Woman and Madness in Victorian Literature: Analyzing Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963)
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Date
2024
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UNIVERSITÉ ABBAS LAGHROUR KHENECHELA
Abstract
Abstract
This study examines the exploration of female madness under the constraints of the Victorian societal norms by delving into Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and exploring the protaginits’s psyche, offering a reflection to the complixities of mental illness and gender roles during that era. The aim is to examine how women’s mental health is depicted in the Victoian era, examining the symptoms, causes, and consequences of mental illness, and analyzing female characters in literature and showing how societal attitudes towards women can be the main reason in their descent into madness. The study explores the complex interplay between feminist psychoanalysis and women’s experiences of madness in the Victorian age and detailed analysis of Plath’s work The Bell Jar and the complexities of the protagonist with mental illness, and how societal expectations and patriarchal issues contribute in her psychological breakdown. This study reveals the crusial role that feminist psychoanalysis plays in understanding females madness.
Keywords: feminist psychoanalysis, psyche, gender, madness, norms.