Esther Through the Looking-Glass: Self-Image De(Con)struction in Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar"

Abstract

[EN] The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of mirrors in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Specifically, I concentrate on the six scenes in which a mirror is literally or metaphorically present in order to sustain my thesis that it represents a socio-cultural filter in the protagonist’s process of self-image construction, and that it mediates between her body and her mind, as well as between her superego and her ego. I approach my analysis from a gender perspective that is mainly grounded in the theories of Judith Butler regarding the construction of sex and gender as social tokens of either belongingness or alienation. Given that the protagonist’s identity is (de)constructed through a lookingglass, I employ John Berger’s conception of the act of seeing to explore the nature of this process of self-identification and self-definition. I also approach the relationship between the ‘gazer’ and the ‘gazee’ from a feminist perspective by applying Michel Foucault’s definition of the act of seeing as surveillance and self-discipline. Since I contend that the presence of a mirror triggers dysmorphic and dissociative episodes in Esther, the main character, I base my analysis, on the one hand, on Susan Bordo’s understanding of the body-mind dualism as a source of psychopathology, and, on the other, on Butler’s rethinking of Sigmund Freud’s concepts of the ego and the superego. In fact, my analysis fundamentally explores the way in which Esther’s sadistic superego surfaces through the mirror in order to remind her of her unfulfilled social expectation as a woman.

[EUS] Sylvia Plath-en The Bell Jar eleberrian agertzen diren ispiluen funtzioa aztertzea da lan honen helburua. Nire tesia defendatzeko sei eszena aztertuko ditut zeinetan literalki edo metaforikoki ispilu bat agertzen da. Ispiluek iragazki soziokultural gisa funtzionatzen dute protagonistak haren autoirudi eta identitatearekiko duen pertzepzioa eraikiz eta baldintzatuz. Era berean, haren gorputz eta gogamenaren, zein supernia eta niaren arteko bitartekari dira. Nire analisiari genero ikuspegitik helduko diot, Judith Butler-en teorietan oinarrituz sexu eta genero eraikuntzari dagokionez, hauek ‘partaidetasunaren’ edota alienazioaren adierazle sozial gisa ulertuz. Protagonistak haren identitatea ispiluaren objektuaren bidez (des)eraikitzen duenez gero, John Berger-rek “ikustearen egintzaren” inguruan duen ikusmoldeaz baliatuko naiz auto-identifikazio eta definizio prozesu horren izaera interpretatzeko. Bestetik, “behatzaile” eta “behatua” kontzeptuen arteko erlazioa ikuspuntu feminista batetik ikertuko dut, Michel Foucault-ren “ikustearen egintzaren” definizioa aplikatuz, autozelataze, diziplina edo zigortze moduan ulertuta. Ispiluek Estherrengan, hau da, protagonistarengan, eragindako bai ikusmolde dismorfikoa bai disoziazio pasarteak aztertzeko, alde batetik, eta gorputz-gogamen dualismoa psikopatologiaren iturburu dela argudiatuz, Susan Bordo-ren ideiak izango ditut oinarri, eta, bestetik, Butler-ren gogoeta Sigmund Freud-en supernia eta niaren kontzeptuekiko erabiliko dut. Izan ere, ispiluen bitartez superni sadikoa azaleratzen dela argudiatuko dut nire analisian, protagonistari emakume izateagatik bete beharreko estereotipo sozialak gogorarazteko helburuarekin.