I suppose the fact we all know about Plath is that she killed herself by sticking her head in an oven. I don’t know about you, but whenever I was told that as a young teenager (by teachers or parents) I would laugh. Is it the thought of someone sticking their head in an oven or the idea of a human small enough to fit inside the oven or is it an awkward laugh because the situation is so upsetting? I’ve never really thought about it until now. Now that I’ve read this collection of poems, I know there is nothing funny whatsoever about the way or the fact that Plath died. She was a woman suffering from depression at a time when it was hardly considered a real illness (most people still don’t understand it now). These poems shine a light on some of her thoughts and feelings about life and death. It seems she almost looks at death in awe - as something she aspires to. Maybe I read it this way because I knew the circumstances of her death. Maybe you could find these feelings in any poem if you looked hard enough. Maybe the poems are a reflection of my own feelings - that’s a scary thought, so I’ll discount it straight away.
I read The Bell Jar in my late teens and found similar thoughts surfacing - this is clearly a woman who didn’t want to go on living in this world. But many critics - and I think Plath herself - discount this theory when it comes to The Bell Jar. I’m not so sure myself.
Am I doing the works of Plath a disservice by constantly seeking to find evidence of her ailing mind within their passages? Or - in understanding the social context - am I better equipped to understand her words?
Do you prefer to know a little about the writer before you read their work and then look for links in their writing? Or do you prefer to go in blindly?
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