Suicide as Cleansing - Death Through Sylvia Plath’s Literary Work
In all of Sylvia Plath’s literary work, the idea of cleanse and rebirth emerge as a central theme. In The Bell Jar, Esther Greenworld needs a physical cleansing through bathing. In her poem Ariel, the entire poem is about shedding herself. So what does dying mean to her? Why is she so compelled with this idea of cleanse and rebirth? We know The Bell Jar is semi-autobiographical, and I interpret death to Sylvia as start is to new. Death for Sylvia is a chance to start anew, to shed the skin or her life (which probably hints to her depression, etc) and start over. In her poem “Lady Lazaruz”, we can see her mindset on her suicide attempts. In multiple stanzas, she says that every time she comes back from an attempt that she is treated inhumanly. She is treated as a miracle, something to sell, rather than a person. In one of the stanzas, she says that “Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman”. This quote shows h...