A Comparative Psychological Analysis of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf & ‘The Bell Jar’ by Sylvia Plath

The psychological elements in Virginia Woolf's and Sylvia Plath's works are highly preoccupied with mental health, identity, and the pressures exerted by society, particularly on women. In both writers' plotlines, the complexity of the character's inner lives are expressed, through narrations, the significant events occurring in their lives related to mental illnesses and societal norms of that age. Much of Woolf's work is written in the Stream-Of-Consciousness style, often tempered with much of her psychological strife, forged from such personal traumas as the death of her parents and sexual abuse. This research paper delves into the psychological depths of the protagonists of the two renowned works of both the authors, ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf and ‘The Bell Jar’ by Sylvia Plath. On one hand, ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ reveal how an intricate relationship between mental health and the female experience was depicted by Woolf and how she used her characters as alter egos to voice her feelings of terror and inadequacy. Her work is a criticism of the oppressive suffocating constraint that undermines the mental health of human beings. We observe a keen reflection of Woolf herself in her work. Similarly in ‘The Bell Jar’, Sylvia Plath has written a semi-autobiographical account, detailing her aspect of depression and bouts of identity crises. Woolf and Plath used their works of literature to discuss and describe psychological realities, hence their significant contributions to discussing mental health and women's issues in literature. Their stories do not simply enlighten us about their struggles but relate to much larger themes of trauma, identity, and a self-endeavor to know one's self which is rather important to students of psychological literature.