“I desire the things
which will destroy me in the end.”
— | Sylvia Plath
Dr. John Horder, a close friend who lived near Plath, prescribed Plath antidepressants a few days before her death. Knowing she was at risk alone with two young children, he says he visited her daily and made strenuous efforts to have her admitted to a hospital and when that failed, he arranged for a live-in nurse.[27] Some commentators have argued that because anti-depressants may take up to three weeks to take effect, her prescription from Horder would not necessarily have helped.[27] Others say that Plath's American doctor had warned her never again to take the anti-depressant drug which she found worsened her depression but Dr. Horder had prescribed it under a proprietary name which she did not recognize.[28] The nurse[Notes 1] was due to arrive at nine o'clock the morning of 11 February 1963 to help Plath with the care of her children. Upon arrival, she could not get into the flat, but eventually gained access with the help of a workman, Charles Langridge. They found Plath dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in the kitchen, with her head in the oven, having sealed the rooms between herself and her sleeping children with wet towels and cloths.[29][30] At approximately 4:30 am, Plath had placed her head in the oven, with the gas turned on.[27] She was 30. It has been suggested that Plath had not intended to succeed in killing herself. That morning, she asked her downstairs neighbor, a Mr. Thomas, what time he would be leaving. A note had also been left reading "Call Dr. Horder," listing his phone number. Therefore, it is argued Plath turned the gas on at a time when Mr. Thomas should have been waking and beginning his day. This theory maintains that the gas seeped through the floor for several hours and reached Mr. Thomas and another resident of the floor below.[31] However, in her biography Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath, Plath's best friend, Jillian Becker wrote, "According to Mr. Goodchild—a police officer attached to the coroner's office . . . [Plath] had thrust her head far into the gas oven [and . . .] 'had really meant to die.'"[1] Dr. Horder also believed her intention was clear. He stated that "No-one who saw the care with which the kitchen was prepared could have interpreted her action as anything but an irrational compulsion."[27] In his 1971 book on suicide, friend and critic Al Alvarez claimed that Plath's suicide was an unanswered cry for help.[27][32][33] |
No comments:
Post a Comment