Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is widely recognized for her support of feminism and calls for awareness to her mental condition by voicing her ideas through her original writing. One of her works, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, describes a woman who suffers from severe anxiety and is isolated in a room in order to “heal” according to her husband. While in the room, she becomes obsessed with the ugly wallpaper, which leads to her fall. In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author discusses the Narrator’s deteriorating mental state, her inability to differentiate reality and imagination, and her desire to rebel against

The theme is this story is that you should listen to someone when they tell something is wrong. In the story the yellow wallpaper the main character is a girl who ends up going crazy but throughout the story she starts to get worse and worse. Part of the reason she is going crazy is because of this yellow wallpaper in the room that she sleeps in, at the beginning of the story she thinks that there is something moving behind the wallpaper, then she thinks that it is a women that needs help getting out of the wallpaper, at the end of the story she thinks that it is here in the wallpaper and that hse need to get herself out of the. All throughout the story she is telling her husband that it needs to be changes but he never listened to her. The

Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's story "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written before the 20th century, which was a time when women 's roles were defined by men. Women living in a male dominated society at the time were portrayed as being unable to make their own decisions without a man 's consent. The cult of domesticity was an idea that women would be submissive and responsible for the home and family while at the mercy of her husband. Gilman 's story depicts the life of a strong woman who is the wife to her husband John and the mother to a newly born baby. While being passive and compliant under the rule of her controlling husband, she does not hesitate to take the role of a caring and nurturing mother. Unfortunately, unknown to society at the time our narrator suffers from depression and anxiety after giving birth to her child.

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

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the most well-known authors of the (insert decade). Her works propelled the feminist movement through stories than chronicled the oppression of struggles of women, the most famous being The Yellow Wallpaper. The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of an unnamed woman descending into madness from the “rest cure” given by her doctor husband. The story alludes to Gilman’s own experiences with the “rest cure,” meant to “cure” her postpartum depression, after which she fell deeper into depression because of it. In the story, the narrator begins to hallucinate, mixing reality with illusion of figures in the wallpaper. Through her use of reality and illusion, Gilman shows the manipulative nature of oppression, how women are manipulated to think against their conscience.

Depression is a rising topic nowadays, however it has been present in human history for a long time. It is highly important to treat this sickness properly, since it can have big repercussions in someone’s life and health. In class, we discussed the case of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This story is a clear example of a depression case treatment gone wrong. It illustrated the effects and consequences of negligence in the treatment of depression, centering on patients of the Victorian age. The “rest cure” was the common treatment given to women who suffered from depression or hysteria (Poirier 15). This treatment was not only ineffective but it was prejudicial to their mental health. In Gilman’s story, the narrator is diagnosed with nervous depression by her husband and brother, physicians of high standing. Her husband decides that the best way to treat her is making sure she rests, isolating her from everything that can harm her. She is left alone with nothing to do and no one to interact with, not even her own son. Additionally, the narrator was forbidden to express her emotions, especially through her writing, which ends up worsening her illness. A feeling of loneliness overcomes her and with nothing more than her room’s yellow wallpaper as a source of entertainment, she slowly falls into madness. The Yellow Wallpaper is the perfect example of how the treatment given to mentally ill women in the Victorian age was deficient, and in many cases

During the mid-1800’s women were often treated horribly and prohibited to have a mind of their own. Charlotte Perkins Gilman the author of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper” does an exquisite job illustrating the mentality society during this time in the short story. Gillman’s notion often was that men and women did not have a different mindset. ‘’ The Yellow Wallpaper” is a tale about this women who is mentally unstable and cannot recover due to her husband’s disbelief. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman uses feminist criticism through the dialogue, symbolism hidden in the text, and the protagonist transformation to help the readers understand the male and female dynamics of that time period.

