The imagery of decay in the novel is used to support the idea that Esther’s mind breaks down; it decays. Plath does this by using various symbols; one of which is the bell jar. Esther refers to the bell jar throughout the novel. She feels that the bell jar has trapped her inside and is suffocating her. This relates to death. The bell jar traps her in the unreal world where people are constantly judging and observing her from the outside. Slowly she is decaying in it until “all the heat and fear had purged itself. [She] felt surprisingly at peace. The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above [her] head. [She] was open to the circulating air.” Once the bell jar is suspended above her, it is as if she has stopped suffocating and is normal again.
In the novel Esther has to make life choices. Plath uses the symbol of the fig tree to show Esther’s life choices. Esther, in the novel, “sees [her] life branching out before [her] like the green fig-tree.” Plath uses the imagery of decay here to show how Esther cannot make her mind up. She sees each and every fig, as a “wonderful future.” Esther “wants each and every one of them” and feels like she is “starving to death” because she doesn’t know what one to choose. The figs start to decay and go “black”. The use of the fig-tree is to show how Esther is uncertain in her life. This contributes to the overall decay of her mind as of her struggle to find her identity.
Esther’s long search for her true identity is signified yet again by the Plath’s usage of the motif; the mirror. There are various events in the novel where Esther looks into a mirror and is not able to recognise herself. She describes herself as “big, smudgy-eyed Chinese woman” for example, showing her continual lack of acknowledgement of her own true self. The way Esther describes herself in the mirrors is of a decayed look and thus relates to Esther’s unselfconsciousness like the fig-tree.
Esther’s search for identity can be thought to be one of the main reasons (as well as the world judging her) of Esther’s mental illness. Esther suffers from mental illness for a large period of the book. Plath uses this disease as a sign of Esther’s mind decaying in the novel.
These techniques that Plath has used in the novel aid the imagery of decay. Esther mind is decaying due to her mental illness, her decayed portraits (in the mirrors) show how she is not able to recognise herself. The imagery of death is also used as a successful technique by Plath throughout the novel. Joan’s suicide shows a significant breakthrough in Esther’s recovery. Here, Esther realises that Joan’s death does not really affect her much and Plath uses this to show a sign of Esther’s recovery. So here the imagery of death is used to show a recovery in Esther’s health by the usage of Joan’s death.
Throughout the novel, Esther attempts suicide. She suffers from traumatic depression and mental illness. Her failure at suicide attempts may be seen as foreshadowing a recovery of her sickness. Plath uses the motif of blood to mark transformations or major events in the novel. An example of a transformation Esther undergoes is when she loses her virginity to Irwin. Plath uses the motif of blood to allow Esther to feel experienced. “[Esther] couldn’t possibly be a virgin any more. [She] smiled into the dark. [She] felt part of a great tradition.” Plath uses this because she wants to show a transformation in Esther’s recovery.
Plath uses the imagery of death once again to show how Esther “was only purely happy until [she] was nine years old.” this was when her father died. The usage of death here indicates to us that Esther has not been happy for ten years. The imagery of death can be linked to unhappiness because when someone dies there is a lot of unhappiness involved.
The imagery of death and decay are used by Sylvia Plath throughout the entire novel. She uses literary devices such as motifs, symbols and themes to relate to these images. She does this for many reasons, some of which are; to emphasise the breakdown, and recovery, of Esther’s mental health and to show when Esther was ever truly happy. I think Plath uses the reoccurring images of decay and death well in the novel to achieve certain transformations in Esther’s life.
Andrew Benton.
