Electroshock Therapy and the Rosenbergs

The Bell Jar opens with a description of what happened to the Rosenbergs—execution by electrocution. Esther describes how the idea of it horrified her, and how she imagined “being burned alive all along [her] nerves,” something that “must be the worst thing in the world” (Plath 1). Now, one of the things Esther is most terrified of in the novel is electroshock therapy. After her terrible experience with Doctor Gordon, she wants to never go through it again, making Doctor Nolan promise to not make her go through them again, at least not without a warning. I think there are parallels between the Rosenbergs and the electroshock therapy, and I think they’re pretty interesting to explore.

I first began to think about the parallels between the shock therapy and the Rosenbergs when I read about the treatment she got from Doctor Gordon. Esther describes it, saying, “with each flash a great jolt drubbed me till I thought my bones would break and the sap fly out of me like a split plant” (Plath 143). I imagine that the feeling of these shocks reflects how she imagines the executions of the Rosenbergs feeling, or the first-hand experience might actually be worse than she ever imagined it. She does her best to avoid going through it again, telling her mother that she’s done with Doctor Gordon after being told that she would need a few more shock treatments, along with getting the promise from Doctor Nolan. This implies that this experience for her is, in fact, one of “the worst thing[s] in the world,” as she describes the execution (Plath 1).

Another element of this parallel that I find interesting is Hilda’s dismissal of the humanity of the Rosenbergs when compared to how other patients at the hospitals are thought of by Esther’s mother. When Esther asks Hilda if she agrees that the situation with the Rosenbergs is awful, thinking about how terrible the execution is, Hilda agrees, saying that “It’s awful such people should be alive” and that she’s “so glad they’re going to die” (Plath 100). In this moment, Hilda seems unhuman to Esther because the Rosenbergs seem unhuman to Hilda, their lives having no value—in fact, their lives appearing deserving to be cut off—because of their actions. The others in Doctor Gordon’s hospital also seem less than human to Esther’s mother. She describes them as “Those awful dead people at that hospital,” saying that her daughter is not like them (Plath 145-6). This is not at all comforting to Esther, as she isn’t much, if at all, better than them, despite her mother’s beliefs, which makes her feel a level of kinship with “those awful dead people” (Plath 145). If they’re already dead to Esther’s mother while they’re alive, the loss of their lives would not seem like a loss to her, much like how the loss of the Rosenbergs is not thought of negatively by Hilda.

Now, if this all seems like a stretch to you, that’s okay. But Esther’s reaction and description to being surprised by the shock treatment with Doctor Nolan might help convince you that there’s something there. While hiding, she describes how she imagines she would have gone to the treatment if she learned about it the night before, saying that she would have walked “with dignity, like a person coolly resigned to execution” (Plath 211). Here the comparison, though without the Rosenbergs being named, is being explicitly drawn—to Esther going to shock treatments feels like going to her own execution. Considering how things are distorted by the bell jar in the novel, I think it’s likely that she thinks that the others might even be happy to see her go to this doom, as she imagines a “smiling audience” watching her go past on her way to the treatment, much like how Hilda was happy to see the Rosenbergs executed (Plath 211).

However, unlike the Rosenbergs, the shock treatment does not kill her, and it in fact helps her make her way out of her mental health crisis and lift the bell jar. So perhaps the parallel ultimately doesn’t matter for her fate—but I think it does matter in how she thought about it while it was happening.