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A Jungian Reading of Selected Works by Sylvia Plath

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A Jungian Reading of Selected Works by Sylvia Plath A Woman’s Pilgrimage to Herself through the Mother Complex: A Jungian Reading of Selected Works by Sylvia Plath by SARAH JOSIE PRIDGEON This dissertation is submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree M.A. (Magister Artium) in the Faculty of Humanities, for the Department of English, at the University of the Free State Supervisor: Dr Mariza Brooks June 2017 i Declaration I declare that the dissertation hereby submitted by Sarah Josie Pridgeon for the degree of Masters in English at the University of the Free State is my own, independent work and has not previously been submitted by me at another University/faculty. I furthermore cede copyright of the dissertation in favour of the University of the Free State. Sarah Josie Pridgeon Bloemfontein June 2017 ii Summary This dissertation critically analyses Sylvia Plath’s late works according to Jungian analytical psychology. The conceptual framework includes underpinnings of John Bowlby’s attachment theory as well as relevant tenets of second wave feminism from Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan and Judith Butler. Altogether, this theoretical scaffold enables critical and novel insight of the mother-complex and the effects this had on Plath’s identity and her development as a woman. The tenet of this study, epitomic of Jungian theory, is that Plath sought ‘attainment of self’ through unifying the various archetypes within her psyche, portrayed in her work. The purpose of this study is to examine this hypothesis through her use of maternal symbolism of role models, archetypes and symbolism. The object of study within Plath’s oeuvre is her late work, necessarily selected due to the timing of her confrontation and development as a woman; wife, poet and mother. To summarise firstly the psychological facet of the study, there are certain archetypal and symbolic patterns and tendencies that can be seen in Plath’s work. Analytical psychology theory has been used to trace connections between the mother complex and the dimensions of the psyche, in particular, the shadow, persona and animus. This also gives rich insight into the symbolism used and its relevant meaning in connection with the mother complex and identity development. Also, Plath’s characteristic ambivalence as a woman and mother has been explained in terms of John Bowlby’s attachment theory, which looks at the anxious- avoidant attachment and how the inability to form a secure base in infancy manifests in ambivalence and insecurity later on in life. This study then seeks to undercover these connections within a chronological lineage of first Plath’s novel, then her late poems; the reason behind this is that Plath sought to unify the aspects of her psyche and this individuation can be seen in this development. The second theoretical school applied in this study is that of second-wave feminism. Butler’s concepts of ‘gender performativity’ which involve power and repetition for reinforcement, have been applied to show how Plath sought to overturn prescriptive gender characteristics. This was accompanied by Simone de Beauvoir’s static construct of the ‘eternal feminine’ and the effects this has on a woman’s identity, as well as the normative social expectancies of women in the 1950s. Betty Friedan’s ‘feminine mystique’ fortifies the restrictions these static constructs had on a woman’s ‘attainment of self’ (to use Jung’s primary tenet) or self- actualisation, as well as the stunting of inherent potentialities. iii Acknowledgements My sincere gratitude to the following individuals: ¨ My friends, Robyn Baxter, Elizabeth Forson, Zander Van Staden and Rachel Bodenstein, for their support and encouragement; ¨ My sister, Emily Pridgeon, for her compassion and spirit; ¨ My strong women models, Estony Hattingh-Pridgeon, Lientjie Brand, Sunell Weihman and Jeannine Van Den Berg, for their reassurance and percipience; ¨ My brother, David Pridgeon, for his resolute reliability; ¨ My father, John Pridgeon, for his interest and knowledge; ¨ My supporter, Chris-Reinhardt Brand, for his devotion and reliability; ¨ My artisan, Chris Brand, for his kindness and encouragement; ¨ My supervisor, Doctor Mariza Brooks, for her steadfast support, grace and wisdom; ¨ And my own mother, Sandra Claire Pridgeon, for her exemplary indefatigable strength and her dedication to me to ensure I go placidly and reach my goals. I am exceedingly grateful for everything you have done for me, thank you for your reassurance. Thank you for walking this journey with me. Sarah Josie Pridgeon Bloemfontein June 2017 Table of Contents Declaration i Summary ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Brief history 5 1.2 Sylvia and Aurelia Plath’s Relationship in Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963 (1975) and The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (2000) 9 1.3 Scriptotherapy, Confessional poetry, Jungian Analytical Psychology 20 Chapter 2 The Bell Jar’s ‘fig tree’ 26 2.1 1950s, perfectionism, the hero archetype and the pilgrimage 30 2.2 Metaphors and symbolism 38 2.3 Female characters, their roles and