In the poetry of Sylvia Plath do the women and their relationships challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes?

Through the lens of a feminist critic, there are a great many ways in which to interpret the poetry of Sylvia Plath. In the poem ‘Spinster’ Plath presents a narrator who rejects her suitors, instead entering into a life of isolation and independence from the world around her. The poem can be seen to explore ideas of the contrast between men and women, and the effect men have had on the speaker to lead her into this isolation. Plath uses an extended metaphor of men and women, as spring and winter respectively, a juxtaposing natural contrast. Drawing comparison between the “petals in disarray” of spring and the “frosty discipline” of winter. The use of seasons in this manner is fairly untypical, spring, with its connotation of life and growth, is usually metaphoric of a positive idea in poetry; here however it is used to depict something the speaker views negatively, the paradoxical use of spring in this way may depict how the narrators views of men and her preference to independence are averse to the societal views around her. When we include the socio-historical context, the 1950’s, in which ‘Spinster’ was written, we can suggest that this is true for the society around Plath and that is therefore reflected in this piece. The speaker in this poem exists as a very stark challenge to this stereotypical woman's role. 
Another of Plath’s poems ‘Lesbos’, stirs similar ideas of contrast, but between women themselves. Far from a traditional feminist ode to women, this piece depicts a fiery domestic conflict. Its title ‘Lesbos’ is said to draw a connection with the Greek island of Lesbos, a matriarchal society, in stark contrast to the world of female conflict presented in this poem. The poem was written on the run-up to Plath’s suicide in 1963, the heightened emotions and turbulence of this time seen in the language of the poem. ‘Lesbos’ begins abruptly, “Viciousness in the kitchen! // The potatoes hiss”, the exclamation creates maximum impact for the opening of this dramatic monologue. Plath uses sibilance of the hissing potatoes to create the idea of a volatile environment around the speaker, however, the noun ‘kitchen’ brings us back to this domestic setting. The idea of hostile surroundings is further explored through the language describing the kitchen, “The fluorescent light wincing on and off like a terrible // migraine,”, Plath creates a scene far away from traditional homely connotations of a family kitchen, instead, it is represented as a false construct that’s ‘paper strips for doors’ equate more so to a Hollywood set than that of the centre of the home. Plath also creates a likeness between the speaker and the kitchen; like the ‘Hollywood’ surrounding the speaker is also false, ‘And I, love, am a pathological liar,’ Here there is even a tone of bitterness hanging over Plath’s use of the word ‘love’- a word so in contrast to the belligerent surroundings, as well as the violent opening to the poem that the reader can see the transparency of it, used here as a symbol of the false relationship between these warring women, as opposed to a term of endearment. The waging hostility between these women is further emphasised by the speaker’s language “where they crap and puke and cry”, the use of short monosyllabic words creates a harshness around the speaker, again mirroring the surroundings. The speaker is represented as far removed from the typical submissive housewife of the 1950’s America, or indeed any of H. Berten’s suggested feminine literary stereotypes, the character here more aligned with a male stereotype in the vulgarity and frankness of her language. This is also true for our antagonist in this poem; presented by Plath as cruel and unmotherly “You say you can’t stand her,// The bastard’s a girl.” Here not only is the brutality of the woman’s views of her child shocking, but also the idea that the child is a ‘girl’ presents a further complexity in the female dynamic between these characters – the title ‘lesbos’ and its connotations of female love are inverted.