Mentally Unhinged Narration In The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” tells the story of a woman suffering from post-partum depression, undergoing the sexist psychological treatments of mental health, that took place during the late nineteenth century. The narrator in Gilman’s story writes about being forced to do nothing, and how that she feels that is the worst possible treatment for her. In this particular scene, the narrator writes that she thinks normal work would do her some good, and that writing allows her to vent, and get across her ideas that no one seems to listen to. Gilman’s use of the rhetorical appeal pathos, first-person point of view, and forceful tone convey her message that confinement is not a good cure for mental health, and that writing,

“I cry at nothing and cry most of the time,” says Jane, in the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (21). This story gives the reader a glimpse into mental illness and the human psyche by telling the story of Jane. The main character, Jane, is an unstable woman that was put in a bad situation. She is diagnosed with temporary nervous depression which causes slight hysterical tendencies by her physician husband (Gilman, 2). Along with this, Jane exhibited many other symptoms predominant in other mental illnesses, such as postpartum depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia. He believes the best course of treatment for his wife is to move her into a isolated, colonial house away from people, or “stimuli.” This, however, only worsens Jane’s mental condition and further drives her into insanity. The fragility of Jane’s mind was driven to a breaking point by different mental illnesses and conditions she was put into. Although the yellow wallpaper was the major concern Jane had that she viewed as why she was not recovering from her mental illness, many factors added to the bad situation she was in which led to her eventual psychotic break. Three major factors that further deteriorated her mental health are postpartum depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and being treated like a child by her husband. This paper will research these three things that led to Jane’s mental breakdown and the symbolism of each.

Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Fall of The House of Usher’ both serve a highly horrific purpose which is both good examples for the gothic. The strongest example of gothic is ‘The Fall of The House of Usher’ as it established the extreme horror intense and shows the gothic scene of the house.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents the narrator, being the main character, as an ill woman. However, she is not ill physically. She is ill in her mind. More than any chemical imbalance that may be present; the narrator's environment is what causes her to go mad.

Until the medical breakthroughs that we have made in the modern day, psychology as a science was not fully understood. Modern technology has given us a clearer idea of psychology, but in the past there was less known about the science. This alongside a predominantly male medical discourse led to a medical diagnosis in many women called hysteria. Female hysteria was a medical diagnosis given to specifically women as far back as the ancient Greek civilization. Hysteria started as a supernatural phenomena, but as medicine evolved it would be described as a mental disorder, (Tasca). Hysteria. in actuality, is an absurd and fabricated diagnosis that institutionalized and discriminated countless women. The way it makes a women feel, and the fact that it strips a woman of any sort of free will is a sickening display of blatant misogyny. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman perfectly displays not only the misogyny, but the torture a woman must face trapped under a hysteria diagnosis. Hysteria as a diagnoses fails to effectively treat many women, instead leading to the mistreatment and wrongful institutionalization of women.

Men can drive us women so crazy. We find ourselves looking at them and to ourselves asking “why am I with him?” You know you love them, but somedays… “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in a marriage” (Gilman, 1892, p.533) In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, she was driven to craziness by her doctor who was also her husband. If her husband never locked her up in the nursery room, she wouldn’t be so ill.

In order to gain a greater understanding of who one is on the inside one must remove themselves and their mind from their external surroundings. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character, who the reader only knows as the narrator, is diagnosed with neurasthenia which is a disease characterized by “nervous exhaustion” and may otherwise be known as hysteria . She undergoes episodes of mild fatigue and depression as well as showing signs of anxiety which leads to her husband and physician, John, to prescribe her with Silas Weir Mitchell’s “rest cure”. He does this in the hopes of calming her nervous depression and allowing her to take up her proper position in the household. As she follows the rules and regulations put on her while under the rest cure the narrator’s

In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Gilman, the main character seems to be trapped in a controlling relationship. Jane, the wife, distraught with a mental illness while her husband dismisses her claims. John, Jane’s husband, controls Janes every move and refuses to let her write or do any physical activity. For Jane, writing is a stress reliever, a way to escape from reality. Since Jane’s husband wants her to stop expressing herself, so Jane creeps around her husband, and this makes her exhausted. Jane’s new escape is studying the wallpaper. Soon, the wallpaper haunts Jane, making her obsess over it. This obsession becomes unhealthy and contributes to Jane going insane.

