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Amesh Wickramasinghe
Mr. Kennedy
English A: Literature HL
April 22 2021
A Criticism of Stifling Societal Expectations for Women in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a novel that follows the story of a woman named Esther
Greenwood. Esther is an aspiring writer who is in constant conflict over her role as a female in a
society where the role of a woman is more restricted than it is today. Plath begins the novel with
Esther’s summer internship at a magazine in New York City. During this internship, Esther meets
a variety of other women whom she instinctively compares herself to. Some of these women
include Doreen and Betty who were interns who worked alongside her and Jay Cee who was the
editor of the magazine. As the story progresses, Esther is notified that her dream to be a writer
would no longer be feasible as she was rejected from a prestigious writers program. It is then that
Esther's mental health begins to deteriorate. Throughout the novel, Esther continues to meet
more characters who each uniquely embody society's pressure on women. These pressures
include marriage and childbearing as well as relationships between men and women. As the story
reaches its climax, Esther is admitted into two different mental institutions where she receives
shock therapy, and there Esther experiences first-hand society's view on mental health, especially
when dealing with mental illness in women. In summation, Plath uses the contrast in
characterization between Esther and the other women she meets as the story progresses to
criticize the stifling expectations and biases society has against the gender roles for women.
The first aspect of society Plath criticizes is society's expectations of the female
personality. Plath does this through the juxtaposition of characterization between Doreen and
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Betsy when compared to Esther. Plath uses the character of Doreen to serve as a symbol that
represents an individual who completely disregards societal expectations. Throughout the
beginning of the novel, Doreen acts impulsive and unrestricted as opposed to the ideal societal
standard for women which is reserved and proper. Doreen’s expressiveness is evident in Esther’s
initial description of her when she states that Doreen had “bright white hair” that looked like
“cotton candy fluff round her head” (Plath, 4). This description is opposite to the ideal behavior
of a woman which is to be simple and refined. Esther goes on to say that Doreen has “blue eyes
like transparent agate marbles, hard and polished and just about indestructible” (4). The use of
strong diction such as “hard” and “indestructible” can be interpreted as Doreen’s inner strength
to be able to express herself despite society’s expectations. When compared to Esther, Doreen is
much more confident and sure of herself. Plath’s use of Doreen’s characterization can be
interpreted to be a foil to Esther’s personality as she is unsure of whether or not she should reject
social expectations like Doreen. This shows a criticism on the part of Plath because one’s
appearance should not determine how well an individual fits in society. The fact that Esther, and
other women like her, are unsure shows how the valuation of the female appearance is flawed
within society.
In contrast to Doreen is the characterization of Betsy. Betsy is another intern who worked
with Esther during her summer internship. Plath uses Betsy as a foil to Esther and a juxtaposition
to Doreen as Betsy embodies all the ideal characteristics of a woman that society values. These
characteristics include being reserved and polite. This is evident with Plath’s use of innocent
diction in Esther’s initial description of Betsy where she states that she has a “bouncing blonde
ponytail” (6). Betsy is also described as having a “Sweetheart-of-Sigma-Chi smile” (6) which,
apart from the innocent diction, also shows how Plath criticizes society's inherent expectation of
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women to appeal to men as Sigma Chi is a fraternity that usually consists of men. The
aforementioned evidence shows how Plath criticizes the bias of gender roles against women
because Betsy, unlike Doreen, has very little uniqueness in regards to her personality. She is
described as innocent and kind which in contrast to Doreen does not distinguish her personality.
Therefore Betsy seems more superficial when compared to Doreen which could be interpreted as
Plath's criticism against society. Furthermore, later on in the story, Plath writes that Betsy
actively tries to keep Esther away from Doreen to prevent her from being influenced. This is
evident in the way Betsy is “always asking [Esther] to do things with her and the other girls as if
she were trying to save [Esther] in some way” (6). This can be interpreted as Plath’s way of
using Betsy as a symbol to represent society's dislike of women who do not conform. Doreen,
who expresses herself despite the stifling nature of society’s expectations, is treated as a bad
influence when this is not justified.
