What Is The Theme Of Gender In The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Yellow Wallpaper" tells the story of a woman living in the nineteenth century who suffers from postpartum depression. The true meaning implicit in Charlotte's story goes beyond a simple psychological speculation. The story consists of a series of cleverly constructed short paragraphs, in which the author illustrates, through the unnamed protagonist's experiences, the possible outcome of women's acceptance of men's supposed intellectual superiority. The rigid social norms of the nineteenth century, characterized by oppression and discrimination against women, are supposedly among the causes of the protagonist's depression. However, it is her husband's tyrannical attitude what ultimately

After securing herself in the room the narrator says, “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard”! She has began to believe that the women behind the wallpaper is herself and that she must return to her rightful place come night fall, proving that she has gone completely mad. The character’s illness develops form her paranoia and curiosity about the ‘trapped women’ within the wallpaper to

The narrator is diagnosed with a “nervous disorder” and is ordered by her physician, who also happens to be her husband, to abstain from most activity and all intellectual work. The same treatment Gilman was forced to take part in. The narrator is deprived of any stimulus or outlet for thought or action, and she begins to obsess over the yellow wallpaper. Her discovery of the women trapped in the pattern in the wallpaper symbolizes the pattern of behaviors and practices that trap the female sex. For Gilman, the conventional nineteenth-century middle-class marriage, with its rigid distinction between the “domestic” functions of the female and the “active” work of the male, ensured that women remained second-class citizens.

  The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman can by read in many different ways.  Some think of it as a tragic horror story while others may find it to be a tale of a woman trying to find her identity in a male-dominated society.  The story is based on an episode in Gilman's life when she suffered from a nervous disease called melancholia.  A male specialist advised her to "live a domestic a life as far as possible.. and never to touch a pen, brush or pencil..."   (Gilman, 669).   She lived by these guidelines for three months until she came close to suffering from a nervous breakdown.  Gilman then decided to continue writing, despite the physicians advice, and overcame her illness.

Gender roles seem to be as old as time and have undergone constant, but sometime subtle, revisions throughout generations. Gender roles can be defined as the expectations for the behaviors, duties and attitudes of male and female members of a society, by that society. The story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a great example of this. There are clear divisions between genders. The story takes place in the late nineteenth century where a rigid distinction between the domestic role of women and the active working role of men exists (“Sparknotes”). The protagonist and female antagonists of the story exemplify the women of their time; trapped in a submissive, controlled, and isolated domestic sphere, where they are treated

Within the very first lines of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper,” the modern reader is slapped in the face with this off-handed remark, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage,” (792). Although the readers of today might not expect such belittlement in marriage, Gilman must have known that her contemporary readers would. Gilman published “The Yellow Wall-paper” in 1892, a time when all American women were expected to adhere to strict roles in society chosen by the men, who dominated society. Gilman’s contemporary readers would have indeed expected John’s actions. “The Yellow Wall-paper” is a work which addresses the effects of the lack of female agency in marriages during

The structure of the text, particularly evident in the author’s interactions with her husband, reveals the binary opposition between the façade of a middle-class woman living under the societal parameters of the Cult of Domesticity and the underlying suffering and dehumanization intrinsic to marriage and womanhood during the nineteenth century. While readers recognize the story for its troubling description of the way in which the yellow wallpaper morphs into a representation of the narrator’s insanity, the most interesting and telling component of the story lies apart from the wallpaper. “The Yellow Wallpaper” outwardly tells the story of a woman struggling with post-partum depression, but Charlotte Perkins Gilman snakes expressions of the true inequality faced within the daily lives of nineteenth century women throughout the story. Although the climax certainly surrounds the narrator’s overpowering obsession with the yellow wallpaper that covers the room to which her husband banished her for the summer, the moments that do not specifically concern the wallpaper or the narrator’s mania divulge a deeper and more powerful understanding of the torturous meaning of womanhood.

The injustice in society between gender is shown through the relationship between the narrator and John, her husband. In the story, John never once called her by her name, sometimes “a blessed little goose” or some other animal name, like an adult looking down at a minority. This is a discrimination towards women and clearly represents how unfairly women were treated during those times. They were looked down upon, treated as below human, equalling animals. John expects nothing more

The acceptance of gender role by both the characters puts John in a place where his misrecognition of the narrator’s requirements makes him the villain of the story. John and the narrator have accepted the “normal” of the society like the fetishizing of women as an ignorant child, husband as the decision maker in a marriage and the conventional ideals of “reputable wife.” The narrator’s intention to keep her journal hidden is the cause of the expectations of society to treat literacy for women as a luxury which allows John to think writing to be useless for the narrator (a homemaker), and is rather laborious in a rest cure which he thinks to be necessary for the wellbeing of the narrator. The narrator’s mental illness grows without an understanding

He will not let her speak about her condition, see her newborn son, go outside, or even move down from the upstairs room. At first, narrator protests this isolation and says that excitement and activity would do her good, but John undermines her and insists on rest. Although John means best for his wife and wants her health to improve he does not understand that he is quickly progressing her neurosis. John tells her she must rest, which means that she is not allowed to write in her journal, but taking this away means taking away her self-expression. She is forced her to keep her thoughts bottled up in her mind.

Much of John’s condescending behavior is not due to his wife’s illness; he just simply dismisses her opinions with disdain. He does not believe she should write, and says it’s the cause of her illness. He belittles her creative impulses. John, the man, the physician, is in control and therefore it is surmised that his treatment, the rest cure, is correct (The Yellow Wallpaper Essay). Despite her growing lethargy and her distaste for the room and isolation she can’t speak out against his treatment.

The Subordination of Women in Marriage Many women in the past and even some today have experienced injustice. During the time of Charlotte Perkins Gilman most marriages were a symbolic institution signifying the subordination of a woman to her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman critiqued the position that women were given in marriage. Women had to submit to their husband and were expected to stay home.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilmans, The Yellow Wallpaper, the author presents a seemingly insane woman, who is trapped in her own bedroom. Also Gilman focuses her writing on the topic of a male-dominated society. During the late 1800’s, women lacked the majority vote in any major decision. This book was written before the Woman’s Suffrage Movement and the ratification of the 19th Amendment. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, “Gilman attempts to show the ill effects of cultural restrictions and forced inactivity on women's lives during the late Victorian age” (Joyce and Wilson 1).

“The yellow wallpaper” was published in 1892 as part of Charlotte Perkins Gilman work. Its prominence is great because of its theme which sought to liberate women who at the time were dominated by their male counterparts. In the 1800’s women never enjoyed the privileges they do in the contemporary world but were greatly dominated by the patriarch society. By late 1800’s women had slowly and determinedly started to fight for their position, this was through literature and seeking positions that were previously looked at as a man’s privilege. It is their purposeful strive that has led to the current gains enjoyed by the modern woman. In this particular work “The yellow paper” Gilman explores gender roles in marriage and family, the

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman involves an unidentified woman who suffers from society’s way of curing her, as she gets trapped in a nursery due to the “inappropriate” ways she does not fulfill her duties as a women, demonstrating the lack of gender rights and equality present back in the days. This short story aided significantly in helping achieve gender equality rights and finally allowing people to understand that everyone is equal. The way the story portrays the way of curing someone is extremely negative since the “rest cure” is actually seen to make people a lot worse as opposed to better or cured. "Wear and Tear", a short book written by S.Weir Mitchell, M.D, as well as the short story “Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper”