Madness in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar: A Foucauldian Reading

This paper is accomplished to probe Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar in the light of Michel Foucault’s theory of madness comprehensively set forth in his History of Madness (1961), Foucault introduces a new way to perceive madness and itsassociation with dominant discourses. Furthermore, he argues that the concept of madness is constructed within thesocial context, and different institutions affect its definition. He surveys how each era treats madness and affirms inmodern times, people considered mad are exiled, confined in madhouses, and later in clinics where they are treatedwith drugs. Set after World War II, The Bell Jar highlights women’s conditions as well as shows how protagonist is labeled mad, and is hence impelled to go to asylums where patients are under the vigilant surveillance of theauthorities to go through the process of normalization. To discern how she is considered mad, this article probesthe dominant discourse of the time, under the impact of social and political and cultural conditions. Furthermore, thisstudy examines how a so-called mad considered Other and treated after being confined by the disciplinary system ofthe asylum in a panoptic world ; in addition to, describes the aim of treatment is to punish and control a patient not to cure. This article indicates that Sylvia Plath tries to picture what is defined as women’s madness is the result of thepatriarchal society of the post-war America. The mental illness has nothing to do with blood; it is rather the result ofthe social inequality of the age. It is a new endeavor to analysis this novel based on Foucault’s idea of madness.

کلیدواژه ها:

reason vs. unreason ، dominant discourse ، normalization ، discipline ، panoptic world ، Other ، gaze ، clinical treatment