When I was reading The Bell Jar, I immediately thought of the film Harold and Maude whenever I read a section about Esther's acceptance of, or search for, death. Esther defines neurosis as "wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time" (Plath, 94). The example she uses, of wanting to live in a city and in the country, is simply the very tip of the iceberg of Esther's frequently conflicting desires, the most prominent, perhaps, being her desire both to die and to live.
In Harold and Maude, the main character is a young man who has yet to discover what to do with his life. He spends a great deal of time enacting theatrical and gory death scenes - whether or not he actually means to kill himself is never clear. It is only when he meets and connects on a deeply emotional level with Maude that he is able to truly live his life with joy. For Esther, there is no Maude, only a continuing line of people who can't quite reach her. Through Esther's eyes, readers glimpse the people who tried, in their own unsuccessful ways, to connect with her. Buddy wrote a poem which he showed Esther, Doreen tried to take Esther out, and Betsy "was always asking me to do things with her and the other girls as if she were trying to save me in some way," (6).
Maybe Esther simply has less hope than Harold. Maybe she is actually chemically depressed while Harold is simply unfulfilled. The fact of the matter is, Esther actually tries to kill herself. She throws caution and self-preservation to the wind when she skies down the mountain. She attempts to slit her wrists, though she is unable to actually go through with it. She takes "at least fifty [sleeping pills]...and started taking them swiftly... one by one" (168-169). Her preoccupation with death is an established element of her character, but in The Bell Jar, death is a darker and more literal reality than it is depicted in the film. While Harold and Maude shows death to be a final, peaceful release at the end of a long life, The Bell Jar makes death an ugly process, full of mistakes and violence.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think it's the aftermath of suicide that's particularly violent--Esther's broken leg, the bruised face, the electroshock therapy, the bleeding etc. In theory, death seems like a mechanical act--at least that's how Esther thinks about it: a matter of finding a place where you can attach the cord of your mother's bath-robe, of swimming as far as that egg-shaped rock in the distance so that one would drown, etc. Remember that Esther can't stand the sight of blood.... It's interesting to compare Esther's suicide attempts with the one successful attempt we see, Joan's death. Her cheeks, writes Plath, "bloomed like apples."
ReplyDelete