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Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper And The Tell-Tale Heart

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“The Tell-Tale Heart”, written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1843, shows the mental deterioration of an unnamed narrator. Similarly, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, although written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman almost fifty years later, also centers around an unnamed narrator who is mentally devolving. Accordingly, certain aspects of the narrator’s surroundings cause this degradation. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” these effects originate from the wallpaper in her room. Equivalently, in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” they arise equally from the eye and the heart of the old man, the narrator's neighbor whom he murders. Along with these objects, the setting of both short stories contribute to the languishing of the narrator’s intellect. Despite being written by different …show more content…

Davison explains that the narrator spends all her time watching the wallpaper (54). Because of this, she becomes so fixated that she is literally incapable of thinking of anything else. This kind of fixation or inability to mentally escape can result in harmful effects (Davison 55) . Correspondingly, King and Morris explain that the wallpaper seems to haunt the narrator (28). This means that it completely takes over her mind. This is unhealthy for anyone because people need a variety of thoughts throughout the day (King and Morris 28). People’s mental health is impaired if they do not have this thought variety in their life (King and Morris 29). This extreme fixation is evident in “The Yellow Wallpaper” when the narrator states,“I don't want to leave now until I have found it out. (Gilman 474)” This shows that the narrator is concentrating very hard on the wallpaper and is trying to analyze it. She is completely dedicated to discovering all there is to know about this wallpaper. This therefore shows she has an obsession with it. Along with this, the quote shows her mental state is declining. This is because it proves that she is incapable of thinking of anything other than the paper. Accordingly, this shows how severe her obsession is. Which adds to the theme because any obsession this strong is unhealthy for the …show more content…

Pitchner proposes this when he explains that no man would, in the right mind, confess to a crime (233). He states that it is the fear of the heart that forces the narrator to admit to murder. This is towards the end of the story when the narrator develops an irrational fear of the sound of the heart beating in the floor. This fear leads to the narrator’s confession. Similarly, Witherington explains that the narrator has a fear of the heartbeat being discovered. He states that this fear leads him to believe that his only option was to admit to the crime (473). The narrator’s fear and confession are seen in “The Tell-Tale Heart” when the narrator exclaims, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart! (Poe 38)” The narrator’s fear of the heartbeat is evident here. This shows that his fear is so strong that it leads him to completely collapse mentally. This shows the moment that he reaches his breaking point and admits to the murder. This contributes to the theme because this was an object that was found in the narrator’s surrounding. Subsequently, it is this object that drives his mind to the absolute breaking point, which proves his

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Together the themes of manipulation and mental illness will trigger a series of events that change their lives. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the protagonist becomes increasingly obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom and seclusion from human contact. This was a cure that her husband John prescribed that proved detrimental to her mental health. As she spends more time alone in the room, she becomes fixated on the patterns and images, slowly becoming convinced there is a woman behind the wall that is trapped and that she must free, "The front pattern does move—and no wonder!

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The narrator is disgusted and repelled by the wallpaper, originally describing the wallpaper as “sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin,” but as the story progresses her hatred turns into an obsession. The narrator sees figures with the pattern of the wallpaper and starts to stay up at night to analyze what she is seeing. One definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it, which her actions can be described as delusional to a normal eye, yet to a “discerning eye” the reader can infer that the figure the narrator describes behind the wallpaper is the narrator herself and her way of expressing how she feels trapped as she states “the faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get

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480 Words | 2 Pages

One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.” (381) Her constant mention of hating the wallpaper seems like it becomes an odd obsession for the narrator. The woman who she is seeing

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710 Words | 3 Pages

The facts clearly indicate that the narrator is hallucinating from thinking about the wallpaper all the time because she has nothing else to do. She’s becoming more and more crazy. She sees this woman behind the bars in the wallpaper, which symbolizes herself, as trapped in her own mind so long she goes crazy. This is just one example of a symbol to show the narrator going is slowly going

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1200 Words | 5 Pages

By this point the already nervous narrator was beginning to go downhill. She was allowing the wallpaper to take control of her life. She then begins to see things in and behind the wallpaper, and she believes that the things are crawling around. “Up and down and sideways they crawl, and those absurd blinking eyes are everywhere” (Gilman, 86). At this point, it is evident that her mental health is quickly deteriorating due to the fact that she believes that her wallpaper is moving and is basically alive.

