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The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

539 Words3 Pages

In the Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonist has an internal conflict projected in the yellow wallpaper, causing her to slowly give in to her id, the lady in the wall, and become delirious. Gilman uses Freudian concepts to connect to how the patriarchy causes women to feel trapped by their marriages. Her superego criticizes herself, believing she can’t do anything for her husband, and the ego suppresses her id, while the id relieves her from all her conflicts at the very end. At first, the protagonist sides with her superego, claiming that she is meant to be a “help to John,” to give him “real rest and comfort.” She also denies her husband's dismissive behavior stating, “of course, but one expects that in marriage.” …show more content…

The lady trapped in the wall is supposed to be a reflection of the protagonist herself since she is also confined within societal norms. Her husband and her ego both repress her internal desires to keep her from going against societal standards. By keeping her “forbidden to work,” he further represses and deprives her, causing her to go insane through the wallpaper slowly. Progressively, she gives in to the id, finding the yellow wallpaper interesting, and determines that “nobody shall find it out but myself!” She unconsciously uses the wallpaper to relieve her imagination caused by her inactivity and prescribed confinement. Her id fights Trang 2 against the ego by insisting that the lady in the wall “shakes” the front pattern, furthering her interest in the lady trapped inside the wall. The superego is intended to be the wallpaper to keep her from reaching the internal desires that lie within the trapped lady. It’s the last resort the unconscious uses to return to conform with social norms. As she gives in to the id, she separates herself from the superego that enforces her standards, such as unconsciously distancing herself from John by being “a little afraid” of

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She becomes obsessed with the patterns of the wallpaper, but she mainly notices a woman that she thinks is trying to free herself from the confines of the wall. During the day this woman is still, but when night time comes around, it seems as though the woman creeps around. Towards the end of the story, the narrator has a breakdown and thinks that she is this woman inside of the wallpaper, and begins to perform similar actions like creeping around. This meaning of this scene is simple cause and effect. Not only did she already have postpartum depression, but she is basically trapped in this house for a whole summer with nothing to do so she can heal.

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