Charlotte Perkins-Gilman wrote an eye opening story over a woman dealing with mental illness in a male dominant medical era called, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The story is told through the eyes of a mentally ill woman whose doctor also happens to be her husband. During the time period of the late 1800s women didn’t have much of a voice when it came to their well-being. With her doctor also being her husband, it puts a strain on their marriage with the fact that if she didn’t agree with the decision that her doctor has made, it would mean she didn’t trust her partner’s professional opinion. Gilman brilliantly incorporated the narrator’s husband as the doctor to emphasize two points; how much control men had over women, and how the doctor aspect of the husband represents the treatment women received in the medical establishment. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins-Gilman tells a story through the perspective of a woman with a mental illness, showing …show more content…
When it came to the medical establishment women were being mistreated due to the fact that they had to abide by whatever the doctor ordered. “As a treatment that specifically targeted women, S. Weir Mitchell’s rest cure illuminates the acceptable gender roles for middleclass women at the turn of the century. Women experiencing nervous problems were given strict regimes of rest, rich diet, and complete passivity and obedience to the doctor’s orders. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was specifically ordered to stop writing and refrain from mental work, as well as from physical activity.” (Hewitt) If a woman were to complain about her domestic life she would be diagnosed with neurasthenia or commonly known as nervous exhaustion. One of the most common treatments for women diagnosed with nervous exhaustion, was known as the rest cure. This treatment required women to refrain from doing anything other than lying down and