The Yellow Wallpaper
Essay Preview: The Yellow Wallpaper
Report this essay
Up until the last century and throughout history, women have been greatly oppressed by men. They were treated as incapable of harvesting intelligence, and in many cases were not educated. They were not allowed to vote nor have a say in political events. They were thought of as weak, and female authors were forced to hide their works and sometimes publish under male names. Women even had to deal with suppression by their husbands. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator struggles to break free of the obstacles imposed by male society. Clues embedded within the text indicate the barriers inflicted by men on women at this time, as does the language, setting, and the narrator’s supposed diagnosis, which ultimately result in her change of identity and mind.
A secluded colonial mansion is where her husband brought her for the summer months, but the narrator would refer to it as a “haunted house”. She suffers from an illness, of which her husband, John, does not believe. He is a physician, and takes her to this house to recover. The narrator, Jane, does not like the house. She is shut up in a big upstairs room with the bed nailed to the floor and bars over the windows. The wallpaper around the room is a horrible yellow lacking an existent or understandable pattern. John restricts her from writing and encourages her rest. She is prohibited from visiting relatives or leaving the room. She constantly asks to switch to a downstairs bedroom, but John immediately excuses these ideas. Stuck in the room for her days, she is left with only the wallpaper. The narrator starts to identify to it, she sees it move, and eventually envisions a woman trapped almost as she is. She changes her sleeping patterns, napping in the day so she can look at the wallpaper at night while John is asleep. She is mesmerized by it, and soon it is the only thing that inhabits her mind. On the last day in the house, John is conveniently away, and Jane is given her chance to release the woman in the wallpaper. At this point, she has lost all sanity, and rips the paper off of the walls. She changes who she is, actually leaving Jane behind and becoming the woman in the wallpaper. John tries to come in, and she speaks to him as a completely different person. When he finally gets a hold of the key and enters, her transformation is so surprising that he faints by the wall, leaving her to creep over him as she moves about the room.
The narrator knows she is ill, but it is her husband John who diagnoses her and outlines the best treatment. She suffers from a mental sickness, not a physical one. As the narrator states, “John is a physician, and perhaps—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is a dead paper and a great relief to my mind)—perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster (Gilman, 1).” Therefore, since her husband cannot physically or tangibly identify anything wrong with her, the narrator exclaims, “You see he does not believe I am sick (1)!” Mental disorders like these at the time were generally categorized as female-only illnesses. The narrator even mentions, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do (1)?” This obviously troubles the narrator, and leaves her feeling very alone. If he cannot even believe in her sickness, she does not know how she will be able to get better. Furthermore, by using the words, “a slight hysterical tendency,” he degrades her to a further extent, publically making it seem as if the sickness is something nonexistent, and completely reveals the his view of her condition only as a pigment of her imagination. The narrator writes, “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him (2).” She feels like her condition is entertaining him, and she hates it. She knows he does not understand her, and the way she uses “satisfies” gives the impression that he is even quietly laughing at her.
As the narrator voices, “It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer (1).”, she has a condescending tone as she is aware of the provisions of her treatment. According to John, she is “absolutely forbidden” to partake in any work until she recovers. She is expressly prohibited from writing, which she feels would actually better her. However, she judges that there is nothing she can do but conform to the diagnosis and treatment. This leaves her in an extremely powerless position, unable to access her intellect or undertake in exercise of any sort.
Not only does the narrator have to deal with her troubled mind and husband, but she has to cope with the quarters within which she is forced to stay. She states, “I don’t like our room a bit (1).” She wants to change to a downstairs room, but John will not have it. She further describes room, “…the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls (2).” Her bed is also nailed to the ground, leaving the reader with a sort of insane asylum feel.
John has control of her mind, and even though she resents his feelings for her illness, she still loves him. She includes, “I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more (2).” This leaves her feeling unappreciative and terrible for not cherishing his so valuable assistance more. He gives her a guilt trip, “He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get (2).” His masculinity in the relationship is on display here, as he has complete control over both her mind and physical presence.
As time progresses, John seems to switch from a husband to a more paternal figure. He even stops fully responding to her. She notes a conversation, “’Then do let us go downstairs,’ I said, вЂ?there are such pretty rooms there.’ / Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down to the cellar, if I wished, and have it whitewashed into the bargain (3).” This is an example of how John infantilizes his wife, thus putting her on a lower level than she already is. It seems as if she is in a helpless position, with John as her caretaker.