identification 49 2.4 Psychiatry, medicine, the body and suicide 68 Chapter 3 The woman with many faces: Mother, poetess and wife 73 3.1 Medusa – the omnipresent, first mother 74 3.2 The female body and children 92 3.3 Domesticity 102 3.4 Wife and marriage 119 3.5 Profession and vocation 124 Chapter 4 The perpetuated self: Eye/I: “Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children” to “The woman is perfected” 135 4.1 Development and maternal muses 135 4.2 An ‘el duende’ for all women: Adrienne Rich’s “Awakening of dead or sleeping consciousness” 147 Conclusion 159 List of References 163 iv Abstract Sylvia Plath’s work pioneers woman’s experience of herself, her identity, and the ample mental, psychic, emotional and physical phases of female development. Past scholarship has endeavoured to examine her work in terms of the father-daughter relationship, mostly within a Freudian ‘oedipal’ framework. Yet, to date no substantive study has sought to examine the inverse: the effects the mother-complex has had on her work and by implication, her identity and development as an individual, woman, poet and mother. To address this lacuna this study aims to examine the overlooked and highly significant effect the mother-complex has had on Plath’s construction of her identity in her work using anomalous Jungian theory, which posits that above all individuals seek ‘attainment of self’, that is, to unify the various dimensions of their psyche and become whole. I aim to analyse the rich transformative archetypes and symbolism indicative of this personal quest which was augured by her confrontation of the mother-complex. To ascertain the effects and examine such development, the apposite, selected texts for this study comprise the last phase of her works, her late poems (post-1961) and novel (The Bell Jar, 1963), which I have supplemented with her journals (The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, 2000) and the correspondence she had with her mother (Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963, 1975) to provide a thorough and all-inclusive investigation of this phenomenon. Plath’s confrontation of the rudimentary mother-complex and identity construction evident in these texts manifests in the consequential search for role models, the thematic dichotomies of life/death, creation/destruction and perfectionism characteristic of Plath’s work. The theoretical framework used to ascertain this hypothesis includes previously unapplied and befitting Jungian theory, Bowlby’s attachment theory as well as second-wave feminist theory. The foremost theoretical constructs, which highlight the effects the mother has on the daughter’s psyche and psychic growth, emphasises the interconnected dimensions of the psyche using Jung’s concepts of the mother-complex, shadow, persona, wise old woman and animus. Attachment theory demonstrates the preliminary nascence of this mother-complex. Alongside the analytical psychology and developmental models, aspects of second-wave feminism elucidate the impact that psycho-social factors have on identity development, and woman’s inherent ambivalence, as modelled by the mother and other women. This includes Betty Friedan’s ‘feminine mystique’ and how 1950s woman’s potentialities were restricted v due to static professional and personal norms; Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of the ‘eternal feminine’ and woman as Other and Judith Butler’s ‘gender performativity’ which confines woman’s capabilities and influence to restrictive gender norms. Altogether this multi-faceted framework provides pertinent clarifications from a new angle for this hypothesis in connection with her mother Aurelia Plath, necessitating the impact of this on her life and work. This study, representative of one poet’s quest to cherchez la femme which follows the inherent need for ‘attainment of self’, can be extrapolated to fit into a broader framework that addresses the customary mother-daughter relationship interconnected with woman’s identity. The expansion of these two fundaments, relative to all women on a (personal and) collective level, is addressed in the last chapter of this study. This challenges the existing conceptualisations thereof to create a new narrative that is conducive to and necessitates woman’s multifarious needs, as an attempt to rewrite and recreate a unique trajectory for the development of the restrictive and prescriptive expectations established in woman’s consciousness, symptomatic of culture, as well as the affinities and aspirations within the collective unconscious. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction Although Sylvia Plath’s life’s work can be viewed as a meta-poem1 or ‘bildungspoesie’ that portrays a process of individuation pursuing the attainment of self2, she underwent two prominent creative leaps before her suicide on February 11th 1963. These breakthroughs were precipitated by the confrontation of her mother-complex as well as the use of the Jungian technique of ‘active imagination’3. This pilgrimage was occluded by the dysfunctional, co- dependent mother-daughter relationship between Sylvia and Aurelia Plath which consequently disturbed Plath’s development and construction of her identity as a woman, poet and mother.
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