The Journey from Madness to Womanhood In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

Abstract

This study aims to explore the journey of American women from madness to achieve womanhood. The study analyzes Sylvia Plath’s novel, The Bell Jar ﴾1963﴿, which is published under the pseudonym, Victoria Lucas. This thesis depends on two literary theories which are feminism and psychoanalysis. It sheds light on female madness, seeing it as a cultural construction more than as a physical malady. On the other hand, the work aims to explain the ways women fight and manage to overcome their madness. One of these ways, the thesis assumes, is writing which help them spread their ideas worldwide. Indeed, writing proves to be a valuable strategy to overcome madness and to fight patriarchy. Through writing, females succeed in fighting the rigid patriarchal structure and in changing the wrong status quo.