Esther In The Bell Jar

“When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you know,” – William Shakespeare. In Sylvia Plath’s novel, The Bell Jar, she writes about a girl named Esther Greenwood and her love interest, Buddy Willard. At first, Esther likes Buddy because he seems to be the perfect guy for her to marry. He is athletic, intelligent, and handsome. As time passes, Esther sees Buddy’s true colors and she no longer loves him. There isn’t much evidence in the novel of Esther liking Buddy. However, at the beginning of the novel, Plath writes, “Of course, I didn’t know he was a hypocrite at first. I thought he was the most wonderful boy I’d ever seen. I’d adored him from a distance for five years before he even looked at me, and then there was a beautiful time when I still adored him and he started looking at me, and then just as he was looking at me more and more, I discovered quite by accident what an awful hypocrite he was, and now he wanted me to marry him and I hated his guts,” (52). Esther loved Buddy from a distance for a long time. After she found out more about him, she started disliking him. There are many reasons for this in the following paragraphs. Esther is a nonconformist. She doesn’t want to do what society thinks she should. An example of this is

One is example is when Plath writes, “’Do you know what a poem is, Esther?’ ‘No, what?’ I said. ‘A piece of dust,’” (56). Writing is Esther’s passion and he mocks poetry by saying they’re not going to last. Later, when they’re skiing, Plath writes, “’I’m going up,’ I said. ‘I’m going to do it again.’ ’No, you’re not.’ A queer, satisfying expression came over Buddy’s face. ‘No, you’re not,’ he repeated with a final smile. ‘Your leg’s broken in two places. You’ll be stuck in a cast for months,’” (98). His narcissism radiates from the passage. He isn’t sympathetic toward her injury. He only acts like she is foolish and like he is superior to