The following is an introduction to the annotations on selected passages of Sylvia Plath’s novel of The Bell Jar. The hi-lighted words are linked to supporting quotations from peer-reviewed journal articles.
My Own depictions of The Bell Jar : Bell Jar 3 & Bell Jar 4
In Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar, the main character Esther Greenwood receives electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as treatment for her mental illness. ECT is explicitly mentioned twice in the novel, and the context of these appointments implies numerous observations about the treatment of mental illness in the urban U.S. and, specifically, in women. Furthermore, Plath’s decision to make the main character a woman helps to segue the novel into the politics of mental healthcare, which is especially prevalent in the scenes involving ECT. The previous state of ECT and psychiatric treatment lead to the traumatization of Esther and exacerbated her symptomatology acting as a positive feedback mechanism and inciting her suicide attempts. This effect was conflated by the oppression of womanhood that transgressed any of the various societal expectations associated with femininity and further promoted by the institutionalization of Esther when she did not respond positively to the traumatizing ECT treatments. Ultimately, the novel The Bell Jar depicts electroconvulsive treatment as a method of gender oppression and cites the identification and treatment of mental illness as a form of further subjugation.
The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath is often referred to by literary critics as a “roman à clef”, meaning that the story acts as a key to the door of Plath’s existence (Fernandez 163; Taylor Kober and Ross e23 ). Many believe the novel helps readers to understand the many months of suffering leading up to Plath’s taking her own life— despite the relatively positive ending assumed by the ending of The Bell Jar— where the main character, Esther is ultimately discharged from the hospital, and she finally feels “…perfectly free” (Plath 242). This difference in the end of the novel and the end of Plath’s life, provides both important information about the limit of reasonable literary extrapolation from a roman à clef as well as the potential idealization of Esther’s experience with psychiatric treatment. However, there can be substantial literary analysis done on the novel’s ability to reflect on general human experience— irregardless of how accurately the author’s psyche is depicted throughout the story.
The Bell Jar provides a view of how gender oppression both perpetrates and emphasizes mental illness in women through the systematic enmeshing of both societal gender ideals and stigma regarding being mentally unwell in the main character of Esther Greenwood (Fernandez 164-165). Esther is depicted transgressing societal expectations of womanhood in numerous ways: having a career, choosing to lose her virginity prior to marriage, and having a general negativistic demeanor. However, Plath does considerable work to ensure that Esther’s gender transgressions are separated from her experience of madness (Fernandez 1665-166). This is important as the content of the novel functions to act against the negative feedback mechanism of gender oppression and mental illness that is being critiqued by Esther’s experience with being mentally unwell as a woman. Additionally, the role of Mrs. Greenwood, Esther’s mother, functions to represent how the generational divide between women further perpetrates the stigma against mental illness through the vessel of internalized gender oppression.
Furthermore, The Bell Jar represents how systemic gender oppression influences the experience of mental illness as a woman through the patient-provider relationship depicted between Doctor Gordon— the first healthcare professional to treat Esther’s mental illness with ECT. The interactions involved in this treatment develop a precedent that treatments for mental illness can have motives that are focused on benefitting the healthcare professionals over the patient suffering. Specifically in psychiatry, there is a division between whether the treatment for mental illness is being utilized to help the patient pursue healing and recovery, or whether it is being used to subdue the patient and manipulate their behavior (Taylor, Kober and Ross e23-24).
This division in the use of ECT, specifically, as a psychiatric treatment is emphasized through the use of the Rosenberg assassination as a historical plot point in The Bell Jar. As the Rosenbergs were executed through the use of electrocution, electricity is presented from the beginning of the book as a method of capital punishment (Fernandez 165). The inclusion of the Rosenberg assassinations indicate an association between the use of electricity as punishment for transgression, thus creating a rational association between Doctor Gordon and the executioner— someone who robs another of their autonomy. Additionally, the Rosenberg’s were executed after being prosecuted for espionage— which, at the time, was an unforgivable transgression against American society. Therefore, an association can be made to Esther’s transgressions, both in regard to gender expectations and experiencing mental illness. Therefore, ECT and consequential effects of ECT— when delivered in the absence of a functional patient-provider relationship— are perceived as a form of punishment for the trangressions, and not a form of treatment for her illness (Senuick 2).
Ultimately, the use of ECT in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, in the overarching context fo the authorship and historical context of the book provides insight into how gender oppression and mental illness coalesce. The experience of Esther Greenwood identifies how societal transgressions can be effectively punished through the healthcare industry and how ECT is meaningfully connected to both personal and societal trauma. This information should provide meaningful background for the annotations regarding specific quotations from Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar.
