Faustine wrote:
I tell you what I think about this point. There exists from Sylvia Plath's death an almost universal agreement in which the person guilty of her death was Ted Hughes.
She was bipolar, had had an previous attempt of suicide (before Ted), she knew clearly what man's class Ted was, many friends tried to advise her that should not marry with Ted, the next day of knowing Hughes she wrote a poem. The Pursuit. She speaks about him in these terms.
Sylvia Plath - Pursuit
Dans le fond des forêts votre image me suit.
RACINE
Ted Hughes was a magnificent poet (much more than Sylvia) but there is necessary never forget something: that someone is talented in any area does not mean that is a good person.
Lo de Assia is terrible because, in addition she killed her daughter and symbolically it´s very powerful that has chosen the same way of dying that Sylvia.
Nicholas's death is a tragedy but fits perfectly in all this tragedy in chain.
Something very dark, sick and painful existed in the mind of Sylvia and of Assia (before Ted) that stimulated them to choose a man who was assuring the unhappiness. Ted Hughes was not a monster of two faces, was an unfaithful and egomaniac man, since million in the world is.
I did not like the movie too much but it´s interesting for does not remain with the easiest version.
I agree with you Faustine.
There are no doubts, from more objective sources around at the time, that Ted Hughes was self-absorbed and egocentric. I also think there is something in a man like that which draws a particular type of woman.
I liked the film "Sylvia" because it dared to question what has become almost "received wisdom" - that Sylvia was a helpless fawn to Ted's marauding lion.
There was far more to that relationship than meets the eye. Unfortunately, the feminist backlash in the 60s and 70s against Hughes meant that it has only been recently that people have questioned whether there was more to this than meets the eye.
That their son has committed suicide is tragic. While medical science has not isolated a "suicide gene", there are several well-respected studies which show that clinical depression runs in families, as does bipolar disorder. It is a shame that he did not find someone to share his life with on a permanent basis who could have helped him with his burdens. I feel for the sister left behind. She has a burden of her own to carry.
