The Yellow Wallpaper Insanity

     Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is as a wonderful example of the gothic horror genre. It was not until the rediscovery of the story in the early 1970’s that “The Yellow Wallpaper” was recognized as a feminist indictment of a male dominated society. The story contains many typical gothic trappings, but beneath the conventional façade hides a tale of repression and freedom told in intricate symbolism as seen through the eyes of a mad narrator.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short-story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It was first published in 1892. This short-story is written in the first-person point of view. This helps show a collection of journal entries by a woman who is oppressed, suffering from what we now know as post-partum depression and denied a chance to express herself by her physician husband. This condition frustrates her health in the end, becoming psychotic and paranoid about any human contact, even delusional. She is locked in a solitary room for most of the story. She is only accompanied by old, peeling, yellow wallpaper. At the end of the story, the narrator talks about her freedom, further indicating the position of women at that time. This analysis of the short story focuses on the theme of gender brought forth in the story as well as the position Jane takes in furthering this theme.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is known as the first American writer who has feminist approach. Gilman criticises inequality between male and female during her life, hence it is mostly possible to see the traces of feminist approach in her works. She deals with the struggles and obstacles which women face in patriarchal society. Moreover, Gilman argues that marriages cause the subordination of women, because male is active, whereas female plays a domestic role in the marriage. Gilman also argues that the situation should change; therefore women are only able to accomplish full development of their identities. At this point, The Yellow Wallpaper is a crucial example that shows repressed woman’s awakening. It is a story of a woman who

At first she calls on G-d to “strengthen me in my distress” (line 9). Then the narrator begins to think that “It was His own, it was not mine” (like 17) which shows that she’s beginning to accept what happened. This was all in G-d’s plan; it was predetermined. The narrator goes on to say “Adieu, adieu, all’s vanity” (line 36). This is a very materialistic phrase. However, in the next stanza, the narrator says that she is the one in the wrong for straying from G-d. The realization of the connection she has developed to material objects brings on a reflecting of how she ever strayed from G-d since there is nothing to count on except G-d. In the last stanza, the narrator says, “My hope and treasure lies above” (line 54). Everything that the narrator needs is in heaven. While she may seem a little resentful, she is able to accept the destruction of her house and turn it into love for G-d. The idea of predestination makes an appearance again as the narrator knows that this is what G-d wanted. G-d is all that she has left now since she lost all of her material wealth along with everything

In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman discusses the oppression men have towards women through the story of a nameless narrator during the 19th century. In the story, the unknown narrator, a woman, is telling her struggle for freedom and her fight to escape from the subordination in her marriage with a physician. In the story, the narrator suffers an illness that prevents her from doing things she likes such as writing. Throughout her illness, the narrator slowly becomes aware of her situation and then starts to fight to change her living condition with her husband. Through the use of two major symbols established throughout the text, Gilman brings awareness of women’s struggle to end their oppression by men and their fight to change the way society is dominated by men. In addition, the symbols used by Gilman underline the way women suffrage awareness slowly began to spread during the 19th century.

Women’s Rights has been a point of contention for a very long time. Especially during the late 19th and 20th century, it was a seemingly unorthodox idea in a patriarchal society. This is what makes Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper a feminist piece still analyzed to this day. It was a story that was arguably ahead of its time, as was Gilman, with her utopian feminist ideals. She wrote the book with some introspection of her own postpartum depression. The Yellow Wallpaper has been deemed a classic feminist literature piece due to its layers of deeper meaning, achieved through Gilman’s use of symbolism, character, and setting, construed by many to represent the struggles faced by women in the late 19th century.

Pieces of literary works often center around a particular theme. Characters represent this through the qualities they possess, but it can be presented in different ways. “The Yellow Wallpaper” focuses on a woman who goes insane because she isn’t treated correctly and “The Tell-Tale Heart” centers around a man who is already insane. During the Dark Romantic literary period, men and women reaching the point of insanity was explored; how they got to their breaking point and what happened thereafter usually differed.

Only the people close to her except her and understand her disability. In the book it states “ I’m surrounded by thousands of words. Maybe millions. Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes—each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands. Deep within me, words pile up in huge drifts.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, we see the narrator’s descent into madness throughout the short story. In the beginning of the story, the narrator seems to be sane and able to think rationally. It seemed that the husband was not truly keeping track of how she was doing, but left her in the room by her self because that is what he thought was best. It was not till later in the reading that the narrator truly descended into madness. The confinement of the room and having no one to speak seemed to be the real reason for her insanity.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, the narrator has a “nervous condition” that is affecting her mental state of mind. The narrator of the story just had a baby and her husband, a doctor, has recommended that she stay in one room and not have any human contact nor read or write. The cure for her mental disease was a suggestion by Weir Mitchell, a doctor who felt that a rest cure was the best way to overcome this condition. The narrator shows us that she allows herself to be obedient to her husband, that she develops an obsession with the yellow wallpaper in her room and that her condition becomes worse by not being allowed to be herself. After giving birth, the reader developed a nervous condition and it caused her to have an obsession

In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the main character is believed to be insane and depressed by her husband, John, who is a doctor. The narrator was not insane or depressed, but rather suffered from feeling like her husband’s patient, and being constantly alone.

There was a great inequality between the sexes, and the idea that “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written during such a time is truly amazing for it was rare to hear a woman speak up in general let alone about mental illnesses. One of the greatest problems that is shown throughout the book is the behavior of the main character “accepting” that she cannot truly express her feelings, thoughts, or even opinions’ to anyone. Thus, she is left with secretly journaling her thoughts. Her freedom to express herself properly wither it be about how she is feeling, what she would like to do, or even her own anger. The main character quotes her husband within the novel stating “ I get

    "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1890 and eventually published in 1892 in the New England Magazine and in William Dean Howells' collection, Great Modern American Stories (Shumaker 94). The story was original not only because of its subject matter, but also because it is written in the form of a loosely connected journal. It follows the narrator's private thoughts which become increasingly more confusing. The structure consists of disjointed sentences as the narrator gradually descends more and more into her madness as her only escape from an oppressive husband and society.

“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 period where women were oppressed. Women were treated as second rate people in society during this time period. Charlotte Perkins Gilman very accurately portrays the thought process of the society during the time period in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written. Using the aspects of Feminist criticism, one can analyze “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman through the dialogue through both the male and female perspective, and through the symbol found in the story.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper” serves as a perfect example of how women are treated in the 19th century. The distracting details both surrounding and filling the new house that the main character and her husband move into haunt her. Throughout the story, the main character, as she observes the house while in isolation, notices the true meaning in life, specifically for women. Gilman’s piece unveils the unfortunate requirements that women must meet in order to become accepted into society. The imagery and description of the house mentioned in “The Yellow Wall-paper” holds a much more symbolized sense reassuring the main character about women’s roles in life, according to humanity.