`What Girl Ever Flourished in Such Company?': Sylvia Plath's Religion

Author: Ferretter, Luke

Source: The Yearbook of English Studies, Volume 39, Numbers 1-2, 1 july 2009 , pp. 101-113(13)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

This essay discusses Sylvia Plath's religious beliefs and her expressions of these beliefs in her literary works. Describing herself as `pagan-Unitarian at best', Plath disbelieved in God. She found such belief attractive, but she refused to share it. For Plath, the individual is responsible for creating her own life in the world, the only life she will have. Although open to the possible reality of occult phenomena, Plath's writing about the occult is also, finally, sceptical. Plath's ultimate concern is a kind of feminist materialism. For her, traditional religions and philosophies describe men's experience and are therefore useless to women. Theological ideas and images, whether Christian or occult, are true only to the extent that they represent material human experiences, especially those of love and suffering. Women's material lives, especially the experiences of love, home, and family, are more valuable in Plath's work than any theological or transcendental ideas devised by men.

Keywords: Sylvia Plath; religious beliefs; Unitarian; God; occult; feminist materialism; women; Christian; love; suffering; home; family

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Baylor University

Publication date: 2009-07-01

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A supplement to the Modern Language Review, this journal includes articles and reviews on the language and literature of the English-speaking world. Most of the volumes published so far are 'Special Numbers', collections of between fifteen and eighteen commissioned articles on particular topics, such as the impact of the French Revolution on English writers; literature in the modern media; and colonial and imperial themes in literature.