MAD GIRL'S LOVE SONG

Sylvia Plath, one of the pioneering women of modern literature, is a writer whose name is always mentioned in the world of literature and whose psychological state strengthens her literature rather than casting a shadow on it, no matter how tragic her life is. Born on October 27, 1932 in the United States, Sylvia Plath, lost her father at a very young age and grew up with her mother's indifference because her mother worked in several jobs under very busy working conditions. The themes of fatherlessness, love and death appear too much in Sylvia Plath's writings. From an early age, her writings were highly appreciated and attracted attention by the people around her. Her interest in literature has continued ever since. Later, she started her university life at Smith College. She has always been among the best in her class in her school life and later won a Fullbright scholarship in the UK. Despite having such a bright personality, she struggled with depression from a very early age due to the difficulties she experienced in her personal life. She attempted suicide several times during her university period.

Oct 11, 2023 - 13:49
Oct 11, 2023 - 19:25
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MAD GIRL'S LOVE SONG
MAD GIRL'S LOVE SONG

One of the most life-changing events for Sylvia Plath may be her meeting Ted Hughes. Ted Hughes is one of the writers of the period, like Sylvia Plath. Writings of Ted Hughes have been highly admired by the literary circle. Sylvia also started to show herself to literary circles at that time. Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath met at a party. They got married very soon after that. They had two children from this marriage. However, although everything looked beautiful from the outside, their marriage life was not so solid at all. Ted Hughes has cheated on Sylvia Plath with other people many times. Although Sylvia Plath suspected this situation, she continued to be committed to her husband with great love. However, as in the university period, death has always been in the corner of Sylvia's mind. It is possible to see their traces in the themes of their poems. 

One day, after Sylvia covered her children's room with tape and towels and made sure that their room was not ventilated, she went down to the kitchen and turned on the gas of the stove and attempted suicide. She then committed suicide by sticking his head in the oven, thinking that this was not effective either.

I have always been scared of you,

With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.   

And your neat mustache

And your Aryan eye, bright blue.

Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You——

Not God but a swastika

So black no sky could squeak through.   

Every woman adores a Fascist,   

The boot in the face, the brute   

Brute heart of a brute like you.

The fatherlessness underlying in Sylvia Plath's literary personality and psychology gave strength to her literary pen. One of Sylvia Plath's most important known work is the poem "Daddy", of which there are two lines above. When we look at this poem from a psychological point of view, there are a lot of implications about the concept of the subconscious. Freud explained the perspective of subconscious and tongue slips and jokes on life and events through human psychology. Freud also stated in his theories that the pains that we thought were forgotten or suppressed in childhood may reappear with the events we experienced in adulthood, and even defense mechanisms were developed to cope with the images hidden in the subconscious. When this is examined in terms of Sylvia Plath's literary identity, it can be seen very clearly that her creativity comes from the fatherlessness and lovelessness she experienced in childhood. In addition, Ted Hughes' cheating on her in adulthood may be an example of how the elements of fatherlessness and lovelessness affected her past and future.

The book "The Bell Jar", in which I first met Sylvia Plath, a literary student who has traces of her life and suffers from psychological distress, has the quality to help the psychological analysis of the author. I believe that all the psychological difficulties Sylvia Plath experienced in her life strengthened her literature. Although her death was premature and tragic, Sylvia Plath left works that would make her name known to the world at the age of thirty and was able to touch people's lives. 

 

References

Aljhani, A. (2010). Critical approaches had been taken by many critics to investigate Sylvia Plath's Daddy poem: Biographical and psychological approaches. Retrieved from goo.gl/LxVRG8.

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