tried to commit suicide. Plagued with mental illness her whole life, which is evident within her poetry. She would write gripping, honest portrayals of mental illnesses. Especially within Ariel, the last poetry book she wrote, right before she took her life. Although it’s hard to find a proper diagnosis for Sylvia Plath, it is almost definite that she at least had clinical depression with her numerous suicide attempts and stays in mental hospitals undergoing electroshock therapy. Sylvia Plath is now famously known for her writing and the more tragic parts of her life. Such as the separation from her husband, Ted Hughes, mental illness, etc… Plath may not have intended for her life and art to become inspiration to many people but that has become the end result. Sylvia Plath writing shows symptoms of her suicidal thoughts. To study specific moments in Sylvia Plath’s life, it can be connected to certain writing’s of her’s, such as “Daddy”, The Bell Jar, and “Lady Lazarus”.

For most adolescents, the coming-of-age period can challenging and painful. For Esther Greenwood in “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, however, coming-of-age is literally life-threatening. As she notices the differences between herself and her friends and attempts to find meaning in her life, Esther regresses into madness, and then makes several unsuccessful attempts to end her life using various means. The source of Esther’s discontent, however, is never entirely clear. In, “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, the author expresses that Esther’s journey and events are that of a coming-to-age realization or story for her.

In The Bell Jar, author Sylvia Plath explores the aloof sexism of the 1950s generation by elucidating main character Esther Greenwood’s inherent discontentment with the misogyny-consumed era that inevitably leads to her psychological demise. A rare insight to the despairing fate of a young woman who doesn’t fit within the cookie-cutter lifestyle American society was laid out to be in the mid-20th century American Dream. Just as the novel is title The Bell Jar, Esther’s journey in entering adulthood was narrated in the shape of a bell jar, starting out well, then entering a massive curve shape of hysteria and gloom, and concluding with determination and perseverance to rectify her mental state. Esther’s obsession with attempting to comprehend the

Sylvia Plath is one of the most popular poets during her time of living. She wrote many poems and even wrote one single novel. She was able to take events in her life to influence the way she wrote. Sylvia Plath even based the main character of the only novel she got to write The Bell Jar on herself and her own experiences. Sylvia Plath suffered through many events that had to do with her health, but she was able to recover from those and it inspired her writing. Much of her writing reflects the suffering that she went through emotionally, physically, and definitely mentally. With her writing and personal life the author of The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath, is able to develop the theme of being successful and overcoming the hard parts of life no matter what the obstacles are.

The award winning novel known as “The Bell Jar”, written by Sylvia Plath, is said to be a thin line between a work of fiction and a true story. Taking place in the 1950’s, it depicts the journey of an intelligent, hardworking young woman’s descent into insanity. With themes of sexuality, feminism, and mental illness, this book (published in 1963) was truly ahead of its time. Although it is technically a work of fiction, the story itself is a nod to Plath’s past and contains many similarities to her own life.

Sylvia Plath was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts on October 27, 1932. Plath’s family moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts when she was four years old. When she was eight, her father, Otto Plath died, this was same year she published her first poem. Plath was a very hardworking, persistent student in high school. She was soon rewarded after her graduation with many published works and successes. Plath attended Smith College with two scholarships. At Smith, she excelled academically and achieved many things in her writing career. In the summer of 1953 she attempted suicide and went through different kinds of therapy. She soon recovered and earned a Fulbright scholarship to Cambridge. There she met her husband Ted Hughes, they soon had children together. Plath had to deal with many difficulties in her past and in her marriage. In 1963 Sylvia Plath attempted suicide once again and succeeded.

Sylvia Plath the famous American writer from Boston, Massachusetts accomplished many great poems and short stories in her short life. One of the greatest quotes and a personal favorite is“If you expect nothing from anybody, you’re never disappointed.” By this quote she helped people rely more on themselves than on others. Even though Plath life was tragically cut short due to suicide, she made great accomplishments in todays life and her work is still used in everyday life. In many classrooms throughout the world.

Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar explores the life of nineteen-year old Esther Greenwood, an English major who is rather disdainful toward the 1950’s society she lives in. Esther does not desire to be controlled by society’s gender-based constraints. To add on, Esther feels greatly oppressed by the patriarchal framework constructed. The existence of the “authentic self” is absent in Esther’s life as she embarks on the search for her identity. Despite her successes in school, Esther slowly begins to descend into a mental breakdown since she cannot come to terms with her authentic self. Throughout The Bell Jar, Esther’s identity is constituted through a series of masks, costumes as well as performances. By the end of the novel, Esther escapes from the bell jar by eradicating abnormal and queer desires and recovers by possessing the performance of conforming to the disciplining structures of heteronormative expectations.

Sylvia Plath received a scholarship after Smith to attend Newnham College in England. She met her husband, Ted Hughes, there. Ted Hughes was not a very good husband and they went through a tough relationship. In the end, he left her for another woman, eventually leading her to the depression that ended her life. While studying at the university's Newnham College, she met Ted Hughes.

Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Her love for poetry started young as her father, Otto Plath, suddenly passed away after Sylvia’s 8th birthday, dying from undiagnosed diabetes. This would greatly influence her later works. After his passing, her mother, Aurelia, took Sylvia and her brother, Warren, to Wellesley Massachusetts to live with the grandparents. She had good memories when her father was around, this inspired her to write her first poem, that was published in The Boston Traveller. She wrote all throughout her childhood and eventually started writing short stories to be published in magazines. For example, she wrote a total of 45 pieces of work to the magazine and they eventually published

Perhaps the most famous work of Sylvia Plath’s is The Bell Jar -- a book that follows the mental deterioration of a nineteen-year-old girl named Esther through the narration of Esther herself. Although Sylvia Plath hated life in general and committed suicide at the age of 32 after her husband left her, the myriad autobiographical elements, metaphors, and motifs that appear throughout her works produce a beautifully vivid representation of people, the world, and life itself (“Sylvia Plath”).

Sylvia Plath once said, "It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative- whichever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it,"(Brainyquote). Sylvia Plath had her despairing negative moments, but she also had her joyous positive moments. Plath was an extremely talented, unique, and creative writer and her work is still remembered today. Plath influenced literature in a positive manner because she used her poetry to stand up for woman, she was not afraid to speak the truth, and she threw herself into her work.

Sylvia Plath, the author of The Bell Jar, writes in a very simple and ordinary but exceptionally unique way. She put her whole young genuine heart and soul into this semi-autobiography. Her first person point of view allows the reader to really engage with the characters thoughts, specifically Esther Greenwood and her perspective on everything. In The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood encounters the coming of many things, including age and mental illness. While the coming of age is normal for the majority of society, the coming of mental illness is abnormal. With that being said, many may classify Esther Greenwood as abnormal and deviant but in all reality,