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Sylvia Plath: Escaping the Bell Jar

© Pamela St. Clair

With a poet's attention to details and metaphors, evident from the very beginning with the Rosenbergs' electrocution mirroring Esther's shock therapy, Plath weaves a smart story of survival. Or does she? In her famous poem "Lady Lazarus," written near the end of her life, Plath alludes to her suicide attempt:

Dying
Is an art, like everything else
I do it exceptionally well.

I do it so it feels like hell.
I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I've a call.

The poem ends on a note of triumph: "Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air." In The Bell Jar, Esther is not so confident. In the novel's closing scene, she walks to her exit interview at the private hospital, not so much an active agent as a puppet guided "by a magical thread." The heart that brags "I am, I am, I am" is not bragging very loudly. Before this interview, Esther voices her uncertainties: "How did I know that someday-at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere-the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again?" And hauntingly, in real life, it does. The Bell Jar was published in January 1963. A month later, on February 11th, Plath gassed herself in London.

*Editor's note: This article on American poet Sylvia Plath marks the beginning of a change to the British Literature page, which will soon become British and American Literature, 1900 - Today.

For More Information on Plath:

One of the best Plath sites on the web is The Sylvia Plath Forum, maintained by Elaine Connell. Here you can simply read or contribute to discussions about Plath's life and her writing. The site also includes analysis of Plath's poetry, pictures, reviews, audio recordings and links to other informative Plath sites.