Sylvia Plath

One of the most dramatic events in PlathÆs early life was the untimely death of her father. Thinking he had lung cancer and there was no help for him, Otto Plath neglected his health and refused to see a physician. Once his suffering became unbearable he was ordered to see a doctor and discovered he did not have lung cancer but an advanced case of diabetes. His leg was amputated and his conditioned deteriorated rapidly, bringing about his death in November, 1940. Plath considered her fatherÆs death a form of suicide since he refused to seek assistance, and when told of his death at the age of eight she responded, ôIÆll never speak to God againö (Mondragon 1).

PlathÆs college experiences were quite influential on her, in terms of both her writing and influences she would meet. Her works found publication at times, but a continual stream of rejection slips created depression in her which sh

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self-destructive young woman then describes herself as being ôtwice bornùpatched, retreaded, and approved for the roadö (Plath 275). The Bell Jar is often quite revealing of the entrapped and confined sphere in which Plath felt she existed. She often felt like the warmth of the world was something not accessible to her. As Barnard points out, Plath uses the Bell Jar and the image of a ôblack, airless sackö that permits no exit to describe EstherÆs sense of claustrophobic isolation and confinement within the disaster of her own life (28). The glass walls of the Bell Jar permit Esther to experience only tantalizing, often distorted visual contact with the ôoutside worldö (Barnard 1978, 28). Eventually, Plath would take her own life after HughesÆ affair with another woman and his confession that he could not stand living with her any longer. As one biographer maintains, ôInwardly she felt exhausted and barely able to carry on, unwilling to let the world know and her circumstances pressed in on herö (Welz 2). Plath would become more successful after death than before, with a collected book of her poems assembled by Hughes winning the Pulitzer Prize posthumously, a rare occurrence. If we look at PlathÆs The Mirror, we see the ar
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Approximate Word count = 1431
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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