The Theme Of Insanity In The Yellow Wallpaper

Shortly after the passage above, there is another change in the mental state of the narrator. She begins to show symptoms of paranoia, another classic sign of schizophrenia. Speaking of how glad she is that her baby does not have to stay in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the narrator says "Of course I never mention it to them any more— I am too wise,— but I keep watch of it all the same" (Gilman 430). She again shows her mistrust of the people who are caring for her when she says "The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John. He seems very queer sometimes, and even Jennie has an inexplicable look" (Gilman 431). At one point she catches Jennie looking at the yellow wallpaper. She says "I know she was studying that pattern, and I am determined that nobody shall find it out but myself!" (Gilman 432). This kind of paranoia is a solid indicator that the narrator's psychological state is deteriorating towards schizophrenia.

Mitchell was predisposed to think that women did not need to leave there bed or even their homes when they were ill. The rest cure also exacerbated normal gender roles of that era. Men were the ones who belonged in the outside world; they were the bread winners. Men needed to be outside of the home and to take care of the needs of everyone in it. In contrast, women were supposed to inside the home of take care of the home. Dr. Mitchell ensures men were not feeling emasculated by being subject to the same treatment as women and be subject to their homes where they felt only women were supposed to be. The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman, highlight the mental distress that the rest cure tolls on your mental state. Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” because of her experience on the rest cure and she wanted to “save people from being driven crazy”. Another reason that Gilman could have written the short story is to show that women need intellectual stimulation as much as men and that living domestically and not doing things that express a person’s creative side could drive them insane.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's "The Yellow Wallpaper," relays to the reader something more than a simple story of a woman at the mercy of the limited medical knowledge in the late 1800 's. Gilman creates a character that expresses real emotions and a psyche that can be examined in the context of modern understanding. "The Yellow Wallpaper," written in first person and first published in 1892 in the January edition of the New England Magazine, depicts the downward spiral of depression, loss of control and competence, and feelings of worthlessness that lead to greater depression and the possibility of schizophrenia.

Hysteria was the “go-to, catchall diagnosis” for all women, consisting of any “problem” including, but not limited to, nervousness, faintness, loss of appetite, (lack of) sexual desire, headaches, insomnia, muscle spasms, and trouble-making. For centuries, literature portrayed as submissive and obedient to men and oppressed by society, culture, and even men. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman presents readers with a story of a woman suffering from depression, possibly post-partum, but whose remedy is “rest cure,” a treatment invented by Silas Weir Mitchell for neurasthenia involving isolation and rest as a cure for hysteria in all its forms. The Yellow Wallpaper is a narrative concerning the gradual demise of the mental stability of an unnamed, newly married upper-middle class woman in late nineteenth century rural America. Gilman uses psychological terror to not only portray the narrator’s fall to insanity, but also to shed light on the rather unfortunate role of women in the institution of marriage. The narrator’s husband, John, is a physician who firmly expresses disbelief in his wife’s claims of depression. From the beginning of the story, the reader can tell immediately that the narrator has absolutely no voice. John assures her and others that nothing is wrong but “temporary nervous

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," is the disheartening tale of a woman suffering from postpartum depression. Set during the late 1890s, the story shows the mental and emotional results of the typical "rest cure" prescribed during that era and the narrator’s reaction to this course of treatment. It would appear that Gilman was writing about her own anguish as she herself underwent such a treatment with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1887, just two years after the birth of her daughter Katherine. The rest cure that the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" describes is very close to what Gilman herself experienced; therefore, the story can be read as reflecting the feelings of women like herself who suffered through

Most of us are familiar with the phrase, "a healthy body, a healthy mind," which communicates that a healthy body will more than surely lead to a sane mind. However, in Charlotte Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," we are presented with the idea that mental sanity is brought forth by exercising the mind; by articulating one self's thoughts and ideas without repressions or constraints, particularly when the mind is already flooded with troubles. The narrator starts off with a sane mind, yet troubled by anxiety, a product of the restraints her marriage and overall social gender norms of the time have caused. Pressured by these restraints, her imaginative and expressive nature suffer and soon begin to accumulate, overwhelming her

Not only did the rest cure therapy not work for Jane, it did not work for other prominent women suffering from neurasthenia, the same condition as Jane. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author of "The Yellow Wallpaper", and Jane Addams, a woman's advocate of the early nineteen hundreds, were among the few who did not respond in a positive manner to rest cure therapy. The families of Gilman and Addams protested his treatment when the woman did not get well after being under Mitchell's care (Poirier 15). Mitchell believed that with food and rest, the body could gain weight, therefore, replenishing red blood cells and curing the patient (18). Mitchell also believed that "the best cure for female neurasthenes was to reorient them to domestic life" (19). In order for the rest cure to work, patients were secluded from family and friends and they were not allowed to read, write, sew, or sit up in bed (20). Many of Mitchell's patients went home "cured" by his terms (23). Some of the women were not as lucky.

In the early times, men were very controlling. It did not matter what the matter was, men made the decisions. In Charlottle Perkins Gilman " The Yellow Wallpaper," the reader feels a little moody for the narrator when she realized how detached she is from working and having a mind of her own. The narrator's insanity is caused by her husband, the treatment prescribed for her, and her obession with the wallpaper.

While exploring the Yellow Wallpaper, the progression of the narrator's insanity can be tracked through multiple symbols. She begins visualizing a woman, trapped inside of the wallpaper. Which may demonstrate her state of mind. Her husband John brings out the restrictive nature due to isolation. John in the leader of the house and does all of the work both in and out of the house. Her physical bed shows the chained down nature and lack of ability. While all the factors are taken into consideration, one must think about how it may be physical factors or or in her genes. In today’s society, many people only take the physical factors into consideration but disregard how it may lie within an

The yellow wallpaper is about a woman who is sick or at least she thinks so and is told by her husband to stay in her bed and rest, which eventually causes her to go insane. She begins seeing something within the yellow wallpaper. At first she isn’t sure, but after days of staring she discovers a woman inside of the wallpaper. The binaries at work in this piece are light and dark or sane and insane. The main character is sane at first but as time passes she gets sicker and crazier. She loses touch with reality and begins to see things that aren’t there. The woman she sees in the yellow wallpaper isn’t really there, but her mind makes her think she is. She sees this woman trying to get out of the wallpaper, but she can’t. The woman finally escaping

    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

Charlotte Perkins Gilman once said, ‘’There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver’’. Gilman’s belief that there’s no difference in means of mentality between men or women demonstrated through ‘’The Yellow Wallpaper’’. Gilman symbolically portrays that women suffer from psychological disorders caused by lack of love, care, and a constant pressure of secondary roles and personal unimportance in social life. The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story about a woman who has a mental illness but cannot heal due to her husband’s lack of belief. The story appears to take place during a time frame where women were oppressed. The short story can be analyzed in depth by both the psycho-analytic theory and

The woman is prescribed the “rest cure” for her hysterical tendencies and confined to the grounds, mostly to one room with a particularly putrid yellow wallpaper. After months of being secluded with nothing to entertain her but the pattern of the wallpaper, the woman has a mental breakdown, first seeing a woman in the wallpaper and finally believing that she is that woman (Gilman).

When Gilman and Jane, the protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” was diagnosed with melancholia, or neurasthenia, they were given the rest cure treatment by their doctor. The rest cure included:

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