Sylvia Plath Biography

Sylvia Plath was an American author and poet born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 27, 1932. She is most recognised for her only novel The Bell Jar, and became the first person to receive a post-mortem Pulitzer Prize. Plath began writing by keeping a journal at a young age, after publishing several entries she won a scholarship to Smith College in 1950 (“Sylvia Plath Biography”). While studying, Sylvia Plath was accepted as a guest editor at Mademoiselle magazine in New York. Despite the successful career, Plath’s personal life was not as positive. She married a poet Ted Hughes in 1956 whom she had two children with, but their relationship was not ideal and worsened with time. In 1962, Hughes left his wife for his mistress and this caused Sylvia Plath to fall into a severe depression (“Sylvia Plath Biography”). It is during this time

In my imagination, Buddy is a male who greatly admires his mother and follows her conventional advices to an unacceptable extent; he accepts his mother’s conservative ideas of gender roles and how the domestic life should be organised. Buddy does not support Esther’s interest in poetry and called one of her works “a piece of dust” (Plath), stating that she will lose interest in literature as soon as she becomes a mother. Buddy Willard is the impersonation of male chauvinism and sexism in the novel, as he is unable to respect Esther’s ambitions and only sees her as his wife and mother of his children. This character clearly portrays the attitude towards females at the time, indicating on gender inequality. However, Sylvia Plath has demonstrated that such limitations and inequality can be overcome in order to pursue one’s aspirations, as Esther rejects Buddy, his views on life and refuses to become a submissive wife and