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Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer known for her highly autobiographical, confessional style. Plath died by suicide at the age of thirty. The close relationship between her poetry and biography is what gave rise, in the years immediately after her death, to Plath’s status as a feminist icon. Feminist critics saw Plath as having been driven to suicidal madness by men in her life. Specifically, they cited the troubled relationship she had with her authoritarian father, Otto Plath. They also cited her unfaithful husband, the poet Ted Hughes, as well as the unfair burden that motherhood placed on her, particularly after her divorce. For more recent critics, however, Plath’s mental illness takes center stage. Plath’s struggle with bipolar disorder led her to attempt suicide at the age of twenty, in the aftermath of which she received electroshock therapy. The brutality of this experience provided the subject matter for her novel The Bell Jar (1963), as well as for her poem “Lady Lazarus” (1962). Today, many readers and critics revere these works, among others, for their unflinching depiction of mental illness and despair.

Next section Historical and Literary Context

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