“The Yellow Wallpaper”: Psychological, Feminist and Reliability Aspects in the Story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman does not provide much information about character’s life, but creates a good basis for discussions on different topics. Psychology is one of the main issues in this list. The short story also raises strong feminist issues and makes the reader doubt in the narrator’s reliability. While they have different topics and styles, it can be compared with stories written by different authors, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ambrose Bierce or Edgar Alan Poe. He last author has a perfect example for comparison with the Gilman’s work; it is The Cask of Amontillado. Both short stories can be treated as a purely psychological …show more content…
Poe shows the effect on others people lives, but do not focus on the development of the disorder. His character can be described as a sociopath, even if his behavior can be treated as a common reaction for the offended nobleman of that period of time. The character decided to immure his friend (close acquaintance) Fortunato after his insult. While author did not explain why the character was so angry about, it is possible to suggest the offence was no more than an inappropriate joke or a statement. In other words, it was less severe than the punishment. Poe also referred to one of the main fears of the humanity in this story – to the possibility to be buried alive. The Cask of Amontillado shows the result of the mental disorder of the character, but does not say much about its reasons. Readers can only suggest about the character’s childhood and conditions that developed his personality. The Yellow Wallpaper shows the opposite picture. Gilman briefly described the story of the character’s mental disorder or at least a part of its development. However, she does not say much about the consequences of her psychical illness. Gilman showed the development of the character’s disorder: “I kept on creeping just the same… ‘I've got out at last,’ said I”