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710 Words | 3 Pages

She increasingly becomes more fixated on the wallpaper the more she spends alone in the room. She first saw eyes in the wallpaper, then actual people in the wallpaper. She first describes the wallpaper as “One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” , and “The color is repellent, almost revolting” which shows her irritation and resentment towards this treatment at first. But the story goes on and she becomes more fixated and begins seeing a woman in the wallpaper representing her being trapped within the restrictions her husband has given her and the expectations of a patriarchal

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653 Words | 3 Pages

The wallpaper becomes a symbol of the narrator's own mental state. She describes it as "dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions. " This description mirrors the narrator's own mental state, which is confused and erratic.

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807 Words | 4 Pages

Under the orders of her husband, the narrator is moved to a house far from society in the country, wherein she is locked into an upstairs room. Her condition begins to worsen because her exposure to society and people is limited and the yellow wallpaper is what keeps her from thinking about society and peoples; she is kept busy by it and, in fact, wants to stay until she is finished with the wallpaper. She says that “I don’t want to leave now until I have found it out. There is a week more, and I don’t think that will be enough” (Gilman 400). Although she is isolated and not getting the exposure and people’s presence, the wallpaper is keeping her

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967 Words | 4 Pages

In “The Tell-Tale Heart” Edgar Allan Poe uses a heart beat and time to symbolize regret. “[The narrator] was suffering more than [the narrator] could bear, from their smiles, and from that sound. Louder, louder, louder! Suddenly [the narrator] could bear it no longer,” this incident provides proof of that (Poe 67). It shows how the heartbeat lead the narrator to confess, when he almost got away with murder.

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1234 Words | 5 Pages

She struggles to suppress her emotions and conform to societal norms, stifling her creativity and autonomy in the process. Stetson vividly portrays the internal turmoil as she grapples with conflicting desires for self-expression and conformity. The fixation on the yellow wallpaper symbolizes her repressed desires and fragmented psyche, culminating in a harrowing descent into madness. The mental illness estranges her from her family, friends, and society at large, exacerbating feelings of loneliness and isolation. Mental illness strips her sense of identity and agency, rendering her powerless to assert herself or advocate for her own well-being.

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1008 Words | 5 Pages

Martin states that the narrator’s confinement in the upstairs bedroom fortifies her mental illness developing into “a frightening hallucinatory world constructed around the pattern of the yellow paper on the wall.” This shift in her identity happens as the shift in her disposition towards the wallpaper changes. The wallpaper is a visible metaphor that eventually becomes her identity. In the beginning of her stay in the bedroom she says the wallpaper is “committing artistic sin” (Par34) and can push anyone to “suddenly commit suicide” (Par35) These comments show her despise towards the wallpaper and the separation she originally has from it.

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814 Words | 4 Pages

The vast majority of people wouldn’t give the wallpaper much thought, however the narrator becomes obsessed with it. To the narrator, the wallpaper is alive and becomes the focus of all her time. Her overwhelming lure to the wallpaper becomes obvious when she first provides a very vivid description stating “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide – plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions” (217-218). As she begins to lose her grip on reality, the narrator beings to see faces and eventually a woman within the wallpaper. At first, her description of seeing faces in the wallpaper seems like it could be her mind making since of the varying patterns or just part of her imagination.

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562 Words | 3 Pages

(678) in this statement she is challenging herself and this shows the reader she is facing some confusion. The yellow wallpaper in the main characters (the narrator) bedroom is a major point in the story. The yellow wallpaper plays a major role in the woman’s insanity. The woman’s obsession with the wallpaper creates her problem and affects her mind and judgment. This is shown in, “It dwells on my mind so!”

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1226 Words | 5 Pages

The beginning of the “Tell-Tale Heart” immediately sets the ambiguous mood of the story. The first line captivates almost instantaneously the reader’s attention due to the irregular pattern of the sentence. “TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”

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1164 Words | 5 Pages

Obsession, internal conflict, and underlying guilt are all aspects of being human but when it’s associated with paranoia and insanity it may be just the recipe for the perfect crime as perceived by Edger Allan Poe in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe uses this as one of his shortest stories to discuss and provide an insight into the mind of the mentally ill, paranoia and the stages of mental detrition. The story 's action is depicted through the eyes of the unnamed delusional narrator. The other main character in the story is an old man whom the narrator apparently works for and resides in his house. The story opens off with the narrator trying to assure his sanity then proceeding to tell the tale of his crime, this shows a man deranged and hunted with a guilty conscience of his murderous act.

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