Esther Greenwood as the ’Mad Woman’

Abstract

This article argues that Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar highlights systemic problems and ideologies that defined American society in the 1950s and 1960s, contributing to gender inequality. Many of the social issues that the novel explores are still present in Western cultures today, and therefore the work can be understood as the representation of not only subjective, but a universal female experience. The journey of Plath’s heroine, Esther Greenwood, leads through anxiety, depression, a suicide attempt and shock therapy to her recovery. The novel details the surrounding factors that negatively affect her mental health. The aim of the article is to analyze Esther's story by examining the ideals that perpetuate an unequal system that stigmatizes female sexuality, self-determination and mental illness, and dismisses female experience, thereby highlighting the link between mental illness and social oppression.