Why did sylvia plath kill herself?

Oh, nobody really knows why anyone kills themselves. Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath's widower, wrote a book of poems called "The Birthday Letters," which may give some insight. What he did was write a poem each year on Sylvia's birthday after she died. Also, her autobiography "The Bell Jar" gives some insight into her mental illness/instability...which could help complete the puzzle of why she killed herself. In addition, her and Ted's daughter, Freida Hughes, has been publishing poetry and stuff for a little while now, so maybe some of her work sheds some light on it. Freida lives in Australia, I believe. Ted died a few years back. Sylvia Plath had depression and other mental-health complications off and on throughout her life. She felt controlled and manipulated by her husband. She was highly sensitive and had somewhat of an inferiority complex. It seems that her suicide was impulsive. She put a bowls of milk on each nightstand of her two children, placed wet towels (I believe it was) at ...  more

if Sylvia Plath were alive today, she'd stick her head in a microwave oven  more

depression killed her, and maybe some love triangle type of issue, too, but I may be thinking of a Bronte and not Plath.  more