Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's The Yellow Wallpaper

The rest cure was one of the treatments given to women with hysteria. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, experienced the treatment and the outcome of the treatment. In my belief, the rest cure was somewhat a form of punishment toward the narrator and other women in the Victorian Era, in the 1900s. From the beginning of the short story, the narrator stated that her husband John was a physician of high standing and that he prescribed her rest, the rest cure. (Gilman 553) Her condition was hysteria a very common diagnosis in women in the 1900s. The rest cure was the one of the preferred treatments in that era. The rest cure meant that she had to stay isolated from family and friends for three months, placed on a fatty, milk-based diet, and forbidden to work. (Gilman 553) I believe all of these things led her to go insane. “The Yellow Wallpaper” took place in the late 1900s. In the Victorian Era, a woman’s sole purpose in life was to bear children and make their husbands happy. Also, women dressed in very tight corsets which would sometimes cut oxygen and women were fainting. Women also, could not show their ankles, and if they did, they were considered a prostitute.

The yellow wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that takes place in the mid-1900s. This literary work shows how one person’s depression can turn into complete psychosis. My initial response to Charlotte’s story was one of confusion. As I reread the piece given the title “The Yellow Wallpaper”, I realized that the author Gilman uses the description and symbolism of the wallpaper to show how depression can spiral into complete madness. It gives an interesting insight into the mind of a mentally unstable person. But what caused her to reach into the mental unstable corners of her mind?

Charlotte Perkins Gilman starts “The Yellow Wallpaper” with the narrative of a character in first person perspective. Gilman writes in a style and attitude that is reflective of the character 's feelings towards her current situation. The character’s doctor who is coincidentally her husband decided it was best to move her into a remote house for some time away to get plenty of rest and to heal mentally. The character was moved into a nursery that was covered with yellow wallpaper and as time passed the character started to go insane from the seclusion. The character in the story describes her relationship with her husband, John, while explaining how she feels towards him after he excluded her. The character’s sanity transforms into an irrational mentality after her attitude transitions from positive to negative, from her husband’s condescending tone and excessive control, and when she is left constantly alone in seclusion causing her to hallucinate.

The rest cure was perceived to be the cure for what was known as neurasthenia or hysteria, which was a condition characterized by mental and physical fatigue along with emotional instability. However, the rest cure proved to be cruel due to the lack of contact patients had during the cure, and thus, the neurasthenia would only worsen. Since Gilman herself endured the rest cure prescribed for her depression by physician Silas Weir Mitchell–it is not surprising that Gilman decided to structure the story in a manner that critiques the evils of the rest cure. Oddly enough, it seems that the rest cure was built upon expectations of a woman’s place and role in society. Patients, mainly women, were prohibited from talking, reading, sewing and writing during the rest cure. The rest cure consisted of isolation from friends and family, enforced bed-rest, force-feeding and massage. The narrator herself further describes the rest cure within the beginning of the story, “So I take phosphates or phosphites–whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again” (Gilman 313). She detests the rest cure, and goes as far as declaring, “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus–but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.” (Gilman 314). Of course, the narrator cannot mention this in front of her husband because she would be met with "heavy opposition." This was a significant point the narrator brought up within the story, because it serves as another example of how men would make decisions for women, and resistance would not be

Stories can have a person feel like they can relate to the characters and have ways to express their emotions. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a story written in the late nineteenth century, 1890 's a time period where women were oppressed. This is the time of era, where women have no voice, they stayed home and did wifely duties. The story is written in first person, however we never learn the woman 's name in the story. She stays anonymous, but we learn a lot about this woman. However, the narrators name may be Jane. Gilman may have slipped the narrators name at the end of the story when she is free, but then again, It is not a complete known fact. She is however the protagonist in the story. We learn that she has a mental illness or possibly some sort of post-partum depression and she is not able to get proper treatment, due to the lack of her husband who seems in denial as a physician. Charlotte Perkins Gilman lets us know that she is in a summer vacation house and is mesmerized by this yellow wallpaper in this room. She becomes fixated. The pattern of the wallpaper is not together and crazy and torn, ugly and, a pointless pattern but has hidden expression, which she is using the wall paper to symbolize her life. The wallpaper has the sense of entrapment, and a distraction that becomes an obsession and slowly trajectory towards madness. We will discover many elements of this story along with the story being in the American Feminist time period of women

During the ninetieth century and at the dawn of the twentieth century, the Victorian era was established and created the ,”true woman,” defined as the domestic ideal woman, which contributed to domestication of these females. At this time period women were viewed in society through the private sphere which held the majority of females and were mainly involved in family life and domestic labor. In contribution to this era women were looked down upon for having individualistic views, but the most significant element of this era, which the author of The Yellow Wallpaper was influenced in his writing was when women were too emotional and attracted too much attention they were diagnosed with hysteria and sent off to get the, “rest cure”, for months

