Poetry and the Marriage of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes Essay

In the introduction of her book Her Husband Hughes and Plath a Marriage (2003), Diane Wood Middlebrook wrote that numbers had brought Hughes and Plath together, and verse line had kept them together (Middlebrook, n. pag.). Indeed, the marriage of poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes is best described as a union of 2 talented but volatile personalities who both competed with and complemented integrity a nonher through poetry. But this observation was ofttimes ignored due to the overly simplistic accounts of their marriage, especially those that foc apply on the period shortly in front and after Plaths demise. Hughes is almost always depicted in these explanations as a philandering muliebrityizer, while Plath is shown as a clingy and overly paranoid wife (St. Clair, n. pag.).The manners of Sylvia Plath has often been presented as the struggle of a vivid mind against madness. Plath was an excellent student, graduating summa cum laude from Smith College in 1955 and obtaining a Fu lbright scholarship to Cambridge University shortly afterwards. A quick-witted writer, she make her poems in magazines and won literary awards since her teenage old age. However, these accomplishments were overshadowed by her battle with mental illness (MSN Encarta, n. pag.).Plath began to knowledge episodes of depression, insomnia and suicidal thoughts during her youth, all of which were possibly triggered by her fathers demise when she was only eight years old. In her junior year in college in 1953, Plath tried to kill herself by hiding on a lower floor her household and overdosing on sleeping pills. She was afterwards confined in a mental institution for hexad months, whither she was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Plaths later writings made a constant reference to her experiences with this treatment (MSN Encarta, n. pag.).Plath made a temporary recovery in January 1954, allowing her to graduate from college and dog further studies in England. spot in Cambr idge, she met Ted Hughes. notwithstanding warnings from friends about his fickleness in consanguinitys, Hughes and Plath fell in love with each other and got hook up with in 1956 (Neurotic Poets, n. pag.). Their first child, Frieda, was born in 1960, followed by Nicholas in 1962 (MSN Encarta, n. pag.).At first, Plath and Hughes enjoyed a happy marriage. Theirs was a relationship that was fueled by their joint passion for poetry (John-Steiner, 136). For Plath, Hughes was not sightly a economize he was a father figure who bear fill the void caused by the premature death of her trustworthy father. She revealed this belief in an undated letter to her mother, AureliaWe read, we discuss poems we discover, talk, analyze we continually fascinate eachother. It is paradise to grow someone like Ted who is so kind and expert and brilliantalways stimulating me to think, pull in and write. He is better than any teacher, he evenfills somehow that huge, sad hole I matte up in having no father. (137)As a result, Plath idolized her husband completely. She had so much faith in his ability as a poet that she accomplishmented very hard to have his poetry published in side of meat and American magazines. But according to Vera John-Steiners book Creative Collaboration (2000), Hughes feelings towards his wifes efforts was not established (John-Steiner, 137).Unfortunately, later accounts of their marriage implied that Hughes was suffocated with Plaths excessive clinginess. His sister Olwyn recalled that he could not go on the simplest of errands without her grabbing a coat and running after him (John-Steiner, 137). Consequently, Plath and Hughes fought often and the latter had an extramarital affair with a married woman named Assia Wevill (Neurotic Poets, n. pag.). He eventually left her for Wevill in 1962 (MSN Encarta, n. pag.). Plath described the stormy condition of their marriage out front their separation in her poems Words heard, by Accident over the Phone, Pop pies in July and glowing the Letters (Neurotic Poets, n. pag.).Plath and her children locomote to London in December 1962. She wrote poetry at a feverish pace during this period, with an output of much than 25 poems. What made these poems which included A Secret, The Applicant and Daddy noteworthy was that they contained Plaths brutally honest opinions about her marriage and her fathers passing. In January 1963, her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar was published chthonic the pseudonym Victoria Lucas (Neurotic Poets, n. pag.).Despite these literary accomplishments, Plaths depression worsened. She killed herself in the early morning of February 11, 1963 by putting her head inside a gas oven (MSN Encarta, n. pag.).It would be fair to say that Plath and Hughes used poetry to asses the effects of their tempestuous marriage