The Yellow Wallpaper And Kate Chopin's The Birthmark

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman written in the 1890s both reflect gender roles of this time, specifically women’s roles. In these stories both of the women are oppressed by their marriages, and by the end of the stories both wish to be rid of their husbands. Also, in both of these stories these women experience mental illnesses, mainly depression. These illnesses were looked at as something minor during this time, was it because psychologists were uneducated, or because as women their mental stability did not really matter? These stories connect so well because of their work to bring to the surface the reality of gender roles in the 1800s. Even though these stories were fictional their ideas were very real. By comparing how men and women were treated during this time, and how they are treated more equally now, it shows that with time American has come a long way.

“The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a first-person narration of madness experienced by an unnamed woman in the Victorian era. The madness is exposed through a “nervous condition” diagnosed by the writer’s husband, a physician, who believes the only cure is prohibiting all intellectual thought and to remain in solitude for a “rest-cure”. The act of confinement propels the narrator into an internal spiral of defiance against patriarchal discourse. Through characterization and symbolism, “The Yellow Wallpaper” exhibits an inventive parallel between the narrator’s mental deterioration and her internal struggle to break free from female oppression imposed on her through her husband and society.

Women in history stood best known for a less ascendant sex in the mid-nineteen centuries. Since times have gone by women had fought for their equal rights and freedom. There had been many stereotypes, where the women were considered as a slave to the men’s because the women’s position was to be the homemakers and a mother to their children, while the men’s are out socializing with others. If they were not happy with the marriage, they cannot just walk out or complain because a women role is to endure all these pains without a word coming out of their mouths. Two out of the ordinary short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of An Hour,” mostly focused on a women’s dilemma that they faced near the 19th century. The two main characters in the short stories show some resemblances in some ways, but both characters portrayed them in different ways of how they dealt their sorrows in their marriages.

"The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and "The Story of an Hour", by Kate Chopin are two very similar stories. Both women were controlled by their husbands who caused them to feel an intense desire for freedom. However, the women in the stories had different life experiences and different reactions to their own freedom as a result of their different personalities.

One of the most striking aspects of the 19th century is the distinctive use of gender roles and expectations. Specifically, these aspects are provided strongly in the “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a short story that demonstrates the 19th century couple, Aylmer and Georgiana, who are faced with the predicament of an imperfection taking the shape of a birthmark upon Georgina's cheek. By 19th century standards, Georgiana is successful at fulfilling the role of a wife.

“If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?” (Gilman 833). It seems that Gilman picked the occupation of a doctor for the woman’s husband and brother to make it seem like they were superior to not just her, but all women (Snyder). The men had the power to tell her what was right and what was wrong, despite of it being her own body. While laying in her bed, the woman can not help but stare at the unsightly wallpaper that is all around her. “One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin. It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide—plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard contradictions. The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the

Most women in America nowadays are lucky enough to consider themselves to be an independent individual, but females were not always guaranteed their freedoms. Throughout the early 1900’s, authors would characterize husbands to be controlling figures. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins demonstrates just how possessive the husband is to his wife in their marriage. This short story shows just how miserable the woman is to be in a marriage with John because John, thinks it would be best that his wife is isolated to get over her postpartum depression.“The Yellow Wallpaper” demonstrates how a male dominated society leads to the woman not being their own individual by using characterization, narrator perspective, and conflict between women and society.

American women weren’t always free, brave and daring like they are in much of today’s world. During the late 1900s, women endured a history of being less than, mistreated, and discriminated by the men that dominated society. They went through a long hardship of struggling for better living situations, rights, and independence. The Revolt of Mother by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman is a short story explaining the difficulties, hardships and struggles women faced in the 19th century. It was first published by Harper’s Bazaar in its September issue in 1890. During this time period, men were treating women unfairly and women had lack of power.

the rest in the milking barn and lived on a lonely spot away from the

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are both 19th century progressive short stories. Both of the stories tell the story of women trapped by the control of their husbands, and the adverse effects that are wrought upon them because of this bondage. In the late 1800s to early 1900s, women faced sexism brought upon them by their spouses and society. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman used their stories to promote social change by emphasizing ideas supporting women’s rights advocates, and using specific characters to represent different social issues in society.

     The short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives a brilliant description of the plight of the Victorian woman, and the mental agony that her and many other women were put through as "treatment" for depression when they found that they were not satisfied by the life they had been given.

Author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s semi-autobiographical short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, portrays how women were treated in the era before postpartum depression was understood by the medical profession. Jane, a new mother, and the protagonist, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” was married to a physician of “high standing” and was treated like a caged animal instead of a human being (Gilman 486). As the story begins, Jane, her husband and new baby are moved into a summer home, which she despised, so that she would have time to recuperate from a nervous condition. At the outset of “The Yellow Wallpaper” Jane suffered from depression and anxiety but as the story progressed so did her mental illness. During Gilman’s short story Jane is disregarded, oppressed, and confined by her husband; this leads to her complete mental breakdown at the story’s conclusion.

To begin with, one can analyze “The Yellow Wallpaper” by examining the aspect of dialogue through the male perspective. Gilman makes a strong statement about males in society during her time period. The men are portrayed to really see women as children more than as individuals. This is made clear when the Narrator says, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression- - slight hysterical tendency- - what is one to do?” (Gilman). Gilman shows the male perspective through dialogue because the Narrator explains that no matter what she says her husband shrugs away her illness. He strongly believes that his wife is being overly dramatic and that nothing is wrong. The typical male makes his wife a conformist by enforcing his beliefs on her. The husband truly believes that nothing is wrong with his wife so he ignores the problem and adds to his wife’s illness. The Narrator also falls victim to oppression through derogatory names on behalf of her husband. This is made clear when the husband interacts with the Narrator, “The he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down to the cellar, if I wished , and have it Whitewashed into the bargain” (Gilman). The key phrase in the quote is “little goose”, the husband treats his wife like a child and speaks to her as such. This shows how much intelligence the husband thinks his wife has. He degrades his wife by using terms that one would typically use to speak to little

Neither a woman’s desire, nor her consent was at issue. The ideal Victorian woman was pious, pure, and above all submissive. The question of her consent was rarely a matter for concern. A Philadelphia physician reinforced this distorted view of women. He asserted that their emotions and character were more “interior” than men, saying: “The house, chamber, the closet, are the centers of her social life and power” (Woloch 128).

The short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1843 at the beginning of the largest feminist movement in the United States of America which occurred between the years 1840 and 1920 (National). Furthermore, during the 1830s and 1840s there were many women who spoke out about women’s rights. They argued for many changes with one of them being a social change in their duties to be subdominant to males. They rallied around the prohibition by fighting for human rights as a whole (Women’s). This period of time had a huge impact on what this story is truly about. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of “The Birthmark” and “The Scarlet Letter”, seemed infatuated by incorporating some sort of feminist approaches in these two narratives. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and her daughter, Pearl, are burdened by an imperfection that Hester had in a very religious community. She is forced to wear the letter A at all times, which stands for adulteress. In both of these fictional stories, the woman is the one who is burdened by an imperfection within their life (Van Kirk). Although these two women are seen as perfect other than these small imperfections, they are forced by society, or men, to be submissive thus burdening them in the long run. Like in his other story, Nathaniel Hawthorne presented Georgiana, a female, as a submissive character to a male, which happened to be her husband, in “The Birthmark,” therefore, I will argue that