The Repression of Women in Victorian Society as Shown in 19th Century Literature

In the 19th century, the female gender faced limited opportunity and the widespread belief of inferiority to the male gender. Women were viewed as being frail, weak, and in constant need of a man to help her do even the most basic tasks. This resulted in devastating effects on the female psyche, including debasement of character and even catastrophic mental illness. Literature written by the women of the aforementioned time period conveys the isolation, humiliation, and agony experienced by the females of that time. The short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, serves as an excellent example of such a piece of literature. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” illustrates subordinate standing of the female role in the 19th century and how such social conditions can have a devastating effects impact on the human mind. (Wilson)

Oppression has been a tactic used for thousands of years in order to conquer, enslave, and control those who are different from the social norm. But one group that has been and continues to be oppressed is women. Women make up half of the population and yet men were able to manipulate their lives and create a society that prevented them from being treated fairly and equally, a problem many still face today. The male dominated society that has been present for centuries can be seen entirely throughout the nineteenth century. The unhealthy dynamic between men and women can be seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and Margaret Fullers Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Not only did the oppression of women present itself in literature of the time period, but it also emerged through clothing, seen in both stories and in real life. The mistreatment and misconceptions men had and continue to have about women can be shown within the literature, clothing styles, and dynamic between men and women of the nineteenth century.

During the nineteenth century, women and men played vastly different roles. While men had the free will to choose the life paths they desired, women lacked such privileges. Women, instead, were expected to tend to domestic responsibilities. Unlike men, they were unable to voice their opinions, instead, myriads of them lived monotonous lives with their, often condescending, husbands. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, portrays a woman in the nineteenth century descending into psychosis. After the birth of her daughter, the unnamed narrator presumably endures postpartum depression and is forced into bed rest as a cure. In her male-dominated society, the narrator often feels as though she is at a loss of control over her life. Despite what she believes is best for her own betterment, her husband, John, overrides her inputs. She is stripped away from the outside world and left with nothing more than her concealed diary entries and the horrid yellow wallpaper of her bedroom. Although John seemingly wants the best for his wife, his dismissiveness towards her mental state and solicitations necessarily cause her to become deranged; her breakdown is a result of feeling powerless as she is encaged in a house she does not care for, restricted from her activities, and her inability to communicate effectively.

During the late 19th century women, as history demonstrates, were to remain confined to their societal expectations and roles. Women were thought of as the weaker sex, emotional, and fully dependent on their male counterparts, child-like. She was to be a pious woman, living a life of true domesticity. If a woman was not able to function in her role as a mother and submissive wife, then she was thought of to be simply undergoing hysteria. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, written in 1892, we are introduced to an unnamed woman suffering from this “nervous depression” (1). This woman and her husband John, who is a “physician of high standing” (1), are taking a three-month vacation in an old colonial mansion. It is in this haunted house that the reader is able to see the psychological deterioration of the woman as she lives under a demanding patriarchal society.

Women in the patriarchal Victorian Era were not given a significant role in society. They were often confined and belittled by their husbands and were thought to be inferior, in contrast to men. Many women were stripped away of their basic rights and were seen as their husband’s property, constantly being told what and what not to do, and were completely submissive not being able to break free from the abuse. In the short passage “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman goes in depth about the main character and her relationship with her husband John, his role as a husband during the Victorian period and how he mistreated the narrator. She was not able to express her true self and become an independent individual due to John being patronizing

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, protagonist of the “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the author of the short story herself, details her experiences while locked away on bed rest by order of her doctor husband. Through these experiences, Gilman displays the struggles women face while seeking independence. While this short story has many psychological aspects, it also displays several feminist perspectives that speak for the female gender throughout the late 1800’s, as well as difficulties with a society ran by primarily males. This idea is evident through Gilman’s husband, John, the writings of Jane, the unnamed narrator, and the environment Gilman herself was placed within. Through these components, isolation of women and the power given off by the male gender is reflected.

The treatment of woman was oppressive in the 1800s while the men were the ones in charge. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper,” in this the narrator shows how her husband, John, treated her. “The Yellow Wallpaper,” follows a woman going through some mental illness and her decline into madness after being told what to do constantly. Women were not seen as equals to males either socially or intellectually during the time of the story.