on themselves. The Applicant, for instance, revealed Plaths anger over what marriage does to a womanBut in twenty-five years shell be silver,In fifty, go ld.A living doll, everywhere you look.It can sew, it can cook,It can talk, talk, talk. (n. pag.)For Plath, marriage and or domestic relationships condemned a woman to a living death (Dobbs, 11). When a woman marries, her worth will be based on how well she takes complaint of her family. In effect, she is almost similar to a dead person because her identity as an individual is replaced with that of a wife and a mother.The Applicant was probably based on Plaths dilemma as to whether she should still pursue careers in the academe and in writing even if she was already married or just publish herself to being a full-time housewife. Letters to and the remembrances of friends and family members revealed this conflict. Although Plath was fitting to maintain a balance between work and family life, she resented her family for making demands that drained her creativity. But at the same time, she felt guilty for harboring such bitterness her husband left her for another woman probably beca use she didnt spend enough time on him. It moldiness be noted that one constant source of their disagreements was that Hughes wanted Plath to stop working and take care of their children instead (Dobbs, 13).Words heard, by Accident over the Phone, meanwhile, is an account of Hughes affair with WevillSpeak, speak Who is it?O god, how shall I ever clean the phone table?They are pressing out of the many-holed earpiece, they are looking for a listener.Is he there? (n. pag.)According to some accounts, there was an instance when Plath heard the phone in their house ringing as she returned from a morning outing with her mother. When she answered it, it was Wevill, trying to disguise her voice. After Hughes finished lecture to Wevill, Plath was so unhinge that she unplugged the phone wire from its socket. It was only during that incident that Plath realized that her husband was having an affair (NeuroticPoets, n. pag.).Burning the Letters showed Plaths rage over the said discoveryI made a sack up being tiredOf the white fists of oldLetters and their death rattleWhen I came too tight-fitting to the wastebasketWhat did they know that I didnt?Love, love, and well, I was tired (n. pag.)Plath was said to be so upset over Hughes affair with Wevill that she tore up and threw into the fire the manuscript of the novel that she had been working on (the disaster to The Bell Jar). She also burned all the letter that received from her mother, as well as Hughes letters and drafts of poems (NeuroticPoets, n. pag.).Hughes has often been blamed for Plaths death. This was fueled largely by the womens movement of the 1970s, which strongly identify itself with her life and poetry. For decades, Hughes kept silent regarding his former wifes passing. But in 1998, he published Birth sidereal day Letters, a collection of his poems that focused on his relationship with Plath and her sad fate.Hughes implied in most of his poems that one of the reasons for the failure of his marriage to Pla th was their incompatibilities in terms of personal success. Being the daughter of educators, Plath grew up adhering to conventional standards of achievement. Accounts of her life gave the impression that she wanted nothing more but to establish herself both in writing and in teaching. Hughes, on the other hand, felt suffocated at the idea of a tenured academic job (Rees, n. pag.).Hughes echoed this sentiment in The Blue Flannel Suit. This poem mockingly described Plaths nervousness during her first day as an English lecturer in her alma mater. In order to project the respectable image of an academic, she wore a badly-tailored suit that she made by herself. Looking back at this incident, he wroteThat blue suit,A mad, exercise uniform,Survived your sentence. (n. pag.)But in A Picture of Otto, Hughes lamented that he and Plath separated primarily because he was not able to take the place of her father, Otto, in her life. For him, Otto wasinseparable from my shadowAs long as your daug hters words can stir a candle.She could hardly tell us apart in the end. (458)In the end, Hughes finally accepted that Plath will always be her fathers daughteryou never could have released her.I was a whole myth too late to replace you.This underworld, my friend, is her hearts home.Inseparable, here we must remain. (459)Human relationships are too complex for their failure to be attributed to just one person. While Hughes may have his faults, Plath was already a disturbed character even before their marriage. Their poetry was just a reflection of a couple, who, despite their fame, underwent the travails of any other failed marriage. Hence, the works of Hughes and Plath should not be used as additional fodder to continue a battle of the sexes that was blown out of proportion.