Esther’s sense of observation coupled alongside her intuition build the text’s thematic transformation from a story of young woman to the story of her demise. If I just lie here and do nothing it will happen.” (Plath 57). Instead lapsing into the state of confusion often characteristic of rape scenes, Esther thinks, “It’s happening. Esther’s jaded nature is solidified in this violent scene as she previously foreshadowed Marco’s attack and voiced fear of a superficial, sexually-perverse date–allowing a theme of rebellion against convention to be evoked. This almost automatic attack from Esther after being called a “slut” by Marco can be easily juxtaposed alongside Esther’s feelings of dissatisfaction in her world–despite her ability to fight back (Plath 57-58).
However, for Plath’s purposes of thematic development, an example of Marco’s violent, suave nature is met with Esther’s fist rather than her heart. In all these literary texts, the suave, wealthy, and dark male is most often used to present a problem to a young, naive, and impressionable female character–usually a conflict of a sexual nature. This lethal mixture of male character traits is repeated throughout 18th, 20th, and 21st century literature in characters such as Richard Lovelace in the famous epistolary novel, Clarissa Andy in the bestselling young adult novel, Speak and even Christian Grey in the infamous, erotic novel, 50 Shades of Grey. He is suave, wealthy in some form, yet dark. The violence of the near-rape scene is employed by Plath to generate thematic relevance–especially so in its antagonist, Marco, as a typical misogynist male archetype. However, the night goes astray and blunders into discomfort, fear, and misogyny–and violence ensues. Perpetuating the character’s development, Esther is apprehensive before meeting a boy whom her friend, Doreen, knows this boy will accompany her as his date for dancing, drinking, and night behavior. In the first part of The Bell Jar, Esther’s character is portrayed indirectly through her narration as mildly cynical and dreary, yet observant.
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