Wife Subordination Depicted in Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

This only thing I would be able to conclude is that she is either (A) still learning many new characteristics about her husband or (B) this is a side of dauphin that she never sees or perhaps is not in his nature to behave.

she is, to a great degree.  The Wife strives to gain complete mastery over her

Not only does John not sleep with her, but he decides they will take the "nursery at the top of the house" (Gilman 179). The words "barred windows" (181) and "gate at the head of the stairs" (181) have nursery analogies such as the spindles of a crib and the gates in the doorways of nurseries. When she timidly requests that they sleep downstairs, her preference means nothing to him in the matter. He is the authoritarian father figure whose word is law.

John is introduced into the story by the narrator as soon as the story starts. The narrator describes him as "practical in the extreme." He has "no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talks of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures." Although the narrator describes him as these things, they are married and she, undoubtedly, loves him. She continues on by saying " John is a physician and perhaps... that is one reason I do not get well faster." This description paints the husband, John, as controlling over his wife.

John, the narrator’s controlling, but loving, husband represents the atypical man of the time. He wants his wife to get better and to be able to fill the role of the perfect wife that society expected from her. John, being a doctor, did not quite believe that her mental illness was out of her control and insisted on

(her) on the bed, and sit by (her) and read to (her) till he tired (her) head.” John begins to treat her like a child and degrades her allowing her to give in and lose hope of overcoming her illness. As a result of being treated like a child the narrator loses a sense of worth and her identify as a grown woman before. As the protagonist loses her importance she has nothing to do but dwell and spend hours staring at her wallpaper which she studies in detail and “exhaust(s) (her)self in trying to distinguish.” Spending hours staring at the same wall everyday is enough to make just about anyone go insane.

First of all, when the narrator is in her room, she sees the woman behind the wallpaper creeping her during the daytime. This shows that she is unreliable because of her mental health problem. This is one the most important part of the story because the woman that she sees represents herself being trapped in the room. Also, her feelings are not stable. In the beginning, she sees John as a person who takes care of her and loves her. However, the later in the story, the narrator seems to

Not only does she take control of these situations, but she is able to hide her depression of her husband's absence by taking

The story shows different times that John is in denial of Jane’s illness, and Jane is aware of his neglect. In the story, she says, “You see he does not think I am sick!” (310) John does not want to believe that something is wrong with his wife; he wants to have his happy wife back to normal and automatically cured. At the same time, John knows he needs to “help” her in some way.

He treats her as if she were a child, (example; line 128, "What is it, little girl?" A husband does usually refer to their wife as little girl. A relationship feeds on each other to make it right; there is no need for protection or defending. The narrator makes you feel as if all women are enclosed and rely on someone to guide them. You get the bored feeling as you are reading the story, that the women gets while she is locked up in the house not able to go anywhere or do anything. In this case he is inferior to her and protects her. In a normal relationship you don't ask one another what he or she can do or not do, you don't get permission to do things. If there is a huge decision to make in a relationship it is simply discussed. In the relationship of John and her it is all about him giving her permission to do things. In one of her writings she writes, " Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia."(Line108) A wife should never have to be let to do something. If she feels like she wants to go visit her cousins then she should just get up and be able to go. You usually only get permission from someone of a higher an authority or level than you. In a relationship one is not at a higher level than another is.

Throughout the story, John is restraining the narrator from the most basic needs of life, and instead just confining her to a room. John also had entirely dismissed the narrator’s claim that she still feels ill, “"Better in body perhaps--" I began, and stopped short, for he sat up straight and looked at me with such a stern, reproachful look that I could not say another word. "My darling," said he, "I beg of you, for my sake and for our child's sake, as well as for your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind! There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It is a false and foolish fancy.

The narrator goes on to show the dominance that her husband has over her as she tells the reader that her husband is a doctor, but she believes that he is the reason that she is not getting well is because “he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?” (8) and that he also thinks that “there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency” (9). This tells the reader that John does not believe that the narrators mental illness is real and there is nothing that she can do about it, because her role is to be submissive in their relationship. It is not only John who does not believe her, but her own brother who is also a physician agrees with her husband. They believe that rest is what will cure her illness, and she is forbidden from writing and working until she is better. The narrator disagrees with the advice of the men in her life, as she thinks that some excitement may help her condition, "I sometimes fancy that in my condition, if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition” (16). This tells the reader

She speaks as though her opinions to do not count anyway, but she is very accepting of this. She belittles herself several more times throughout the story. "I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and her I am a comparative burden already" (Barnet 747). Having read the text through to the end we know that she is in a mental hospital, a reader could most likely begin to imagine what John may have been thinking to have witnessed his wife go through such disturbing mental anguish and that he was only going off of the knowledge available at this point in time. How would the story be different if it had been written from John’s point of view?

betrayed and lonely. She will go as far as it takes to get revenge. The nurse try’s to console her

pressured to oblige her parent’s wishes. to heed the old . As a result, young