The final way Plath criticizes society’s stifling and biased expectations for women is
through the juxtaposition between the female roles as a mother and in the workplace. More
specifically the juxtaposition between Dodo Conway and Jay Cee. Dodo Conway is Esther’s
neighbor and a mother of six, going on seven, children. Dodo Conway represents what society
used to deem the ideal mother, a woman who stays home and tends to her children. Her role is
evidenced by Esther’s initial description of her when she says that Dodo raises her family in a
“big, rambling house” (112) that is surrounded by “scooters, tricycles, doll carriages, toy fire
trucks” (112) and various other children’s toys. Similar to Betsy, Dodo is only described as a
mother, which speaks to the fact that Plath is trying to show how society’s stifling expectations
of a woman effectively drown out a woman's individuality. In this case, Dodo lives to take care
of her children and does not have any ambition of her own which is the focal point of Plath’s
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criticism. This acts as a foil to Esther as this scene occurs just after Esther learns that her career
in writing will be unsuccessful. Esther begins to consider Dodo’s life as a possibility as she says
“Dodo interested me in spite of myself” (112). Plath uses this line of dialogue to show how
society effectively limits Esther’s ambitions as she is not able to become a writer, and therefore
she begins to consider life as a mother. Esther later disregards this by saying “Children made
[Esther] sick” (113). In direct contrast to Dodo Conway is the editor of Esther’s internship
magazine, Jay Cee. Jay Cee is a woman who's made a life for herself in the male-dominated
workplace and effectively overcame the societal expectation of women to stay at home and
nurture children. Plath uses Jay Cee to act as a foil to Esther to portray what Esther believes is
her goal. Jay Cee’s strong and independent personality is evident when she is described from
Esther’s point of view. During Esther’s first description of Jay Cee, Plath characterizes Jay Cee
by writing that she wasn’t “one of the fashion magazine gushers with fake eyelashes and giddy
jewelry.” (5). This quote shows how, unlike a stereotypical female at the time, Jay Cee values her
career and profession over her physical appearance. Plath’s criticism is that even though Jay Cee
values her work and profession, society as a whole tries to bring her down based on an aspect of
her identity that should not be someone’s defining characteristic. This aspect is physical
appearance. Jay Cee is called unattractive multiple times by the women working as interns,
namely by Doreen and Esther herself. This can be seen when Esther says that Jay Cee’s
“plug-ugly looks didn’t seem to matter” (5) or when Doreen says that Jay Cee is “ugly as a sin”
(5). This constant berating of Jay Cee based on her appearance can arguably be Plath portraying
a woman who defied society’s expectations being condemned on a superficial aspect of identity.
Therefore, the characterization of Jay Cee as ugly in contrast to the overall acceptance of the
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personality, or lack thereof, of Dodo Conway, illustrates the harmful effects of the stifling
expectations Society has for women.
In conclusion, Plath uses the contrasting characterizations of Doreen and Betsy, as well as
Dodo Conway and Jay Cee, to illustrate how society has superficial expectations of women, and
these expectations can be stifling at best, and dehumanizing at the worst. This dehumanizing
effect can be seen in Betsy and Dodo Conway as their personalities consist of being kind and
reserved in Betsy’s case and a mother in Dodo Conway's case. Plath also uses her
characterization to show how society punishes those who defy expectations, as is evident by
Doreen being treated as a bad influence and Jay Cee being constantly berated and called
unattractive. Today, the issues touched upon in The Bell Jar may seem dated, however, the
effects of these social constructs can still be seen today in various forms of media and everyday
interactions. Therefore it is important to recognize the harms of said social constructs which is
arguably a major, if not the most expressed theme within The Bell Jar.
Word Count: 1503
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Work Cited
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Faber and Faber, 1966.