The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator, already suffering with Post-Partum Depression, is further constrained when her husband John prescribes her resting treatment for her illness. John clarifies that she must lie in bed in the same, enclosed room, refrain from using her imagination and especially abstain from writing. This, in turn, forces the narrator deeper into her

“The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892, is a great example of early works pertaining to feminism and the disease of insanity. Charlotte Gilman’s own struggles as a woman, mother, and wife shine through in this short story capturing the haunting realism of a mental breakdown.The main character, much like Gilman herself, slips into bouts of depression after the birth of her child and is prescribed a ‘rest cure’ to relieve the young woman of her suffering. Any use of the mind or source of stimulus is strictly prohibited, including the narrator’s favorite hobby of writing. The woman’s husband, a physician, installs into his wife that the rest treatment is correct and will only due harm if not followed through. This type of treatment ultimately drives the woman insane, causing her to envision a woman crawling behind the yellow wallpaper of her room. Powerlessness and repression the main character is subject to creates an even more poignant message through the narrator’s mental breakdown. The ever present theme of subordination of women in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is advanced throughout the story by the literary devices of symbolism, imagery, and allegory.

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

“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

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is a short story, published in the late 1800s, about one woman’s descent to madness. Finding herself plagued with postpartum depression after the birth of her son, the narrator’s ailment is overlooked by everyone around her. Her husband, “...a physician of high standing..” (Gilman) describes the narrator’s illness as “temporary nervous depression...a slight hysterical tendency.” Her brother and male doctor, also agree with this diagnosis and because so, the narrator is forced to go through a rather peculiar treatment plan that was commonly practiced on women who were considered hysterical during that time period. Considered a societal norm this treatment plan, created by the dominate male,

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.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is an intricate story that uses the conflict between an “imaginative wife” and her “rational doctor” of a husband to convey underlying motifs (Shumaker n.pag.). The story is told from the narrator’s journal that she keeps hidden from her husband. It is clear throughout the story that the narrator suffers from some sort of mental illness. Her husband/physician, John, uses unethical remedies to try to cure the narrator’s disease. Isolation and complete bed rest are John’s idea of treatment for his

The story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman reflects society's attitude and treatment of mental health issues in the late 1800s. As the story begins, the narrator chronicles her mental health deterioration after the birth of her baby. Her writings reflect her husband’s attitude about her condition, which represents society’s ignorance of women’s medical issues. As the story progresses, the wallpaper itself becomes personified as a prison warden, who oppresses her freedom. As the narrator peels away the wallpaper, Gilman uses setting and imagery to draw readers into the narrator’s world of confusion, anxiety, and depression to share her experience with what we now know to be post-partum depression (PPD).

Depression or Schizophrenia within “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is essentially a diary of the life of a woman who suffered from a nervous breakdown and was ordered Rest Therapy by which to cure her mental illness. The reality off the wallpaper is not only her obsession but it is transposed from the diagnosis of her husband and the wallpaper represents the criteria which women are supposed to fit into and Gilman was not able to adapt to who society thought she should be and therefore she perceived as a lunatic. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, although perceived as fictional is partially Gilman’s own autobiographical portrayal of her own fight to regain herself as a woman who has been dominated and oppressed by her environment and thus, the wallpaper is the way women were expected to be like.

The nineteenth century was a time where men had a certain amount of control over women’s lives, to the point where they defined their roles in society. Women at this time suffered greatly because of this and in ways that lead them to depression, anxiety, who knows what else. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character, Jane, faces those terrible things that eventually lead her to becoming insane. The traits that make up who Jane is, provides the readers with the importance of her identity throughout the story and they also make up the context of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Trying to free herself from her nervous depression, Jane is propelled into insanity.

Madness is what essentially haunts humans. Whether they are born with it or it is brought upon, it leaves a blurred rush of lunacy in its habitants minds. Competently so, a handful of these beings can write and express these tangled minds into compositions that leave the reader cognized and fascinated. Respectably, an author that always seems to come along any viewer’s mind is Charlotte Perkins Gilman, known especially for her controversial short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. The piece deals with a woman who is on a forced vacation from her conventional role as a wife and a mother, diagnosed and treated by her doctor as well as her husband for a slight case of depression. Her primary “treatment” for this is predominantly a week-long stay in an ugly, yellow wallpaper-covered secluded room where she sits and “rests” mostly alone for an extended period of time. In the story, Gilman confronts ideas of isolation from her main character’s world, drawing out attributes from wallpaper and its designs to represent the escape from the society in which she lives in. Alike, she also ties the ideas of loneliness into this character’s stream-of-consciousness by discussing her situation in a passive mindset. Moreover, by using different symbols and stream-of-consciousness, Charlotte Perkins Gilman illustrates the deterioration of a female’s mental health when forced into isolation in her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper.

Learning about how an author lived/lives their life can really change the way that a story is seen. Without the background knowledge of the author’s life all the reader has to rely on is imagination to fill in the blanks between the story and writer. Wither or not the story is based off the writer’s imagination or not can really change the perceptive that a story is seen. Take for example my reactions to the tale “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. My reaction to reading the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” before knowing anything about Gilman is the first thing that will be discussed. Followed by some information I found during the research process and then how my views of work changed with the information I found. Ending with how I think that knowing the authors life can change the perspective which their writing is seen.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is written from the perspective of a woman who is diagnosed by her physician-husband as having “a slight hysterical tendency.” The story is from her first-person perspective of this “temporary nervous depression.” Her husband John loves her, but is condescending: “He is very careful and loving and hardly lets me stir without special direction” (648). He calls her

The protagonist of the fable The Yellow Wallpaper is suffering from mental disorder calked as ‘Hysteria’. The story begins with “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 one is to do? ... So I take phosphates or phosphites- whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas... (Gilman, 1684).” These lines gave a complete idea of the height societal oppression reached and the way it was effecting the lives of women. The authoritative opinions

The female narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” was led to madness by her postpartum depression and premature diagnosis by a family member. After reading “The Yellow Wallpaper”, it is easy to see that the male physician in the story as well as the husband had very little knowledge on women’s health. In an article written years after the publication of the short story, Gillman explained her reason for writing the story and how it was “not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people being driven crazy” (Gillman). She explained how a specialist told her to live a least normal life which only drove her further into her madness. Gillman’s original publication brought awareness to the issues associated with isolation and forced withdrawal which ultimately saved other women from reaching the end. Another significant article “Beyond the Yellow Paper” by Ann Oakley, analyzed the impacts of pregnancy on depression. This article introduced the idea that “the woman [became] increasingly obsessed with the yellow wallpaper since [she was] deprived of companionship” (Oakley 31). She was often alone in the room thinking to herself about the woman in the wall rather than being in the company of her husband and children. The female narrator transitions from being involved in wifehood and motherhood to being forced into isolation which took a toll on her