THE RABBIT CATCHER BY SYLVIA PLATH Lesson Three

RELATIONSHIP WITH TED HUGHES • Sylvia Plath met Ted Hughes in 1956 at a party in Cambridge. • They married just a few months later. • June 1957 – Plath and Hughes moved to the United States, and from September, Plath taught at Smith College. They moved back to England in 1959. • July 1962, Plath discovered Hughes had been having an affair with Assia Wevill and in September the couple separated and she set up a new life in a flat with their children. • Plath had been suspicious of Hughes’ – relationship was often tumultuous. • 2017 – previously unpublished letters described, in which Plath accuses Hughes of physically abusing her months before she miscarried their second child in 1961.

RELATIONSHIP WITH TED HUGHES • As Plath's widower, Hughes became the executor of Plath's personal and literary estates. • Some critics were dissatisfied by his choice of poem order and omissions in the book some argued Hughes had driven her to suicide, so should not be responsible for her literary legacy. • He claimed to have destroyed the final volume of Plath's journal, detailing their last few months together.

PLATH AND HUGHES INTERVIEW, 1961 Listen to the following interview, taking down notes as you go in terms of what you learn about the couple and their life together.

INTERVIEW REFLECTION Answer the following questions in detail: 1. What do you think of Sylvia Plath, after listening to her in this interview? 2. What do you think about Hughes?

RECALL QUESTIONS 1. When and where did Plath meet Hughes? 2. When did the two marry? 3. Where did the couple move to, following the wedding and honeymoon: ? 4. What did Plath allege about her husband, in the letter to her therapist published in 2017? 5. If true, what would this indicate about their relationship? 6. What was Hughes given control over as a widower, following Plath’s death? 7. Why were critics outraged by this? 8. What did Hughes reveal about what he did with some of Plath’s journal entries detailing their last few months together? 9. Why is knowledge of this relationship important in terms of our study of the Plath’s poem The Rabbit Catcher?