The illustration on page one drew me towards The Yellow Wallpaper, published in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This short story initially conjured up images of macabre events and the supernatural. A husband, wife, and their newborn are “lucky” to find an inexpensive rental and choose the former nursey as their bedchamber, a room with bars on the windows and torn wallpaper. Narrated in the first person by the wife, the setting reminded me of the television series, American Horror Story. As the story unfolds, either the wife has made a ghostly discovery, or she is going insane.

“Aesthetically disorganized and confusing, its frenzied design representing a break from the straightforward, instructional acclimated patterns”: the trademarks of yellow journalism (*****). The increasingly dominating war for customers between newspapers employed sensational writing, consisting of inaccurate journalism, printed on cheap yellow paper, coining the term ‘Yellow Journalism’ in 1896. Although yellow journalism not yet proper terminology during Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s publishing of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, sensational writing was present during the story’s publication. Gilman was a literary author who opposed the increase of the sensational press that threatened her position as an author in its frequent personal attacks on her and its refusal to print non-sensational or serious writing. Similarly Gilman’s classic short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” recounts the plight of a woman

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.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the most prominent feminists of her century. She brilliantly created a haunting and gothic allegory in her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” It was difficult for women to express themselves in a male dominant society, and they would often try to seek greater fulfillment. Gilman takes her audience through her unnamed character’s journey of emotional deterioration, and her quest for control over her own life. The author’s allegory for the suffrage of women as a whole is perceived through her female protagonist with marital submission, oppression, and the evils of the resting-cure all inspired by her own personal experience.

Many people know how it feels to be confined emotionally, but how many can say they have been confined physically, mentally, and socially? In a male dominated society women face many forms of oppression and often times are imprisoned by their expected roles. Women are expected to take on a submissive role and, due to a lack of educational opportunities, are left in a “state of perpetual childhood” (Mary Wollstonecraft). In the short story, “Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her personal experiences with confinement to highlight the struggles women face in their quest for freedom of thought. The story is set in the late nineteenth century and is narrated by an unnamed upper middle-class woman that recently gave birth and is suffering from what would be considered modern day postpartum disorder. Her husband John--also her physician--has rented a colonial estate for the summer where she will undergo “rest cure” treatment. The narrator is confined to a room with “hideous” yellow wallpaper, a nursery perhaps, and forbidden from engaging in any intellectual activities. The narrator rebels against these constraints and keeps a secret diary; it is through these readings that Gillman reveals the idea that when a woman is confined and oppressed, she may decline to the point of madness.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a gothic fiction short story that includes feminist perspectives. According to one scholar, the story “is used to remind contemporary readers of the enduring import of the feminist struggle against patriarchal domination” (Haney-Peritz 114). The unnamed narrator is stuck in “a colonial mansion” that she describes as “a haunted house” (Gilman 468). The setting is a big house with only her and her husband, John, living in it. She is stuck in the big mansion because John, who is also her physician, says she has a “temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 468). As part of her treatment she is told to rest until she feels better. John and her brother says she is “absolutely

Charlotte Perkins Gilman short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written in the early nineteenth century, which was during a time of great change. During this time “domestic Ideology” was placed American women as spiritual and moral leaders of their home. Basically society prescribed a women’s role in life but, Gilman disagreed this totally. Gilman shows us this in her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” She creates a fictional story based upon her own experiences. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, depicted a depressed woman who slowly descends into madness in her room, while her well-meaning husband is often away due to his work at the hospital. Gilman successfully illustrates how society suppresses women and how dangerous it can be to a women’s mental health.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote a semi-autobiographical story, of a time when she was enduring a sickness of deep depression and suffering in her marriage. Gilman was a feminist, woman’s right activist, and a major replica for women to gain economic independence. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator starts out by telling the reader, that her and her husband, John who is also her physician, are going to be staying in a summer home. He has demanded that is all she needs to be cured from her temporary nervous depression. John had told friends and family that there is nothing wrong with his wife, for he does not truly believe that she is sick. Her brother, also a highly-recommended physician, agrees with her husband. The narrator