Sylvia Plath, A Suicidal Mind
A mother of two, a wife to Edward Huges, a woman who went through a miscarriage directly followed by a major surgery and a thirty one year old who committed suicide by gas. This is the life of Sylvia Plath, a very severely depressed but brilliant poet. In 1962, the year before her death, her husband Huges had cheated on her. During this year she was feeling very lonely and had a terrible outlook of herself. The yearning for death became more and more of a possibility to her. In a book entitled Letters Home by Sylvia Plath, she wrote to her mother to reveal her feelings. Also during this time in her life she had wrote many poems. Two poems, which show signs of her suicidal tendencies and depression, are "A Birthday Present", written on September 26, 1962 and "The Arrival of the Bee Box" written on October 3 1962. These two poems along with Sylvia's writings in her letters reveal to the reader what kinds of feelings she had throughout the last full year of her life. Throughout the poems "A Birthday Present" and "The Arrival of the Bee Box" Plath shows signs of a low self-esteem. When describing a box in, The Arrival of the Bee Box she uses descriptions of disfigured people, "...it was the coffin of a midget or a squar
e baby..." (212). A midget or disfigured baby is someone who is considered different from the norm and ugly by members of society. In a letter to her mother she gives a horrifying description of her-self, "Just now I am a bit of a wreck, bones literally sticking out allover and great, black shadows under my eyes from sleeping pills, a smokers hack...." (468). She describes her body as deteriorating becoming somewhat like a corpse. In "A Birthday Present" she talks about something hidden under a veil, "What is this behind this veil, is it ugly is it beautiful," (206). She was not clear about how she truly looked, her self image was clouded. Perhaps Plath was unsure of her beauty and worth because her husband lusted after another woman and acted upon that temptation. She may not have felt adequate enough to keep him from straying and this made her feel unattractive. Along with a poor self-image she showed signs of loneliness.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Bee Box, Sylvia Plath, Richard Blessing, Birthday Finally, David Holbrook, Similar God, Sylvia Plath's, Edward Huges, Box Plath, arrival bee, bee box, arrival bee box, Arrival Bee, human body, 213 box, sylvia plath, temporary object disposed, severely depressed, body temporary, temporary object, box human body, plath severely, human body temporary, body temporary object, sanity explores,
Approximate Word count = 1320
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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