The Electric Nature of the Belljar: Why The Rosenbergs Serve As Foreboding Foreshadowing
"The Belljar" is distinctly divided into two sections: Before Esther leaves New York, and afterwards. Before she leaves New York, the story is relatively tame in comparison to when she returns to the suburbs and her life completely crumbles. However, in the first half of the book, there are foreshadowing moments that serve as landmarks of what's to come.
The biggest example of foreshadowing can be found through the electrocution of the Rosenbergs. The very first line of the book reads "It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs" (Plath 1). The idea of electrocution hangs over the whole story, and Esther's time in New York. She narrates how uneasy the concept makes her, "The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick" (Plath 1). To the reader, it makes sense to be put off by a public execution, but Esther's opinion of the Rosenbergs is shut down by others. At a notable time much later in the book, right before Esther leaves New York, the Rosenbergs are brought up again at the beginning of Chapter 9. Esther seeks a like-minded person that shares her discomfort with the execution, but Hilga alienates her by saying she's "so glad they're going to die" (Plath 100).
The Rosenbergs are foreshadowing of Esther's later electroshock therapy. After learning about the execution, she "couldn't help wondering what it would be like, being burned alive all along your nerves" (Plath 1). Later in the book, she has to experience this firsthand by having electroshock therapy that she later learns was done incorrectly. During the electroshock, she compares herself indirectly to the Rosenbergs as being charged for a crime, "I wondered what terrible thing it was that I had done". The Rosenbergs are also a facet of exploring one of the book's central themes of isolation. Esther experiences alienation by having a different opinion on the execution than what is "normal", pushing her further into isolation. When she seeks connection with Hilga, thinking that she's finally found someone who feels the same way, she is shut down. Esther's disconnection from the outside world becomes worse throughout the book, making earlier instances of disconnection serve as both storytelling and foreshadowing.
Smaller examples of foreshadowing include moments during her hospital tour with Buddy Willard. In the hospital hallway, there are giant glass bottles (similar to a belljar?) that contain human fetuses and stillborn babies. Esther notices that the baby in the last bottle "seemed to be looking at me and smiling a little piggy smile" (Plath 63). She seems to feel a sense of connection to the baby, which foreshadows that soon she would also be trapped in a glass jar, but a metaphorical one rather than a literal one.
Esther witnesses a birth during the hospital tour as well, making her disillusionment with pregnancy and motherhood worse. Esther's view of Ms. Tomolillo is dehumanized, describing her as having an "enormous spider-fat stomach" and making "this unhuman whooing noise" (Plath 65-66). The process of birth appears as torture, and Esther is eventually liberated from the possibility of that torture by taking birth control.
The Belljar utilizes external events to explore Esther's mental state and foreshadow what happens after she leaves New York, mainly presented in the Rosenbergs and the idea of electrocution. Esther's feelings on external events detach her from other people, which furthers the book's theme of alienation.
Adrian, you did a fantastic job laying out Plath's writing to help me connect the dots in a way had not yet done. What an interesting concept that she later would feel like the Rosenbergs, having her nerves burned along and being punished for something. Honestly, this blog made me appreciate Plath's writing and the book over all. Way to go for highlighting that!
ReplyDeleteI love how you pointed out the smaller examples of foreshadowing because those are details I completely glossed over while reading. The part about Esther witnessing the birth and how dehumanized she makes Ms. Tomolillo sound really stuck with me, because I never connected that scene to her eventually getting birth control as a way of freeing herself from that possibility. Really cool observation. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI may be interpreting this wrong, but I think that Plath wants us to think that, like the Rosenbergs, she is literally in a chair, about to be electrocuted. And Plath suggests that she can’t get up. She needs people to lift her out or cut the ties binding her down. But I definitely think that the main interpretation that Plath wants us to focus on is the Bell Jar, choking her out. Anyways really interesting post! The ties to the Rosenbergs at the beginning of the novel are extremely important and intentional by Plath. She begins her critique of everything with the Rosenbergs.
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian, I found the different analogies that you talk about that relate to Esther and her state very interesting. I think that also her disdain to the electric chair was also an aversion to the society, as she sees the cruelty of it plainly. The analogy of the fetuses in the jars and her being able to relate to that on multiple levels was very interesting as well, and I think you did a good job of realizing those details. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog post I have come to the conclusion that I missed a lot of foreshadowing. Great work finding the connections and foreshadowing. At least I noticed that the Rosenbergs was actually foreshadowing once the electroshock happened when I got to that part.
You're right that Esther seems to take the Rosenberg case especially personally. It's in all the headlines that summer, and it seems like everyone (including Hilda) has opinions on the case, communism, espionage, and capital punishment. Esther's horror at the prospect of their execution may have something to do with a more general opposition to capital punishment--she dreads the idea of authorities "punishing" her when she doesn't even know what she's done, and maybe relates to the Rosenbergs on this level. Capital punishment is wrong because mistakes can be made, people can be condemned falsely, etc. But it seems even more personal than that: she identifies at such an intimate level that she imagines the electricity coursing through her own body, wondering in horror "what it's like." She doesn't see the Rosenbergs primarily as a political or ethical story--like the hospital visit, it's more like a cautionary tale about the potential consequences when you run afoul of arbitrary authorities.
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian! I can't believe I thought I was so original with my blog post idea only to find that you'd written about the same thing, though we did have different approaches and theses. I find your discussion of how Hilda's opinion on the Rosenbergs both shows her isolation with the outside world and makes her feel more isolated (if that distinction makes sense) really interesting, as I had thought of it in very similar ways, but not precisely that way. Her connection to the baby in the bottle also feels particularly foreshadow-y because she herself feels very observed throughout the novel, much like how the baby was on display to be looked at.
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian! I was in class when you mentioned the link between Esther and the Rosenburgs and her feeling like them. I think it is a really interesting way to interpret it and makes lots of sense. Listening to your theories are always fun in class. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Adrian! Throughout the book, I definitely kept being brought back to why the Rosenbergs were brought up so often, and I like the take that their death via electrocution, which everyone else seems to agree with but Ester, further shows how the world dehumanizes people, and Ester's struggle with her own idea of humanity. She feels isolated because she seems to be the only one who is against electrocution and the death penalty as a whole maybe. This draws parallels with society normalizing the use of painful shock therapy when it comes to mentally ill people. I think your blog really highlights how both electrocution and shock therapy are both cruelties her society has normalized by seeing their victims as less than, and even deserving of those fates. Overall this connect really makes sense of why the Rosenbergs are brought up in the book, and why we tend to hold onto that detail!
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