The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism Essay

The room that confines Gilman's narrator,is "a cruel, ingenious cage." It is in this room that the wallpaper reduces an artistic and articulate woman to an animal, stripped entirely of her sanity and humanity. Through Gilman's symbolism, the reader can interpret that the paper symbolizes her current situation that she faces with society and her husband. Both restrain and monitor much like the wallpaper and lead the narrator to subsequent mental demise. By placing her in this room, John, the narrator's husband, becomes the main antagonist and a direct reason why she ends up she way she does. He makes gestures at restraining her by locking up the surrounding of the house and speaks to her demeaning as "dear" or " little goose" (1152). The influence her husband has on the narrator is dominant as he hardly lets her " stir without special direction" and in turn makes her "very tired" (1151).

The story takes the form of a journal of the main character. Therefore, the reader’s view is limited to the impressions of a single character, Jane. Considering some background information on Gilman, one can easily draw the conclusion that the story is

Georgiana’s birthmark is the main symbol in the story that could have multiple meanings. It is clear what the birthmark symbolizes when Georgiana declares, “I am happy to put my life in your hands,” (Hawthorne 3). Aylmer is ready to start his experiment when Georgiana says she is willing to be a part of it. What Aylmer does not know is that the birthmark actually symbolizes her mortality and when she says she is happy to put her life in his hands, she actually means that her birthmark is her lifeline and she is happy to put it in his hands. Aylmer wanted his wife to be perfect, but he only made the outcome worse with trying to remove the mark. Another example of symbolism is when Hawthorne writes, “The mark was usually a deep red color,” (Hawthorne 1). The color red could symbolize one of many different things, but it mainly symbolizes the color of blood. Blood is a main part of one’s body and mortality, and when the birthmark is described by its deep red color, it means that the mark is her source to life. After the tragic death of Georgiana, Aylmer finally realizes that the birthmark really had been her mortality. Aylmer is so deeply caught up in forcefully trying to get Georgiana to let him remove her birthmark, he does not recognize the true perfection that was there all along. Symbolism helps the theme that is portrayed throughout the story that trying to be flawless results in a devastation.

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 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” focuses on a woman who is struggling with post traumatic syndrome after recently having a baby. Her doctor who is also her husband, gives her the diagnosis to stay in bed all day and eventually thinking she will get better. From laying in bed all day she starts studying the yellow wallpaper thinking she sees something in it. By the end of the story it has drove her crazy and realizes the woman she sees in the wallpaper is really her.

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

so she keeps the journal a secret and she creates and artificial self because of the role of women in the society. While speaking on the topic of role of women in the society, Treichler states “It (John and the wallpaper) imposes controls of the female narrator and dictates how she is to perceive and talk about the world. It is enforced by the “ancestral halls” themselves: the rules are followed even when the physician-husband is

he yellow wallpaper in the short story “ The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Is a symbol for whom the unknown narrator actually is and how she truly feels. The wallpaper represents the barrier that the male dominated society has constructed against women. When the wallpaper starts to reveal bars, it shows that she truly feels trapped and hidden and she is very attached to it that she watches it at daylight and night . Also as the wallpaper becomes more twisted, she starts to see this woman behind it which shows that she has become more mentally unstable. “Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over (Gilman 9).”

Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” centers around a woman who is dealing with a serious mental condition. In the story readers see different themes, symbols, and metaphors that are portrayed throughout the book. The madness aspect, society and class, freedom, and treatments all are different themes and symbols that the author uses throughout the story. Society and class play a big role in the story. Society is much different in the 1950s apart from how it is today.

The story, The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, informs the audience on the mental stability of the main character Jane. During the story, which was first published in 1899, a wife that is also new mother experiences post-partum depression. Even though her husband is taking good care of her, he isn’t doing or believing the right ways. In the Victorian Era, people were supposed to act normal as if nothing was wrong with them, however some people broke social norms. Jane represents symbolism by explaining that she journals in dead paper. Another main point in the story, is Jane’s mental illness and how it’s being dealt with during the story. Through social codes, symbolism and mental illnesses in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” represents a mental break down in the contracting social codes of the Victorian era.

Jane a young wife of a physician narrates Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. She embodies an oppressed woman who is subjected to isolation. The author uses the yellow wallpaper that surrounds Jane as symbolism to her inner struggle of oppression and her desire for freedom. The woman who resides in the wallpaper is Jane herself. As the story unfolds Jane realizes she is the only one who can set herself free.

Lost home, lost mind, lost hope. With the loss of sanity the narrator of the story is rid of comfort and forced to take in the yellow wallpaper as her will to live. As the narrator was losing her sanity, she expressed herself in the wallpaper. She could not relate or even talk to others. This forced the narrator of the story to release herself in the wallpaper. The wallpaper was a reflection of the narrator and how her mental state deteriorates throughout the story. The fading face of the wallpaper and the idea of how trapping the wallpaper is directly shows the aspects of symbolism relating to the narrator. Varying aspects of symbolism are displayed relating to the wallpaper, mainly due to its effects on the narrator in,”The Yellow Wallpaper”.

Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the short story “The Birthmark” has deep and meaningful symbolism. Symbolism often represents a recurring theme or idea in a book, short story, or poem. Other times, the author simply uses it to get a brief point across. Both of these bring more excitement and meaning into the story, and symbolism sometimes reflects how an author feels as they write their story. This element of literature reoccurs frequently in “The Birthmark”; however, only three have a deeper meaning.

The narrator also felt that her husband was being evil by diagnosing her with hysteria and not trying to treat her in a better way. She believed that she should have also been allowed to write. The wife pleaded and begged with him to let her fix the wall but he never agreed. He would always say: "You know the place is doing you good," he said, "and really, dear, I don't care to renovate the house just for a three months' rental (649 Gilman). " Even though he thought the room was helping her, it was actually turning her crazier than she was

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an American feminist author who is best known for her short story titled “The Yellow Wall Paper”. This semi-autobiographical story was published in January of 1892 during the literary movement known as Realism. Along with the Realism movement, characteristics of the Gothic movement can also be found in this story due to the atmosphere of horror that is present within the wallpaper. However, the most noticeable attribute of this story is it’s feminist ideologies. This story illustrates a tale of a women who is suffering from postpartum depression but does not understand that for herself. She is cared for by her physician husband John and his sister Jennie in a colonial home that they leased. Once in the home the narrator expresses her feelings about a hideous wallpaper with an unique aura. As the story progresses the narrator is convinced that there are women in the wallpaper trying to escape. Finally the story ends with the narrator locking herself into the room and tearing the wallpaper off the walls crawling on the floor as the “wallpaper women” done. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s diction helps to illustrate a story that shares realistic details however the connotation in the story brings out the gothic and feminist elements that reside on the pages. The symbolism in this story also ties in elements from these movements helping to strengthen its gothic feminist theme.