Examples Of Narcissism In The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

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In spite of The Bell Jar being written about a woman named Esther, Sylvia Plath’s true personality can be seen throughout the novel as she writes about herself using the alias, Esther, to hide her emotions with the pressures that she faces on a day-to-day basis. Plath’s self-absorbed behavior is seen when a character refers to Esther, Plath’s alias, as wanting “‘to be everything’”. Plath’s narcissistic personality is shown as she is unable to decide for herself to the extent that she would rather be everything, so Plath will not have to face difficulty in her own decisions. The Bell Jar is written as a way for Plath to portray her hidden feelings with the pressures she faces by displaying Plath’s personality in a first person point-of-view through the eyes of Esther. Esther states, “What did I think was wrong?,” which shows Plath’s narcissism as she believes that what she perceives as wrong is important due to her state of mind of believing that her opinion is more important than others. Although Plath’s narcism is portrayed through Esther’s behavior, it is seen to increase as the pressures of society force Esther to make a decision on how to pursue her life causing more focus on her own opinions than others.

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