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Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper And Trifles

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The following Victorian Era texts “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Trifles by Susan Glaspell argue that men are the general cause of women's suffrage. The play Trifles is about a woman named Minnie Foster who is seeking revenge and freedom from her husband after he strangles her pet bird. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is about a woman named Jane who had recently given birth and who is suffering from a mental illness. She developed an obsession with the wallpaper that is in her room and the women that she believes is trapped in the wallpaper. Her husband who is also her doctor refuses to let her do anything stimulating, therefore, she gets worst and has a mental breakdown. For centuries women have been urged to take on traditional …show more content…

During the Victorian Era, women were not left on their own to do as they wished freely, instead they always had to answer to a man or be under a males supervision. Jane’s husband John was not only her husband but he was also her physician. Since he was her doctor who was treating her and her husband he had a great deal of control over her. “As Jane’s physician- husband, he is identified as ruler- and that is, of Jane- in all domains personal, profession, and social”. (Barbara A. Suess 86) John put Jane on bed rest and had a schedule made for her for the time when she was awake. This can be interpreted in a couple different ways. You could either see this as a husband caring for his ill wife who is concerned for her well being or contrary to that a way of controlling what his wife does. John even took away simple activities that brought Jane happiness. “There comes John’s sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing”. (Charlotte Perkins Gilman 4) Jane was not allowed to write so she had to write when no one was around. If John really wants Jane to get better why wouldn't he let her do any activities that brought her joy and made her feel

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2.) “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” story resonates with many people who feel different from others, also they have suffered from depression or some other type of mental illness. The story seems to hold a message that not every order or advice given by a doctor, loved one, or friend is the correct information to take. Also, that people should listen to their own bodies for what they need to do to feel better most of the time unless they have really gone insane. It is also a good example of how to drive someone crazy by keeping them isolated in a room without any real company or activities for them to do.

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Martha Ballard can consider a doctor, healer, and pharmacist in the 18th century colonial period. Not only was she all those things but also a mother to five children and a wife that had different duties at her household. Some differences between Martha Ballard’s practice and the new “scientifically” mandated obstetrics practiced by male physicians is that Ballard’s practice was a natural process. This process needed time, patience, and support. Even though she didn’t have a high education, she was respected by her community.

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Although each story takes place in different settings, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Trifles by Susan Glaspell, both illustrate the traditional role of women during that era. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator introduces us to a wife, a submissive patient of her husband the doctor, who is being treated for a nervous disorder. Because of this she must follow a very strict seclusion treatment, severely limiting her ability to do anything but stay isolated in a room. This new environment becomes her obsession; her focus turns to freeing a woman she feels is trapped in the wallpaper, which I feel is symbolism for the way she feels trapped in her own mental and physical world. In the story Trifles, the women are brought to a crime scene for what the men feel is an insignificant purpose of gathering some belongs to bring to Minnie Foster.

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920 Words | 4 Pages

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Susan Glaspell’s Trifles are both works written by American writers approximately one hundred years ago. They both share the theme of loneliness and feminine domination with the lack of expression and freedom women had in the old days.

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Primary sources are imperative in building a picture of 19th century Britain as they give us a first-hand insight into what life may have being like during the Victorian age. Upper, Middle and lower-class women in Victorian society had a very limited role, however had very different lives depending on wealth. Upper-class women had everything they needed finest clothing, servants and enjoyed everything money could offer however, had very little power. The lower-class women had less choice and although could never rise to an upper-class standing unless through marriage, they had some opportunity to rise beyond the lowest areas of society through work, becoming a prostitute or possibly a kept woman.

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Amylyn Ja. De Paz-De Paz Professor Blanchard American Literature II: ENG-232-830CH) 02 March 2023 An Analyzes of the Narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Mrs. Wright of “Trifles” Literature holds an infinite amount of works with similar themes, and an example of this is “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Trifles.” These stories deal with the historical oppression of women and how detrimental it was to their health. Both stray away from the traditional happy ending and focus on how certain decisions can lead to detestable results.

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The Victorian era witnessed the emergence of a shift in art, politics, science and social atti-tudes regarding gender relations. At this time women had to be docile. They were regarded as inno-cent and pure. Their purpose was to support their husbands. But at the end of the nineteenth centu-ry, the question of a new women’s role in society arose.

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Until very recent history, women struggled to survive in a “man’s world.” Whether it was art, literature, music, politics, or law, women faced a vast obstacle – their gender. The society was not ready to accept that women could be as competitive, as smart, as powerful, as ambitious and as passionate as men. Most women agreed to degrade their intellect and suppress their ambition, because that seemed to be easy at the

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During the time periods from the Middle Ages to the end of the eighteenth century, women’s roles began to change. This was still the time when people lived in a male dominated society, and women were subservient to men. Women were meant to be innocent and uneducated, or at least this is what men thought. Women were not allowed to engage in society. Only the husbands could do that, and the women had to be obedient to their husbands.

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Jane’s perspective on the ideals of equality are different than Helen’s, as Helen gives full power and trust to the authority, even if it may discriminate against her gender in the long run. From this quote, it is evident that Jane solidified in the ideals of equality and justice, concepts that were not common in the culture of the Victorian

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During the Victorian era, the ideal woman’s life revolved around the domestic sphere of her family and the home. Middle class women were brought up to “be pure and innocent, tender and sexually undemanding, submissive and obedient” to fit the glorified “Angel in the House”, the Madonna-image of the time (Lundén et al, 147). Normally, girls were educated to be on display as ornaments. Women were not expected to express opinions of their own outside a very limited range of subjects, and certainly not be on a quest for own identity and aim to become independent such as the protagonist in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre was independent passionate woman who tried to against men who repressed woman from being educated and getting own human

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In a scholarly online article, Gender Roles of Victorian Era for Men and Women, the author comments that, “a married woman was completely under the guidance and supervision of her husband. Motherhood was an achievement in the life of women, but only formally. Mothers had to be submissive and meek”. During the Victorian era, married women, such as Lady Bracknell, were under the supervision of their husband so all decisions were made from the husband, the wife would just have to follow. Married women still did not

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As the other great Victorian essayist, John Stuart Mill tries to address a fundamental problem of the new Victorian era in his work; specifically, he challenges the traditional idea of women naturally subordinated to men. Mill’s focus is mainly on the middle class women, raised to be ladies, who are not self-sufficient individuals and have to rely on their husbands. They are the ones who need to realize their conditions of subordination, alongside the men who are preprinting it, and demand equality to men. In the first paragraph, Mill states that not only “the legal subordination of one sex to the other” is wrong, but it is also one of the major obstacles “to human improvement” (Mill 1105).

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