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Super_Turnip t1_j6cny77 wrote

Assia Wevill, the mistress who later committed suicide, was deeply unhappy with, in her words, being treated like a housekeeper by Ted Hughes, who had promised to marry her. Elizabeth Sigmund, a close friend of Plath's, wrote of the difference in the way Hughes treated his daughter Shura (by Assia Wevill) compared to the way he related to his children with Plath, and said that the little girl was sad and quiet, seemingly well aware that Hughes didn't give her the same parental love and attention that he gave to his son and daughter with Plath.

Assia would later leave Hughes and return to London with Shura. Hughes had continued to make vague promises to Assia about setting up house with her and their daughter, while simultaneously making plans to marry Carol Orchard, with whom he'd been having affair. (He was also having an affair with Brenda Hedden, a married acquaintance.) Assia committed suicide on March 23rd, 1969, by dissolving sleeping pills in water and giving some to Shura, drinking the rest herself and chasing it with whisky. She had dragged a mattress into the kitchen of her flat and the pair were found there by the family au pair, Else Ludwig.

Ted Hughes seems to have been a lodestone of tragedy to both Platt and Wevill. Brilliant he may have been, he was also a serial philanderer, was accused by Plath (in a letter to her therapist) of having beaten her two days before the miscarriage of her second pregnancy, and was observed to have been a distant and unloving father to his daughter with Assia Wevill. Passion might make for good poetry, but it doesn't look as if it made for stable, healthy relationships.

If anyone is interested, here's an article in the Guardian that offers Elizabeth Sigmund's recollections about Plath, Hughes, and Wevill.

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hefixeshercable t1_j6c0g2z wrote

At least, that's the version the Mr. told authorities.

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CCriscal t1_j6cjbkw wrote

Summary makes Mr.Plath look like a bad person.

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strugglebusvictim t1_j6c2whs wrote

Didn't know who she was... That was a very sad rabbit hole I fell down...

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Conscious_Bend_7308 t1_j6dfhl0 wrote

She wrote a novel, The Bell Jar, that sums up her despair pretty well.

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angelalienbby t1_j6dzu1h wrote

The scene where she fought off a sexual assault then was so disturbed she let the blood dry and crack on her face and stay there for days not knowing how to react or feel 


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Mysterious_Glass_692 t1_j6cm6s1 wrote

Some of her poems feel like they could be extra lyrics for White Rabbit. She was already a very troubled woman, long before that asshole Ted Hughes got to her.

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Zonerdrone t1_j6cy1b8 wrote

Suicides run in families which is kind of scary. They can be "contagious" in a manner of speaking.

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oced2001 t1_j6d6g5s wrote

When your dad, husband, baby daddy is such an asshole, I suppose so.

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Zonerdrone t1_j6d6jrc wrote

Doesn't always need something like that. The grief can be infectious

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iBeFloe t1_j6ekiib wrote

Yes, depression can be hereditary, but she had accused him of being violent before her miscarriage & multiple times after to her psychiatrist.

On top of the terrible “therapy treatment” she got, that’s definitely a driving factor in her suicide.

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iBeFloe t1_j6c0k3c wrote

That’s intersting that her & the mistress died the same exact way
 Plath accused him of domestic violence days before her second miscarriage. Her making sure her children didn’t die from how she chose to die shows me that she was clear of mind enough to not randomly blurt that?

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monkeypox_69 t1_j6cfrri wrote

Well That's depressing.

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Mysterious_Glass_692 t1_j6clyky wrote

There's a reason why a character reading The Bell Jar on TV is visual shorthand for "I am seriously depressed"

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Siglo_de_oro_XVI t1_j6gym4b wrote

Ted Hughes was a hyena who could sniff out vulnerable prey. He'd know to hide from the apexes.

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MaleficentPi t1_j6ezedt wrote


.I believe they call that a vector

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PM_ME_UNDERPANTS t1_j6dqkel wrote

I only know about her because of the card in Cards Against Humanity.

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[deleted] t1_j6c0fma wrote

[deleted]

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Consistent_Ad_4828 t1_j6c1v6g wrote

There is a strong push against the language you’re using because “commit” is largely used with regard to crime.

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3leggedkitten t1_j6chyus wrote

The German word for suicide is Selbstmord, "self-murder". It's being used less and less nowadays for the same reason, as murder implies malicious intent. People opt for the neutral term Suizid instead.

Which is great except we still use the German word for "commit" with it when talking about it. I didn't realize that until reading your comment. So we only did half the thing we were intending to do and I never noticed. 😅

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Antique-Listen2799 OP t1_j6c24t3 wrote

It’s a poor choice? How do you have no empathy for people who struggled so bad? I stick with the word died by suicide sue me

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strugglebusvictim t1_j6c2tod wrote

In any Mental Health first aid course - people are taught not to say "commit" because you "commit" crimes. People die by suicide because it is rarely ever a random event, and more of the result of a sickness that can be traced back through their life.

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lurklurklurkPOST t1_j6c52w6 wrote

Ah. Ok, deleted my previous comment.

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strugglebusvictim t1_j6c56qr wrote

Props to you - that's reflection that most people won't do. đŸ‘đŸ»

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lurklurklurkPOST t1_j6cm8q9 wrote

Too many people these days have stopped learning at some point and started insisting they know better.

Often these people are not helping improve life for others.

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Landlubber77 t1_j6cspz3 wrote

But what a fucking weekend.

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DaveOJ12 t1_j6d9m4z wrote

What a disgusting comment.

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Landlubber77 t1_j6damyn wrote

Here's a Gold, go see a Star War.

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DaveOJ12 t1_j6egr9k wrote

I was given Reddit Gold by the person who wrote the comment I'm criticizing. That's a new one.

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Here-for-dad-jokes t1_j6c0035 wrote

Sure they did


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Antique-Listen2799 OP t1_j6c0bdo wrote

But they did


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Tomek_Hermsgavorden t1_j6c1ef6 wrote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath
>They found Plath dead with her head in the oven, having sealed the rooms between her and her sleeping children with tape, towels and cloths.[40] She was 30 years old.[41]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Hughes
>On March 16, 2009, Hughes hanged himself in his home in Fairbanks, Alaska.[3][15] According to his sister Frieda[16] and his UAF colleagues,[17] he had long been battling with depression.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assia_Wevill
>On 23 March 1969, Assia killed herself and four-year-old Shura in their London home at 3 Okeover Manor, Clapham Common. She had first sealed the kitchen door and window, then dissolved sleeping pills in a glass of water, chased with whisky, and then turned on the gas supply to the stove without lighting it. She and Shura were found by the family's German au pair, Else Ludwig, lying together on a mattress in the kitchen.[17]

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