My understanding is, that when she finally committed suicide, it wasn't the first/second/third time she had attempted it.She had made it the ultimate game of romantic Russian roulette. Someone- i.e. Hughes, was always meant to rush in and save her.

When she finally committed suicide, it was an accident, she'd staged it so that Hughes would be home in time to save her (yet again) but a freak snow storm stopped him from doing so.

So she died, in front of her two small children.

I think that she was the most dreadful,selfish narcissist .

Depression is a fucking bitch, but if you are going to use attempted suicide as theatre or as a means of control, then you are a fucking bitch too.

She'd also obviously had pyschological problems for a very long time, she'd been hospitalized (The Bell Jar anyone?) as a teenager and she had always been mentally fragile.

It was also nice that someone finally mentioned Assia Wevill( Hughes' mistress who apparently gassed herself - and her daughter) , by name, her daughter was called Shura . She wasn't just some crazy woman who also committed suicide "for" Ted Hughes, she was a wonderful, talented, beautiful woman in her own right.

This whole subject, for me, strikes at the heart of feminism.Noone can MAKE another person commit suicide .We are entirely responsible for our own lives - and our own deaths.

The fact that Ted Hughes, obviously attracted and possibly exploited,very needy, desperate women , is one thing ,that he was responsible for their ultimate actions, is another.

I would hope that his son's actions are taken on their own merits, it is desperately sad when anyone feels that they have to take their own lives and Nicholas, RIP, and hopefully your life and your death will be seen as your own.

This whole comment smacks of the "Daily Mail" sensationalism " Wooah! it's a family curse !!!!!"

My thoughts go out to Frieda.

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Sylvia Plath is my favorite poet of all time. She and I had some major daddy issues and her poems were the first time I was aware that someone else loved and hated their dad simultaneously.

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This sentence disturbs me as he seems to have done a great job carving a niche for himself as a scientist. He was depressed, but speculating that it's because he lived in the shadows of his parents' lives/loves is just wrong.

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[www.newsminer.com]

I met Frieda briefly a long time ago at a reading of her poetry. She's pretty bitter and wounded about the whole Plath Industry thing, not surprisingly.

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