As I read The Bell Jar, I can't help but think about the origins of Esther's story. Knowing that Esther is closely based on Sylvia Plath herself, I often wonder what amount, if any, of this story is simply fictional. I noticed while reading the other blogs that Jessica posed an interesting pair of questions in her reponse that I wish to consider myself. She stated, "So, my two questions, posed to both you and to myself, are: a.) how deeply should we allow outside knowledge of Plath's life to influence our reading of novel, and b.) how do we examine the theme of death throughout the work?"
I believe that the outside knowledge we have of Plath's life is a great benefit and helpful influence on our reading of the novel. I feel that when we seperate the two women we potentially destroy our own ability to connect with the story. Because I am aware of Plath's own sufferings and personal stages of development, it allows me to see Esther in a different light. Initially I felt that she seemed somewhat immature and ungrateful, but as I know more about Plath I have a deeper view on Esther's issues. I feel that this novel was Plath's call to the world. While she may have married a man she didn't truly enjoy being with and she may have spent her life in a seemingly never-ending internal struggle, this novel releases some of what she felt to the world. In her death, her words were altered by her husband and her family, but this piece reamins as a testament to the power she had as a woman and as a writer. I believe that when we consider the her circumstances as the author of this novel, we are better able to identify a piece of ourselves or someone we know within it.
Secondly, the theme of death is rather curious to consider throughout the work. I believe that death is what Plath saw as the ultimate solace for her pain. Inherently as an autobiographical work, Esther must feel the same. Both women achieve what appears as academic perfection, but are dissatisfied in the end. Death is not a dreary end to Esther, but a resolutory end for her own self-doubt. While death seems a negative end and rather gruesome to discuss, for Plath it looks as if it is all she longed for... a quiet end.
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The "academic perfection" you mention is, in my opinion, key to understanding this novel. The novel is so carefully composed that it is clearly driven by her desire to turn painful autobiographical fact into artistic achievement. And we need to be careful that we do not neglect that aspect of the novel. Plath draws us into the spectacle of Esther's suffering, but she is the stage manager. You have inspired me to bring her poem "Lady Lazarus" to class--it might help us sort through some of the complications mentioned in these posts.
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