An investigation on the works of Sylvia Plath in the light of historical conditions and gender

In this study, family relationships, historical and political witnesses, and gender questionings of Sylvia Plath were examined. The study consisted of three chapters titled "Plath's Family", "Historical and Political Witnesses of Plath", and "Being a Woman in the 1950s USA: Gender Questionings of Plath." In the first chapter, the members of Plath's family were introduced (Otto Plath, Aurelia Plath, Sylvia Plath, and Warren Plath) and their relationships with Plath were investigated. In the second chapter, historical and political witnesses of Plath during The Second World War and Cold War were addressed through her works. In this context, the reflections of the Second World War, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, the American atomic bombs thrown to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Cold War in her Works were presented. In the third chapter, the ideal women's type of the 1950s USA and gender questionings of Plath were examined. In this sense, conflicting love styles, taboos on virginity, second sex and jealousy for male life, the position of women in marriage, the choice of spouse and fears of calling a feminist or a spinster, sexual politics, beauty and body image, conflicts between marriage and career, motherhood and childbearing, and traditional gender roles within the family were addressed.