The Independence Born From Desperation

"The Yellow Wallpaper" tells the story of a woman living in the nineteenth century who suffers from postpartum depression. The true meaning implicit in Charlotte's story goes beyond a simple psychological speculation. The story consists of a series of cleverly constructed short paragraphs, in which the author illustrates, through the unnamed protagonist's experiences, the possible outcome of women's acceptance of men's supposed intellectual superiority. The rigid social norms of the nineteenth century, characterized by oppression and discrimination against women, are supposedly among the causes of the protagonist's depression. However, it is her husband's tyrannical attitude what ultimately

The unnamed narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” symbolizes the majority of women by showing what they endured in a patriarchal society. In such a society, the narrator’s individual desire to write were pushed back due to the social influence from her controlling physician husband. To illustrate that, the story states “[...] I am absolutely forbidden to ‘work until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with the excitement and change, would do me good.” (648) This portrays her aspiration to write because she thinks it will benefit

It is difficult to discuss the meaning in this story without first examining the author’s own personal experience. “The Yellow Wallpaper” gives an account of a woman driven to madness as a result of the

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a nervous wife, an overprotective husband, and a large, dank room covered in musty wallpaper all play important parts in driving the wife insane. The husband's smothering attention, combined with the isolated environment, incites the nervous nature of the wife, causing her to plunge into insanity to the point she sees herself in the wallpaper. The author's masterful use of not only the setting (of both time and place), but also of first person point of view, allows the reader to participate in the woman's growing insanity.

The vivid descriptions in “The Yellow Wallpaper” help to bring the reader along in the narrators decent into a kind of psychosis. It starts mildly, with her describing the color of wallpaper as “repellant, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow” (Gilman 528). As more time passes she begins to see more things in the paper such as “a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes start at you,” and for it have “so much expression in an inanimate thing” (Gilman 592). As the pattern and descriptions get more twisted, we get visual clues of the madness that is slowly consuming the narrator. The color of the paper even begins to become a physical thing she can smell descried as, “creep[ing] all over the house...sulking...hiding...lying in wait for me…It gets into my hair” (Gilman 534). In the end we get a graphic visual representation of her full psychosis

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a creative woman whose talents are suppressed by her dominant husband. His efforts to oppress her in order to keep her within society's norms of what a wife is supposed to act like, only lead to her mental destruction. He is more concerned with societal norms than the mental health of his wife. In trying to become independent and overcome her own suppressed thoughts, and her husbands false diagnosis of her; she loses her sanity. One way the story illustrates his dominance is by the way he, a well-know and

The diction and tone demonstrate a wonderful descent into madness. The story is written in first person, allowing us to better understand the narrator’s state of mind. As the story progresses, there is an abundant use of exclamation marks, giving off an erratic, exited tone. Many sentences are short and choppy, portraying the uncertain and off-balance state of mind of the narrator. Although it is clear that the narrator has finally lost her mind, the ending of The Yellow Wallpaper is still fairly ambiguous. It suggests that the narrator was finally able to free herself, although she did lose her sanity in the process. This is evident as she casually remarks that “jumping out the window would be

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is the story of a woman descending into psychosis in a creepy tale which depicts the harm of an old therapy called “rest cure.” This therapy was used to treat women who had “slight hysterical tendencies” and depression, and basically it consisted of the inhibition of the mental processes. The label “slight hysterical tendency” indicates that it is not seen as a very important issue, and it is taken rather lightly. It is also ironic because her illness is obviously not “slight” by any means, especially towards the end when the images painted of her are reminiscent of a psychotic, maniacal person, while she aggressively tears off wallpaper and confuses the real world with her alternative world she has

Male dominance from their husbands is evident with Elisa and the narrator, which leads to different outcomes. Both have husbands who believe they know the best for their wives and their needs. With negative attitudes and beliefs, these men contribute the feeling of imprisonment that leads to a completely disturbed mental state of their wives. The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is trapped inside her insanity, which is a

The Yellow Wallpaper is a story which shows the anatomy of an oppressive marriage. Simply because the narrator does not cherish the joys of married life and motherhood, and therefore, is in

The Yellow Wallpaper is a story about a new mother who cannot climb out of the pits of depression. Her husband is very supportive, to the point of relocating to a summer home in the country. The new mother is the narrator of the story, and through her own thoughts, written on paper, we see her fall into an insane state that consumes her life. Despite all her and her husband’s efforts, the battle with her depression is lost. To properly relate the narrator’s madness and creativity, her behavior must be first dissected to discover the source of her madness.

"Obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness"-Michel De Montaigne. In this case one can comprehend that what a character does with their fixation determines the outcome in which they will get, positive or negative. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is told in the perspective of a lady narrator, who is mentally unstable. Over the summer months John and his wife, the narrator, go to a rental house in hopes that she can recover from her chronic illness. The house in which she is taken is dilapidated and primeval, which cuases the wife to develop a fetish for the ugly yellow tinted wallpaper. Due to her constant thoughts about this she eventually acted upon it. Madness is caused by obsession is an inalienable claim portrayed in the short story,

Madness is the psychological state of someone who has severe emotional or behavioral problems that require intervention. It is the spectrum of behavior characterized by mental or behavioral patterns deemed abnormal by societal norms, manifesting as violations of acceptable actions, roles, and beliefs of society. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman centers on the deteriorating mental condition of the female narrator. Gilman demonstrates the progression of her madness through the restriction of her self-expression. As a woman in the 19th century, the narrator exists in a subservient role to her husband and has inferior social status to men. Her social standing dictates that she is not allowed to participate in her own treatment or diagnosis and is completely forced to succumb to everything in which her doctor, who is her husband, dictates. This lack of control contributes to her descent into madness. The rest cure prescribed by her physician husband provided the environment for her madness to flourish because it was only by succumbing to her imagination that she retains some control and could exercise the power of her mind.

It was 11:54 PM, six minutes before my birthday was officially over. I sat in my darkened bedroom, silent tears streaming down my face, as I waited for a call or text from my friends. It had been my birthday for twenty-three hours and fifty-four minutes, and I had heard nothing from them. I lay in my bed, wondering how this had happened. Before I started high school, I was part of a close-knit group of friends that was nearly inseparable. When freshman year began, however, things changed. I was gradually pushed out of their circle as they started making new friends. In the beginning, I let it happen, thinking that they would eventually come back to me, but I realized that they were not coming back when they let

Class and gender chiefly governed British society in the eighteenth century and the opportunities for a woman to achieve social and financial security were scarce. In this society men of the upper class governed the female identity. This patriarchal climate stipulated that, “a respectable woman was nothing but the potential mother of children” (Blease 7). In the context of eighteenth century British society, this prescribed duty implied marriage first and was shortly followed by procreation and duties relating to family life. Although marriage and maternity provided the only socially acceptable path for women during this time, some