Women and hysteria, how society has undoubtedly linked the two together. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a late 19th century feminist whose various works like “The Yellow wallpaper” have continuously fought against the oppressive portrayal views on women. In this short story Gilman critiques the perspective of women, their roles, emotions and actions through a nameless woman who holds a negative mental state. Post-partum depression in “the Yellow Wallpaper” is embodied by a puke-yellow wallpaper, this mental state pertaining to the solitude of a single woman who is thought to be more hysterical than ill.

    In the late 1800's/early 1900's, when Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced her episode of "temporary nervous depression" (Gilman 885), and wrote her autobiographical short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," the workings of the mind were mysteries that few medical people attempted to investigate. A patient who was poor and ill-educated and exhibiting signs of mental disorder was institutionalized -- ala Bedlam. The patient who was rich, educated, and/or from a "good family" was called eccentric and given a prescription for complete mental rest and controlled physical exercise combined with the consumption of phosphorus enriched tonics. This regimen was to be followed in an environment

Many people find it very difficult to understand the meaning and outlook on life based upon the story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Perkins. This short story is based on a woman that is married to a physician by the name of John that she loved dearly. The woman suffered from a medical condition known as postpartum depression and the loss of her human rights. Due to the physician’s experience of her husband John, he felt that it was best to keep her away from the outside life. However, to focus and fully understand Charlotte Perkins and “The Yellow Wallpaper” it is very important that we take the time out to first and for most to understand the medical illness’s that occur upon woman, the medical practices and cure and the rights

In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Gilman uses an unreliable narrator to show the narrator’s increasing madness throughout her confinement in her room.To show this throughout the story Gilman’s used of the literary element of an unreliable narrator. It started with a plot based loosely on a experience Gilman had. Then with the narrator having an ignored and mistreated mental illness; which was a mix of anxiety and depression. The narrator went through the same treatment as Gilman, for the reason of showing her doctor, Weir Mitchell, how wrong his treatment is. Finally, Gilman expertly exhibited how unreliable the narrator was through these issues. Gilman’s use of an unreliable narrator really helped to convey the narrator’s insanity while making the

I don’t believe that the narrator is insane. But, I do believe that she is ill. At first I was under the illusion that she was not and that her husband was leading her to believe so for some personal gain. But, after looking into the text some more I believe that she is schizophrenic. The narrator seems to be lost in her own world. She starts to obsess over something so simple as this yellow wallpaper to the point that she convinces herself there is a women trapped inside of this wallpaper. She doesn't notice things such as bars on the “nursery” windows as being odd or out of place. Her husband seems to keep her trapped in this house away from her family, friends, and baby insisting its for her well being, but he's keeping her trapped. I don't

I think the story I connected with the most would be “The Yellow Wallpaper.” As a teenager I struggled with depression extremely bad. Only since about the middle of August was I able to really feel free of depression. Struggling with this mental illness really messes with your mind. Being by yourself can drive you crazy, it can make you do things you will regret later in life. She was treated as if she didn't know what was going on with herself. But she actually knew what she needed in order to help herself. When I was struggling I tried to not let people know I was. I didn't tell anyone except for one of my closest friends. Instead of telling me I need to grow up and snap out of it, he told me not to go stay in my room all the time and get out and spend time with people. And I think that helped me more than anything else would have. People with a mental illness need their family around, they need their friends.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the story of a woman spiralling into madness whilst her physician husband refuses to acknowledge that she has a "real" problem. On the other hand The Black Cat by Edgar Alan Poe is about a man who is initially fond of cats however as the plot progresses he becomes an alcoholic making him moody and violent, which lead him to torture and kills the animals and eventually also his wife. In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Black Cat," symbolism is used to show the narrator’s capacity for violence, madness, and guilt .The recurring theme present in both these stories is that the main protagonists claim that they suffer or have been taken over by a form of madness. In this essay I shall examine the