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The Bell Jar |
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It is important for everyone to discover who they are and identify their true self. In “The Bell Jar,” by Sylvia Plath, the main character Esther Greenwood does not know who she is and lets the personalities of those around her become her own. Esther tries to transform herself to those that surround her by taking in their different personalities, trying to find the right one that could be hers. She allows those that surround her to decide who she is. In doing so, Esther loses the power to define who she is which leads her into madness.
Esther wants to be perfect and, therefore, wants to be everyone but herself. Throughout her life, Esther has had perfect grades and the perfect boyfriend, Buddy Willard. Her world comes crashing down when Buddy confesses that he had sexual relations with a waitress one summer and she learned he was not perfect after all. “I found out how he had fooled me all those years and what a hypocrite he was” (Plath 62). Esther begins to think that she must find that perfect person inside her so she uses alter egos and personality adaptations, which lead her into confusion and self-denial.
Esther’s desire to be carefree and a risk taker is inspired by the character Doreen, who is fashion-
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Below are additional random excerpts from the paper...
Esther’s desire for knowing her true self brings out a problem she can not handle. She does not know what she wants or what she wants to be. When she thinks about her future, she sees a fig tree and each branch represents a different path she wants to follow.
member of society. She learns to free herself from others’ expectations. Once she is able to reveal her true self in her own way, she develops new confidence and perspective. Once Esther has freed herself from the bell jar she feels renewed. She anxiously awaits her expected dismissal from the hospital. But before she is to be released she must appear before a committee that will decide whether she can leave the hospital. At last, Esther finally seems in control of her own life, she is guiding herself back into society. However, she is still oppressed by the threatening nature of the bell jar. “All the heat and fear had purged itself. I felt surprisingly at peace. The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above my head. I was open to the circulating air” (Plath 215). At last Esther is free, but not completely. The bell jar still hangs over her head. It is like a dark cloud waiting to envelop her once again, in her madness. Further, Esther asks: “How did I know that someday - at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere - the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn’t descend again?” (Plath 241). Esther is able to go on with a seemingly functional life. But she feels like a ticking
Some topics in this essay:
Dr Nolan,
Doreen Esther,
Esther Greenwood,
Buddy Willard,
Esther Doreen,
bell jar,
,
true self,
Sylvia Plath,
esther doreen,
esther greenwood,
party esther,
esther able,
esther begins,
esther’s desire,
fig tree,
madness esther,
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Approximate Word count = 997
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)  |
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RELATED ESSAYS |
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Bell Jar .... relationships with each other. The author Sylvia Plath demonstrates this in the novel, The Bell Jar . This is the direct result .... |
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Confinement in the Bell Jar .... In The Bell Jar, first published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, in London in 1963, Sylvia Plath wrote a lightly disguised autobiographical novel that .... |
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Feminism In The Bell Jar .... The Tragedy of such a society is that talented young woman such as Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath are unable to reach their potential. .... |
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The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, tells the story of a gifted collage student, Esther Greenwood, for seven months of her life from her time as a student guest .... |
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Bell Jar Essay Sylvia Plath 's The Bell Jar is an autobiographical account of the author 's mental breakdown and suicide attempt as a young woman. .... |
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PROFESSIONAL ESSAYS |
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Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath expresses feelings of depression leading to suicide mirroring her own personal torment and fears. |
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Science Questions Qu. 2 As the air is pumped out of the bell jar; the balloon inflates because the pressure of the air outside the balloon decreases, allowing the air inside the |
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Sylvia Plath another. Plath continued working as a teacher and writing poems and her largely autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. However, HughesÆ |
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Sylvia Plath's Personality of Sylvia Plath's personality, especially as it is presented through the character, Esther Greenwood, in the autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, in terms of |
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Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath was much more explicit about the stereotyping of women in the 1950s, not only through images in her poetry but in her novel The Bell Jar, an autobiographical |
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Sylvia Plath's life and poetry They were as clear, surely, as the facts assembled about Plath's life, the 'evidence' of The Bell Jar, and the clear correlation of autobiography and poetry in |
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