The story begins with the Narrator journaling about her depression as well as about how her husband John belittles her mental illness and her thoughts in general constantly. John prescribes his wife ‘rest cure’ in order to treat her illness. The ‘rest cure’ was developed in the late 1800’s by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell and was used to treat nervous illnesses. This treatment was also used far more often on women than it was on men (Science). The treatment involved isolation from friends and family for six to eight weeks as well as restrictions that prohibited the patient from writing, reading, and basically any other intellectual activities in order to help subdue their “over active imagination.” Patients would be cleaned and fed by nurses, reducing their dependency to that of a child. It was believed that this treatment was used to break the patients will, and scholars later argued that ‘rest cure’ “reinforced

In most stories, the narrator talks about present or past events that are undoubtedly true and the narrator just stating the facts and not offering his or her perspective. In this case, there is no need to question the narrator’s credibility. However, other narrators may state some facts, but in the end, it all comes to his or her perspective. And as we all now, there are two sides to every story, so can we really believe the narrator’s perspective? This is exactly the question all readers of “The Yellow Wallpaper” ask themselves.

I thought that “The Yellow Wallpaper” was a great piece because of its meaning and message. The messages that Charlotte Perkin Gilman portrays in the story are very powerful and, given the biographical background, are clearly derived from her own experiences as a woman during the 19th century. I felt empathy for the main character as her depression worsened and her mental state progressively declined. I felt like the main character felt very isolated and unheard. No one seemed to be able to understand her issues or could relate to the way she was feeling. Only in her journal could she express the feeling of oppression and loneliness that she had. I feel as though if her husband were to read her journal that he might also empathize with his

Numerous interpretations have been constructed on what the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” actually intends to portray to the reader; it has been analyzed by many scholars over the years. It was written in the nineteenth-century by Charlotte Perkins Gilman who was known to write about the dangers that existed with fixed gender roles along with the patriarchal model which ensured power for men. The males were to maintain the public sphere outside of the home, providing for the family and the women were to remain inside of the home keeping the domestic sphere. Notably, women portrayed the submissive role beneath the male-dominated society. The husband “John” is a doctor that takes his wife “the narrator” to a rental home to rehabilitate from her

The citizens of the United States have progressed so much over the past few decades that it becomes hard to imagine what life was like before present day terms. Not only has it advanced so far technologically, but the women in America’s society have covered a substantial amount of ground especially in the middle of the 19th century. Feminism became a huge issue worldwide and America was no exception. Author Charlotte Perkins Gilman demonstrates why feminism is so important with her work, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by channeling her own experiences to show readers that without feminism, the life of a woman is very different.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a psychological horror tale with existential views which was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and originally published in the New England Magazine in 1892. Charlotte was considered a journalist who was an advocate of woman’s rights (Bio.com). During the time period when this short story was written Gilman was focused on political inequality and the unequal status of woman in their marriages. This social issue led to her writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” which was concerned with gender roles and the subjugation of women in the domestic sphere. This could also be considered the theme of the world.

The role of women in society has been controversial for centuries if they should just stay at home, pursue a job, or have a greater purpose in society, but why not let women take the decision on what they want to do? In the 20th century during the World Wars, the relevance of women in society became more apparent and as a result suffrage movements and other gender equality movements took place. A famous advocate for women's right was Margaret Fuller who a wrote a book called Women in the Nineteenth Century is quoted as "What woman needs is not as a woman to act or rule, but as a nature to grow, as an intellect to discern, as a soul to live freely, and unimpeded to unfold such powers as were given her when we left our common home." which stresses the importance of letting women do what they want and not be chained from the equal opportunities given to everyone by God.

People are constantly changing, whether it is physically, emotionally, or entirely. Different events in a person’s life will cause them to change their character for the better or sometimes for worse. Most of the time one does not have control over the events that force them change, but one does have control over how they change. For Jane, it was the opposite. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jane’s final shift in character is brought about by external events and her susceptibility to a powerful paranormal being. Jane goes through a series of events that were beyond her control and combined with her weakened mental state cause a forceful shift in her character that was not in her control.

According to the Science Museum treatments that the narrator goes through are formulated for her type of situation by Silas Weir Mitchell that cured certain diseases and conditions. The treatment was for neurasthenia which is a medical condition characterized by: fatigue, headache, irritability, anxiety, and depressed mood; also hysteria which is an exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion. The rest cure would have a duration of six to eight weeks as a general time frame. It would isolate patients from contact with their friends and family for an extended period of time; also could be prohibited from talking, reading, writing, etc. Some patients sometimes had to be forced fed if it were needed, which would make them seem like they were an infant. Most cases they would be in hospitals with nurses cleaning them and feeding them; also the doctor would massage and use electrotherapy to keep their muscles. Over time things have changed in the way that we treat people that suffer from some of these conditions though prescription drugs. Today Doctors have a