Eventually, Esther sneaks into the cellar with a bottle of sleeping pills -- prescribed to her for the insomnia she was experiencing, without any other real attempts to understand or solve the underlying problems of her mental upset -- having left a note for her mother saying she was taking a long walk. Esther then swallows as many of the pills as she is able, and it appears to be several days (it is never conclusively stated in the text) before she is found and taken to the hospital, where she awakens to learn that she has yet again been unsuccessful.
Following her physical convalescence, Esther is subjected to electroconvulsive therapy, which she notes has a soothing effect on her depression. Things begin to look somewhat better for Esther; she is being well-cared for at a private hospital paid for by a rich benefactress and admirer of Esther's work. The novel closes with the future seemingly uncertain, as Esther enters the room wherein she is to receive an interview by the hospital's medical board to see if she can be released without presenting a danger to herself. Esther already alluded in previous narration to a child she had borne, however, so it is known -- even if it is not shown in the novel's final scene -- that life does go on for Esther Greenwood to at least some degree, and that indeed the darkest period of her life seems already behind her.
A Comparison of Heroines
There are many details of Esther's experience that cannot be confirmed or refuted by Plath's own life, largely because her journals from this period are either non-existent or simply remain unpublished and hidden by her estate, primarily her mother and Ted Hughes in the years immediately following her death (Steinberg par. 14-5). There are also many areas that can serve as excellent points of comparison between the semi-autobiographical story of Esther Greenwood as it appears in The Bell Jar and Sylvia Plath's real life, both in terms of the symbolism that creates difference yet illuminates similar qualities, and in the events of both lives -- real and fictional -- that coincide in nearly every detail, showing the obvious crafting of her own story in Plath's one and only novel.
The most obvious incident for comparison is the sleeping-pill suicide attempt that was such a pivotal point in both Plath Esther greenwood's lives. The details of the two incidents are almost identical, from the hiding in the cellar to the newspaper's printing of a kidnapping report before she is found to the series of hospitals that both Plath and Greenwood were transferred to before finally receiving adequate care at a private institution thanks to the largesse of a friend (Plath; Steinberg). From this scene alone, regardless of the other details of Esther Greenwood's summer that are quite obviously taken from the rela-life experiences of Sylvia Plath, it is clear that Greenwood is serving as a surrogate for Plath in her own life story. Though the full trajectory of Plath's life is not, of course, included in the novel, the apparent optimism with which it ends is likely indicative of Plath's real feelings at that pint in her life.
At the same time, it is essential to remember that the novel is a fictionalized and highly symbolic version of Plath's life. It has even been suggested that a more correct and meaningful reading of The Bell Jar focuses in the symbolic elements of the novel itself rather than on the relation the plot bears to Plath's own life or even to the narrative of the novel itself (Buell). According to this view, the clear relationship that exists between Esther Greenwood...
That sums up her mother's life to her, and she does not want the same life for herself. Another interesting aspect of the novel is Esther's relationship with men, many of whom represent her missing father in one way or another. Her relationship with Constantin and most of the other men in the novel is platonic, and she trusts these men with certain aspects of her personality. She "sleeps" with
How Esther is a Model of a Self-Sufficient Woman in The Bell Jar Introduction Sylvia Plath’s first person narrator in The Bell Jar comes across as a Holden Caulfield type—a disaffected, somewhat lost, but highly intelligent individual capable of critical thought and therefore exceedingly lonely in a world of conformists, who seem to show no desire to question anything or to know themselves. The narrator of Plath’s novel is Esther Greenwood—a young
Plath as well as an examination of two of her poems. There were three sources used to complete this paper. Her Life Sylvia Plath spent her short adult life as a writer. Her works are held up today as classic pieces of poetry and literature and examined for their undercurrents as well as their meanings. Plath was born in 1932 to a professor father of German descent and an American mother
Sylvia Plath: A Brilliant but Tortured 20th Century American Poet One of America's best known twentieth century poets, Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) lived an artistically productive but tragic life, and committed suicide in 1963 while separated from her husband, the British poet Ted Hughes. Before her death at age 30, Sylvia Plath had suffered a bout of severe depression for several months, the likely result of her separation from Ted Hughes and
Daddy by Sylvia Plath: An Explication At first glance, Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" seems like the ranting of an adolescent breaking away from an oppressive parent. In fact, on one level, this poem is a poetic tirade directed at a father who is the source of considerable pain, but Plath has loftier goals than adolescent angst for this poem. The narrator in "Daddy" is actually a 30-year-old woman and presumably the voice of
There were also a few children's books by Sylvia Plath that there publish which include: "The Bed Book" (1976), "The It-Doesn't-Matter'Suit" (1996), "Collected Children's Stories" (2001), and "Mrs. Cherry's Kitchen" (2001). In conclusion, Sylvia Plath is a great American poet, short story writer, novelist, and essayist that provided the world with many great poems, short stories, prose and essays. For most of her short life, she suffered from clinical depression,
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