Suicidal Women in Literature

1. Suicidal Women in Literature

2. Some of the most powerful women in writing are unfortunately some with the saddest personal lives. -This is true for Mary Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf, and Sylvia Plath • When reading these women’s manifestos one sees the hardships that they were facing while alive and the possibilities of equality that these women desired.

3. Mary Wollstonecraft • 1759-1797 • Wollstonecraft lived during the Romantic Age. • She was heavily influenced by the same inspirations as the Romantic poets, especially the idea of revolution. • Wollstonecraft believed that if equality for all classes of men was possible, then equality for women was also foreseeable.

4. Vindication of the Rights of Women • Wollstonecraft’s literary career is most remembered for her essay, “Vindication of the Rights of Women.” • In this work, Wollstonecraft presents the idea that women are not inferior than men and that they should not be treated as such. • She believed that women should live up to their potential and not allow stereotypes for women influence them.

5. Wollstonecraft’s Personal Life • Wollstonecraft was raised in a household of moderate wealth, with a father who was abusive to his wife. • After moving out she acquired some fame with her writing. • At 35 Wollstonecraft gave birth to an illegitimate baby girl, Fanny Imlay. • Being abandoned by her lover, Gilbert Imlay, Mary attempted to drown herself by jumping into the Thames. • Although Wollstonecraft appeared very against marriage she ended up marrying radical philosopher, William Godwin, and died after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary. • After her death she was looked down upon.

6. Virginia Woolf • 1882-1941 • Woolf was a major influence to the Modernist Period. • She rebelled against the concept of “materialism” in her works and avoided normal convention. Held her own voice as a female writer. • Woolf believed the position of women socially and professionally needed to reformed.

7. A Room of One’s Own • In Woolf’s essay, A Room of One’s Own, she discusses the few opportunities for women writers during her time. • Woolf wanted females to create their own literature to expose female experiences and perspectives. Also, to cultivate the tenants of the female psyche. • Mostly Woolf advocates equality between men and women in literature. She described this literature as “androgynous in mind” (Woolf).

8. Woolf’s Personal Life • Woolf was raised in a fairly rich family, and was very well educated. • She had many horrors in childhood including sexual abuse, death of her mother and later being completely orphaned by the age of 22. • Woolf married when she was 30, but also had a female lover on the side. • During her lifetime, Woolf helped publish and inspire other writers, while pushing boundaries in her own works. • Woolf privately experienced serious bouts of depression and finally she took her own life, by drowning, at the age of 59.

9. Sylvia Plath • 1932-1963 • Post war poet • Plath wrote poetry that was confessional. • She presented problems, such as lack of self identity, for women during the early 1900’s. • Plath was interested in the change of self and the possibilities one could take.

10. The Bell Jar • Plath is most renowned for her fictitious, semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. • In this novel, Plath shows the vulnerability of being a young girl. • Her character, Ester, must navigate what is expected of her and what she truly wants. • Ester also struggles with her sexuality and with depression. • Through her character, Plath shows that women must sometimes choice to live unconventionally.

11. Plath’s Personal Life • Plath was raised in a small middle class family. • Her father died at the age of eight. • After attending college, Plath moved to London and married Tom Hughes. • The couple produced two children together, but then quickly divorced. • Plath almost succeeded in suicide in college and continued being depressed throughout her short lifetime. • Plath finally accomplished her goal of killing herself at the age of 30, by sticking her head in the oven.

12. Why? • These writers were powerful women with strong convictions. They had ideas of the life that should be led by females. - Could not handle living against the customs of society. ~Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalot” -Felt trapped in their roles. ~Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “An Ancient Gesture”

13. Works Cited The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,2006. p. 167-170, 2080-2082. Steinburg, Peter K.. A Celebration this is. www.sylviaplath.info, 2012. Web. 2 March 2012.