In the late 19th century, women were not treated equally by men and they played a different role in society than what they do today. There are many stories that can help provide a glimpse of what life was like in the 1800s using a literary device known as realism. Realism is correctly portrayed in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin, in which both depict real life situations and scenarios of what it was like to be a woman in the late 19th century. In both of these short stories, the women are depicted as being tied down by their husbands, with their thoughts and ideas being considered absurd by the men in their lives. Also, the authors use these stories to describe scenarios that they once found themselves in. The illnesses that the women faced during this time period were real but often downplayed by men who did not believe what the women said. While depression may have been diagnosed due to the birth of a baby, it could have also been due to their husbands. Both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of an Hour” demonstrate realism through social themes that incorporate the idea of feminism, as well as the way in which women were treated as less than equal by men.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short fiction, written by Charlotte Gilman; an American author who was born in Hartford and who suffered from a lonely childhood due to her father’s abandonment. She worked as an art teacher and married the artist Charles Stetson, who turns her married life into a nightmare full of sadness and gloom. Her depression and illness came after giving birth to her daughter. Gilman committed suicide later, after she discovered that she had a deadly illness. Gilman’s work in the Yellow Wallpaper conveyed the miserable life of a married woman, a life very similar to her own.

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.

Throughout the 19th century, especially during the Victorian era, gender roles became very distinctive. There were certain characteristics that the ideal Victorian man or woman were expected to have which emphasized patriarchal superiority. The patriarchal system meant that males had dominance in their homes, specifically over women. The ideal man during this time period would focus on achieving job related success which, in turn, would show that he is an eligible suitor to get married. It was seen as important for the man to have a family to support and protect, which also gave him the opportunity to exercise authority within his household. While the men went off to work to provide for their families, the women stayed home to perform their motherly duties in addition to keeping busy around the house. It was expected of Victorian women to have feminine, graceful, and innocent attributes. In fact, before they found spouses, the ladies were taught to be pure and to have strong morals. Also, “higher education and professional work” were discouraged because it was thought that it “could lead to all sorts of covert rebellion” (Hughes). Although these gender roles were usually very distinctive, in some cases they became muddled. In the novel, Dracula, the author, Bram Stoker, contradicts Victorian Era principles to illustrate that socially constructed gender roles are not absolute.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman focuses on the oppression of women in the 19th century. The story introduces us into the awareness of a woman who is slowly going insane over the course of the summer. She recently just gave birth to a baby and is most likely suffering from some type of depression. Analyzing this story, we see the frustrations of women during The Victorian era. Women were manipulated into certain stereotypes as a wife and mother. Gilman’s "The Yellow Wallpaper” analyses the question is “Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s real life experiences are reflected in her short story”? “The Yellow Wallpaper” examines the theme of

John justifies his behavior by telling her “I am a doctor, dear, and I know”, but instead of helping her this makes her afraid of him, and unable to talk to him (Stetson 6). She tells us that it is “so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise”, this shows us that John’s ‘superior wisdom’ does affect how she feels about her husband especially when he makes comments telling her to trust him “as a physician when [he] tells her so”, this isolates her even further (Stetson 6). Though John has good intentions for his wife, he is unable to see that he may be wrong about how ill his wife really is, and how his evaluations are

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a startling representation of 19th century gender inequality and how it affected women in their marriages. It illustrates the way women of the 19th century were treated as subordinates in their relationships with men, and the negative psychological side effects this often had. The narrator, who remains nameless throughout the story, finds herself trapped in the bedroom of her new home, encouraged to stay there by her husband and sister-in-law to treat her apparent depression, which she refers to as a “nervous” condition. The distracting yellow wallpaper in the room becomes the focal point of the

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman illustrates the patriarchy and the treatment of women in society during the nineteenth century. This is evident through two parts. First, one sees the treatment of women directly through the narrator’s interaction with her doctor and husband, John. Finally, it is clear through the symbolic wallpaper as well as other physical characteristics of the room that’s she is trapped by societal norms of the time both physically and symbolically. The wallpaper is especially important as it acts as an explicit visual representation of the narrator’s realization of the true nature of her status in society as a woman. One can see what it was like to be a woman during this era of male dominance. “The Yellow Wallpaper” question gender roles and societal conventions at the time by showing how a woman who believes she is being held down, or oppressed, is considered to be suffering from a mental illness.