Esther in the Bell Jar
Esther feels confined, and like she is being observed like some anomaly. In Chapter 10 she has paranoia that Dodo is walking back and forth purposefully outside her mothers house to watch her. She feels the subconscious judgement of everyone in her community. Esther feels alone and judged my everyone for her condition. This creates a vicious cycle for her that makes her condition worsen because she is in a bad condition.
The metaphorical bell jar that Esther finds herself in seems to cause a two-way distortion. Esther begins to see everyone else around her differently and as evil, and people have no way of seeing into her mind and her pain. She immediately assumes the worst in many people. This stems from her perception that everyone is studying her, as if she were underneath a bell jar, amplifying her conclusion that she possesses insanity.
The second way the bell jar distorts her world is in the way that she is entirely trapped beneath it. Under the constrictions of her mental illness, she seems to be running out of options for recovery, and for her future. Esther "runs out of oxygen" from the vacuum of the bell jar with her attempt of suicide, seeing death as the only option for escape. It isn't until Esther meets Dr Nolan that she is presented with a way out and ways to better her condition.
Throughout the novel, Plath shows Esther's confinement within the bell jar through the distortion it causes on Esther's prospective. This metaphorical prison is caused by Esther's worsening condition. The novel ends with Esther entering a conference of doctors who will decide whether she has been freed from this bell jar, leading into the presumption that Esther has been freed from her prison of mental illness by this more optimistic take on her condition being healed. At the end of the novel, the bell jar might finally be removed.
This is a good description of how Plath shows Esther's condition. I feel like it might have been hard for Plath to openly talk about mental heath during her lifetime, as it wasn't a commonly discussed topic. Her usage of a metaphorical bell jar to symbolize Esther's vision and emotions being clouded by her mental health is a way to help the general public get a sense of the effects of mental illness. I agree that the bell jar distorts Esther's perspective of certain people in her life.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think the metaphorical use of the bell jar is incredibly effective in illustrating the effects of mental illnesses. I also liked that you mentioned Esther's condition is a cycle that only gets worse and worse until Dr. Nolan helps her find a way to get out. Everyone is judging her for being so focused on becoming a writer, rather than settling down and becoming a mother. This leads to her feeling even worse about herself, which makes her feel as though people are judging her even more.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that Plath actually has such a good metaphor in the bell jar; the jar not only constricts and suffocates her, but also distorts her perception of the outside world in a way that makes her situation worse. It also gives a feeling at the end of uncertainty over whether the lid of the jar will ever come back down now that it has been lifted.
ReplyDeleteI think its interesting that you say the bell jar might finally be removed indicating that Esther is still under it, I agree with I think Esther is still under it but I also think that the bell jar looming over her head it the most free she is going to get I don't think its possible to remove it completely I think the bell jar will always loom over her head and she will always feel its lingering effects
ReplyDeleteThe use of the bell jar is a really interesting way of portraying the mental illness that Esther has. The Bell Jar tints her view of the outside world while also suffocating her with the social pressures of motherhood and gender roles. Great post.
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