The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism Analysis

     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 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in which she describes the treatment of a woman diagnosed with a nervous disorder by her doctor and is prescribed the “rest cure.” The story describes the submissive, childlike obedience of women to men that was considered typical at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the story, there are many symbols that highlight women’s infantilization within marriage and a sexist society. The symbolism of the wallpaper and the woman trapped within it are essential for the message of Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”.

Maybe one of the bigger underlying messages in this short story is confinement, which is represented by one of the bigger symbols,the yellow wallpaper. When Jane begins to first describe the wallpaper she says,”The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow,strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight’(Gilman 3). Jane doesn’t seem to understand what is truly eating at her and causing her depression because she feels suppressed but because it is a social norm she continues to go along with it. The yellow wallpaper is weird at first, it repels her, is revolting to her and it is strange because it seems to represent freement of confinement. Continuing on in the story Jane states, ‘There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will’(Gilman 4). Proving that the wallpaper is

   In the disturbing novel, The Yellow Wallpaper, the setting in which the action takes place is extremely important. The author uses setting to focus the reader’s attention into the story in a gradual manner. Also, the manipulation of setting allows the author to subtly introduce symbols in the text. These symbols represent Gilman’s view on the status of women in the patriarchal society of the nineteenth century.

As human beings, we play the cards that are dealt to us in this world. In life, every person goes through their individual ups and downs and occasionally may break down to the extent of not knowing what to do with oneself. In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” which takes place in the late 1800s, focuses on the first person narrator who is an infatuated woman. The disheartening story concentrates on a woman who is suffering from postpartum depression, and as well had mental breakdowns. The narrators husband John, moves her into a home isolated in the country where he wants her to “rest” and get better from her illness. During the course of being confined in the room with the wallpaper, she learns new

The initial description of this woman is of her “stooping down and creeping about.” The woman in the wallpaper is a direct reflection of the narrator’s confidence and feelings of inferiority, and the change they undergo. Initially, the woman in the wall symbolizes the narrator’s fear of presenting herself and her opinions, and being her husband’s equal.

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

The yellow wallpaper is a symbol of oppression in a woman who felt her duties were limited as a wife and mother. The wallpaper shows a sign of female imprisonment. Since the wallpaper is always near her, the narrator begins to analyze the reasoning behind it. Over time, she begins to realize someone is behind the

In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Gilman utilizes personification to emphasize her oppressed and trapped feelings. The narrator, whose name is never mentioned, has a tendency to fixate on the wallpaper in the room she was kept in. She focused on it more and more until it began to represent her mental state. The personification starts fairly simple and implicit. She speaks about how it tends to do seemingly chaotic things and her dislike of it.

For centuries women in literature have been depicted as weak, subservient, and unthinking characters. Before the 19th century, they usually were not given interesting personalities and were always the proper, perfect and supportive character to the main manly characters. However, one person, in order to defy and mock the norm of woman characterization and the demeaning mindsets about women, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper." This story, through well crafted symbolisms, brought to surface the troubles that real women face. Her character deals with the feeling of being trapped by the expectations of her husband, with the need to do something creative or constructive, and to have a mind and will of her own. These feelings

In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses symbols to portray recovery from the depth of mental illness. The main character, Jane, struggles throughout the story with severe depression. She is constantly haunted by the room she has to occupy during her stay. Yet despite it all, Jane sets herself free from her illness’s grasp. Gilman employs the symbols of the yellow wallpaper, the ripping of the yellow wallpaper, and the beautiful door to depict Jane’s journey out of her depression.

Throughout history and cultures today, women have been beaten, verbally abused, and taught to believe they have no purpose in life other than pleasing a man. Charlotte Perkins Gillam uses her short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a weapon to help break down the walls surrounding women, society has put up. This story depicts the life of a young woman struggling with postpartum depression, whose serious illness is overlooked, by her physician husband, because of her gender. Gillman 's writing expresses the feelings of isolation, disregarded, and unworthiness the main character Jane feels regularly. This analysis will dive into the daily struggles women face through oppression, neglect, and physical distinction; by investigating each section

My body of work will be a display of watercolor birds with a silhouette of an acrylic black painted tree on the wall in the background. Broken antique birdcages will be used as supportive installation pieces. There will be five to six watercolor paintings displaying the conceptual idea of women being placed in unnatural settings just like animals are, or in this case birds. The background in the actual works of art is wallpaper that is a symbolic representation from the short story, Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In her story, the wallpaper was symbolic of an ill woman who felt she was imprisoned by the yellow that surrounded her. Each artist and author I have used as my form of inspiration include authors Simone de

An allegory is a symbolical method often used in art or literary fiction. It is when a story or work is written about one concrete concept, but has another story or meaning within the main one. It is almost like a metaphor or hidden message inside the work. It is a metaphor, but in a more deep, complex manner. They both compare things, but an allegory is used to completely symbolize the hidden message or meaning in the work. Allegories can be shown throughout stories by the characters, actions, themes, imagery, or symbols. By doing this it gets out the hidden message that the writer wants to transfer forward.

Now, one of the more predominant symbols in the piece is the woman in the wallpaper. In the story, this mystery woman is described as,¨ the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight¨. This woman in the wallpaper always appears as this different woman to the Narrator, but this one particular woman she remarks as different from normal women by going against norms that most women follow. That is why this ¨woman in the Wallpaper¨ represents feminism and how their members push against these beliefs and norms that society forces women to follow. Another symbolic image in the story is the disease that the Narrator has and how she receives treatment for it. The disease that the Narrator has may be real, but the treatment she receives is very symbolic to how women are not treated equally as men would. As her treatment is listed as,¨ a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel hasely ungrateful not to value it more.¨ By having John do all the care for her, it limits her from even the most basic function as a human, which is to control oneself. Also, she didn't even have a say in her treatment option. Otherwise, she would know why they were at the house. Overall, the symbolism that happens in ¨The Yellow Wallpaper¨ can be in even the small