Mental Illness In Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar has many strengths, including the strong feminism portrays. Being a women in the 1950s-1960s was not an easy task, as Esther points out several times. Esther continues to go against the mainstream, telling her mother and friends several times that she refuses to marry and does not want to have children. Plath’s portrayal of Esther’s mental illness is great as well, and there was difficulty in getting The Bell Jar published in the first place due to the stigma of mental illness. However, with as many strengths, there are weaknesses. Due to the state of Esther’s mind, the story seems aloof and even a bit dry, like an overcooked lemon cake. Her interactions are subpar, her relationship with Buddy Willard is simply unsatisfying, and her utter disdain for Joan is saddening. Esther is not an entirely relatable character, which is expected of any novel, and at some points, the reader finds it difficult to like her. According to “The Body as a Weapon in The Bell Jar” by Kathleen Blair, Plath is also guilty of fetishizing innocence, when she writes that Esther becomes practically obsessed with tabloids that exploit the suicides of young women, inserting herself into these twisted fantasies. Despite these faults, The Bell Jar is pertinent for the discussion of mental health and

Plath has an underlying humor that is easy to miss when wrapped up in the tragedies of The Bell Jar. While it can be difficult to relate to Esther, there are some hilarious interactions between her and the characters. In fact, my favorite line of the whole novel portrays Plath’s dark and dry humor: “If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell” (96). On the contrary, it can be difficult to find the joy in Plath’s dark humor if one does not have a dark humor yourself. Jokes about Esther’s mental illness are more uncomfortable than funny to read, if