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Mourning,
Melancholy, and
  Sylvia Plath
    William Todd Schultz
Previous Psychobiographys on
                Plath:
•   Lester (1998) - attributes Plath’s suicide to the theories of
    Schneidman, Murray, and Beck, and believes Plath
    suffered from manic-depressive bipolar disorder in the
    months leading up to her suicide

•   Shulman (1998) - attributes Plath’s suicide to a wish to join
    her father, Otto, in death as well as issues of alienation,
    perfectionism, self hate, and the realization of the failure
    of her marriage
(Continued)
• Thompson (1990) attributes Plath’s suicide
  to a severe form of PMS
• Runco (1998) attributes Plath’s suicide to a
  “psychoeconomic hypothesis” - deals with
  time investment theory: Plath felt unwilling
  to invest anymore time in her creative
  potential so death was the next course of
  action
Schultz:
•   finds fault with these previous psychobiographies
    because they do not do Plath and her art justice in
    that they do not follow her actually words/writing,
    he goes on to note that Plath was very insightful
    about her own moods/state of mind, so we, as
    psychobiographers should use what she writes in
    order to determine theories

•   also notes that many of these psychobiographies
    used an abundance of “probably(s)” in their
    writing, which “gradually lose all qualification”
Main Argument:
• correlation between loss and creativity
• loss of father, Otto, was the single most
  salient event in Plath’s life and is the basis
  for her later suicide
• Plath was heavily influenced by Freud’s
  Mourning and Melancholia, wrote that it
  described exactly what she was feeling in
  her journal
Freud’s Mourning and
        Melancholia
•   both develop out of loss, but while mourning
    is not pathological and decreases with time,
    melancholia is based in extreme dissatisfaction
    with the self
•   for Plath, the loss of her father shattered her
    love for him, she could emotionally overcome
    this event and therefore extreme self hate
    developed
(Continued)
• this leads to a path of self punishment because
  it creates a desire to kill this internal object
  (self) that is causing grief
• therefore, suicide is actually an attempt to kill
  the inner self and rid itself of melancholia
• in this way, Plath’s suicide was a murder-
  suicide, but ultimately still resulted in her own
  death
(Continued)
• Otto’s death was a salient event for Plath
  because she idolized him - when he died, she
  claimed “I will never speak to God again”
  which could account for both a God and Otto
• Freud attributes this intense fixation as a result
  of a “problematic self ” in that (in this case)
  Plath has no real separation/boundary between
  herself and others
Schultz:
• Ultimately, Schultz believes Plath
  misunderstood Freud’s true intent in that
  she immediately attributed the loss of her
  father to all of her psychological problems -
  they are definitely a cause, but may not be
  the only cause
• Schultz says to fully understand Plath we
  must focus on the “why” of her suicide
Critiques:
•   The previous psychobiographers seemed to “diagnose”
    Plath - with bipolar disorder, PMS, etc

•   Schultz continually refers to The Bell Jar’s writings as
    evidence for Plath’s fixation on her father and hatred of
    her mother, yet The Bell Jar is a novel written by Plath
    told from the first person perspective of Esther - we
    cannot view Esther’s “thoughts” as simply an extension
    of Plath’s own, however similar, because Plath was
    creating a character, though the character is quite
    obviously based on herself, it is still a character
(Continued)
• These interpretations made by Schultz do
  provide a clarification of behavior and fit
  with the general knowledge of Plath
• Though, it did end a bit abruptly in that it
  laid out the foundation for the explanation/
  theories about behavior, but did not explain
  further on how we can evaluate the “why”
  of Plath’s suicide

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Plath pb

  • 1. Mourning, Melancholy, and Sylvia Plath William Todd Schultz
  • 2. Previous Psychobiographys on Plath: • Lester (1998) - attributes Plath’s suicide to the theories of Schneidman, Murray, and Beck, and believes Plath suffered from manic-depressive bipolar disorder in the months leading up to her suicide • Shulman (1998) - attributes Plath’s suicide to a wish to join her father, Otto, in death as well as issues of alienation, perfectionism, self hate, and the realization of the failure of her marriage
  • 3. (Continued) • Thompson (1990) attributes Plath’s suicide to a severe form of PMS • Runco (1998) attributes Plath’s suicide to a “psychoeconomic hypothesis” - deals with time investment theory: Plath felt unwilling to invest anymore time in her creative potential so death was the next course of action
  • 4. Schultz: • finds fault with these previous psychobiographies because they do not do Plath and her art justice in that they do not follow her actually words/writing, he goes on to note that Plath was very insightful about her own moods/state of mind, so we, as psychobiographers should use what she writes in order to determine theories • also notes that many of these psychobiographies used an abundance of “probably(s)” in their writing, which “gradually lose all qualification”
  • 5. Main Argument: • correlation between loss and creativity • loss of father, Otto, was the single most salient event in Plath’s life and is the basis for her later suicide • Plath was heavily influenced by Freud’s Mourning and Melancholia, wrote that it described exactly what she was feeling in her journal
  • 6. Freud’s Mourning and Melancholia • both develop out of loss, but while mourning is not pathological and decreases with time, melancholia is based in extreme dissatisfaction with the self • for Plath, the loss of her father shattered her love for him, she could emotionally overcome this event and therefore extreme self hate developed
  • 7. (Continued) • this leads to a path of self punishment because it creates a desire to kill this internal object (self) that is causing grief • therefore, suicide is actually an attempt to kill the inner self and rid itself of melancholia • in this way, Plath’s suicide was a murder- suicide, but ultimately still resulted in her own death
  • 8. (Continued) • Otto’s death was a salient event for Plath because she idolized him - when he died, she claimed “I will never speak to God again” which could account for both a God and Otto • Freud attributes this intense fixation as a result of a “problematic self ” in that (in this case) Plath has no real separation/boundary between herself and others
  • 9. Schultz: • Ultimately, Schultz believes Plath misunderstood Freud’s true intent in that she immediately attributed the loss of her father to all of her psychological problems - they are definitely a cause, but may not be the only cause • Schultz says to fully understand Plath we must focus on the “why” of her suicide
  • 10. Critiques: • The previous psychobiographers seemed to “diagnose” Plath - with bipolar disorder, PMS, etc • Schultz continually refers to The Bell Jar’s writings as evidence for Plath’s fixation on her father and hatred of her mother, yet The Bell Jar is a novel written by Plath told from the first person perspective of Esther - we cannot view Esther’s “thoughts” as simply an extension of Plath’s own, however similar, because Plath was creating a character, though the character is quite obviously based on herself, it is still a character
  • 11. (Continued) • These interpretations made by Schultz do provide a clarification of behavior and fit with the general knowledge of Plath • Though, it did end a bit abruptly in that it laid out the foundation for the explanation/ theories about behavior, but did not explain further on how we can evaluate the “why” of Plath’s suicide

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