Madness in Sylvia Plath s The Bell Jar: A Foucauldian Reading

This paper is accomplished to probe Sylvia Plath s The Bell Jar in the light of Michel Foucault s theory of madness comprehensively set forth in his History of Madness 1961 Foucault introduces a new way to perceive madness and its association with dominant discourses Furthermore he argues that the concept of madness is constructed within the social context and different institutions affect its definition He surveys how each era treats madness and affirms in modern times people considered mad are exiled confined in madhouses and later in clinics where they are treated with drugs Set after World War II The Bell Jar highlights women s conditions as well as shows how protagonist is labeled mad and is hence impelled to go to asylums where patients are under the vigilant surveillance of the authorities to go through the process of normalization To discern how she is considered mad this article probes the dominant discourse of the time under the impact of social and political and cultural conditions Furthermore this study examines how a so called mad considered Other and treated after being confined by the disciplinary system of the asylum in a panoptic world in addition to describes the aim of treatment is to punish and control a patient not to cure This article indicates that Sylvia Plath tries to picture what is defined as women s madness is the result of the patriarchal society of the post war America The mental illness has nothing to do with blood it is rather the result of the social inequality of the age It is a new endeavor to analysis this novel based on Foucault s idea of madness