Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

[bronzeage]

Personal experience. I do sometimes meet male poet idealists (makes me swoon a little when I do). BJ Ward would be an example of this. Of course, he's happily married.

I think also that people with difficulties are often attracted to other people with difficulties so that these difficulties can be compounded into some giant co-dependent tragedy. Clearly, Ted and Sylvia were both troubled.

I have noticed that as the quality of women in my life improves, the quality of the poetry declines.

 

[Zrnko_Pisku]

I am sure you have read up on this as well as me, obviously you have. Plath was psychotic and self destructive before she met Hughes, as was Assia. Apparently, from what I have read anyway, Assia felt profoundly guilty over Sylvia's suicide so if you want to spread blame around, why not blame Sylvia?

Suicide is a choice, no one drives someone to suicide. People walk out of relationships and slam the door behind them every day and never throw themselves off a cliff but simply move on.

From what I have read and I accept there is no book about this affair without a hidden agenda, both Sylvia and Assia showed signs of being psychotic and depressives before Hughes arrived on the scene. Their promiscuity doesn't fit in with the pattern of someone with a high sex drive who just enjoys sex but along with other behaviours, fits in with a pattern of being manic depressives.

Given that most books in the Hughes and Plath genre set out to beatify Plath and vilify Hughes and Hughes remained silent, refusing to give his side of the story, I think most books fail to make the case because they can't escape the fact that Plath was psychotic before she met Hughes and she was overdosing popping pills. Sylvia and I suspect Assia were probably more victims of the drug industry than of Hughes.

As the Rolling Stones so eloquently put it.

There is some arguement as to whether suicide is an act of a single individual. I'm not saying that Hughes turned on the gas and certainly both women had problems, it just seems that, at least for a period of his life, he seemed to be attracted to some damaged women and that his behaviour contributed to their problems. While the vilification is (perhaps) unjustified, he is neither hero nor innocent victim. I figure the only true "innocent victim" was Assia's and Hughes' daughter.

As far as his silence, while he did not sit down and write her biography or his autobiography, Hughes and his sister did control Plath's ouvre subsequently giving them significant voice in the history. Silence? And certainly Hughes' destruction of Plath's journal was not him being silent in the matter.

One year after Assia died Hughes married again, remaining married until his death. Did he learn and straighten up his behaviour or simply meet the right woman? I think it might be a combination of the two.

There is a lot no one will ever know I guess.

Perhaps you were right though... suicide waiting to happen. As Anne Sexton said: "Sylvia Plath's death disturbs me. Makes me want it too. She took something that was mine, that death was mine!"

 

[bogusagain]

There is some arguement as to whether suicide is an act of a single individual. I'm not saying that Hughes turned on the gas and certainly both women had problems, it just seems that, at least for a period of his life, he seemed to be attracted to some damaged women and that his behaviour contributed to their problems. While the vilification is (perhaps) unjustified, he is neither hero nor innocent victim. I figure the only true "innocent victim" was Assia's and Hughes' daughter.

As far as his silence, while he did not sit down and write her biography or his autobiography, Hughes and his sister did control Plath's ouvre subsequently giving them significant voice in the history. Silence? And certainly Hughes' destruction of Plath's journal was not him being silent in the matter.

One year after Assia died Hughes married again, remaining married until his death. Did he learn and straighten up his behaviour or simply meet the right woman? I think it might be a combination of the two.

There is a lot no one will ever know I guess.

Perhaps you were right though... suicide waiting to happen. As Anne Sexton said: "Sylvia Plath's death disturbs me. Makes me want it too. She took something that was mine, that death was mine!"

I don't think Hughes ever tried to portray himself as a hero and as for his silence, I can understand him not wanting everyone rooting through his life especially when those people were hostile feminists intent on vilifying him. No one opens up to a malevolent force, they close down and batten the hatches. It is no wonder Hughes remained mute. One of those feminist was Germaine Greer and she did eventually have the decency to say years later, about twenty five years later, though I suppose better late than never, that the hounding of Hughes was wrong and that when someone commits suicide, it is their act and no one else's.

As for finding the right women, maybe he just got older, more world weary and more tired of life.