I’ve been noticing lots of people writing about Esther and
her views as being trapped under a bell jar and I decided to throw in some things I've noticed as well. In post, after reading Esther’s feelings of her depressed state
and feeling trapped beneath a bell jar, some of her interactions and
descriptions make more sense. For starters, in class we talked about how Esther’s
descriptions of other characters seem more like caricatures than reliable,
realistic descriptions.
This could be a side effect of Esther looking at the outside
world as if she were looking though a bell jar as they are made of glass and
when looking through glass (especially curved glass) features of things on the
other side get distorted and exaggerated which is exactly what happens to
Esther’s caricature descriptions of other people. Doreen has a massive puffball
head of hair as her defining physical characteristic, Dr. Gordon has his smile,
and Dodo looks like two eggs stacked to Esther to give a few examples. This
also extends to their personalities, but given Esther’s state it can be more
difficult to tell just how true those are but for the most part they just seem exaggerated
but true.
Esther also had some memorable interactions with this sort
of distortion or at least the “observer/observed” dynamic that goes along with
the concept of a bell jar. With bell jars normally being used in scientific
fields for observation and killing, the concept fit extremely well. The tour of
Yale with Buddy can be seen as an observation sort of interaction where Esther
was observing, with the placid and critical eyes at the moment, the medical
facilities. She was unfazed by the cadaver, babies in jars, and the facility
itself and the only thing that tripped up that view was the birth. On the more
grim side, Esther’s attempts at suicide could be seen as the “killing of the specimen”
aspect of bell jars as she is trying to kill herself beneath the bell jar of
her life. Of course it can’t be ruled out that Esther herself is being
observed, literally, by doctors when she is being treated by both Dr. Gordon
and Dr. Nolan. This makes the observation aspect of the bell jar go both ways
and creates an interesting dynamic where Esther views the world from inside the
glass and describes it to the reader and the outside observers seem like
monsters, not understanding or caring explicitly what happens to the specimen
(not applicable to all characters). Esther’s mother, as one of the observers,
can’t quite grasp the totality of Esther’s situation and therefore thinks that
when the bell jar is lifted from Esther’s life, she can return to it like
nothing has happened. For Esther, that’s impossible, she’s experienced the
feeling of being trapped and watched as well as the freedom on the outside,
being able to also observe herself now that she is not in the midst of the bell
jar. The stark contrast of the environments creates a memory for Esther that
can never be forgotten.
Yea, I definitely think this dynamic of "inside/outside" is very interesting. She doesn't even seem to have much sympathy for the other women at the country club mental ward, other than the one woman who never talks. It's also interesting to see that Esther's mental illness doesn't stem from a desire for attention or sympathy; in fact, when her mother tries to be kind to her, she reacts very poorly.
ReplyDeleteYour point about other people seeming like caricatures due to Esther viewing them from a warped perspective makes a lot of sense. I was going to say "I wonder if this is true for opposite", but then I remembered that, like you said, bell jars are for observation, and it would make no sense if the specimen inside looked warped to the person looking at it. Still, that's a weird thought that I think could be pursued. So, Dr. Gordan and Dr. Nolan and her mother and everyone else... Are they really getting an accurate view of how Esther really is?
ReplyDeleteGood reading. One implication of the "stale air" inside the bell jar is that one effect of this profound isolation is that her own perceptions of others are at least as much a reflection of her own condition as they are objective reflections of others. Esther isn't quite *seeing* the world correctly, in part because of her disorder, and Plath is representing that feeling of profound isolation and the impression of other people and society more generally being monstrous. But *as* reflections of her own increasingly solipsistic perceptions, these "distorted" representations of others also *do* reflect some sharp critical perceptions on her part. The distortion of Dodo Conway is maybe the best illustration of this dynamic, as we don't necessarily get an "accurate" picture of what this woman actually looks like, but we get a clear image of how a human fertility-machine could look so horrifying and not-quite-human from Esther's isolated point of view. These distortions at times produce sharp metaphors, and this artistic sensibility is somehow part of the bell jar's effect.
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea of Esther being inside the bell jar and having that affect her view of those around her is really important. I agree that looking back it is a lot easier to understand many of her depictions once we have a better understanding of how she feels and what she is going through. The picture of her standing inside a jar and looking out a distorted images of those around her and feeling observed helps me understand her preoccupation with understanding the feelings of those around her at the beginning of the book.
ReplyDeleteGood point about the bell jar being double-sided. It's not just Esther looking out into the distorted world, but others, including the reader, are looking in and observing her. Your point about her possible motive for her suicide (the "killing of the specimen" is really interesting, and I had not yet thought of her actions in that way. Good post!
ReplyDelete