Sylvia Plaths The Bell Jar - Feminist Thought :: Feminism Feminist Women Criticism

The ships bell saccade - Feminist Thought The Bell Jar This autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath follows the story of Esther Greenwood, a third family college savant who spends her spend at a ladys fashion magazine in Manhattan. But despite her high expectations, Esther becomes bored with her work and uncertain around her own future. She redden grows estranged from her traditional-minded boyfriend, Buddy Willard, a medical student later diagnosed with TB. Upon returning to her hometown New England suburb, Esther discovers that she was not selected to take a Harvard summer school fiction course, and subsequently starts to slip into depression. Esther finds herself unable to concentrate and transact daily tasks. Therefore she decides to undergo a few sessions with Dr. Gordon, a psychiatrist, and even undergoes treatments of electroshock therapy. As the depression sinks in, Esther becomes obsessive nearly suicide, and tries to kill herself by crawling into the cellar whe re she subsequently ingested a bottle of sleeping pills. Esthers begin fails and she is taken to a city hospital, and then over to a confidential psychiatric institution by the intervention of a benefactor. As Esther begins to recover, she develops a close relationship with her psychiatrist Dr. Nolan, and eventually leaves the hospital as a transformed woman. This transformation, spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation is exactly the kind of happy ending described by Fay Weldon. In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath ends the book with the scene of Esther going into meet the doctors of the mental evaluation board. She is rest appearside the room with Dr. Nolan, observing the people around her and making observations about herself Dont be scared, Doctor Nolan had said.But inspite of Doctor Nolans reassurances, I was scared to death. There ought, I thought, to be a ritual for being born twice patched, retreaded and pass for the road, I was trying to think of an appropriate one w hen Doctor Nolan appeared out of nowhere and touched me on the shoulder. All right, Esther. I rose and followed her to the door..and manoeuvre myself by them (the doctors), as by a magical thread, I stepped into the room. (pg.199) This special assessment is significant to the rest of the work because Esther goes through a drastic change in order to get where she is now. At the start of the novel, Esther is seen as very intelligent, yet she faces the womans dilemma of choosing between career and family to the ambivalence of be a virgin.