The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Gothic horror and psychological terror are both present in the short tale "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. We read the first-person account of an unnamed woman's struggle with maternal depression throughout the story. The narrator of the tale gradually loses her mind as she becomes more fixated on the yellow wallpaper in her room. She endures the duration of her three-month stay in a colonial mansion with her physician spouse John and his sister, confined in this room alone, the wallpaper plaguing her throughout her stay.
Horror through seclusion and confinement: The narrator, a postpartum depressed woman, is confined to a lonely room in an extravagant house. Her partner has total authority over each element of her life,

His efforts to help her, while well-intended and naive, ultimately made her mental decline even worse. John has the tendency to minimize her illness, as the reader can see throughout the course of the story. The situation's irony adds to the overall sense of horror and misery.
Terror through the historical standards for gender: The story was written in the late 19th century, a time when the rights of women were restricted and women often faced second-class treatment. The reader learns that the protagonist is entrapped not only by her mental illness but also by the cruel societal norms of the time, and this enhances the story’s terror.
Horror that has a supernatural twist: the central protagonist forms a fixation on the wallpaper in her room, which she comes to believe is living and moving. Her interpretation of the wallpaper's faces and patterns leads her to decide that a lady is imprisoned behind it. The reader is unsure whether the character's perceptions are accurate or the result of her mental illness, which increases the horror of the story's supernatural

All of these factors add to the narrator's intensified feelings of anxiety and helplessness.
First person-narration: In this story, the narrator also happens to be the main character. The outcome of which the reader is pulled into the narrator’s point of view and has a highly personal sense of connection of perspective. The first-person perspective also makes it possible for the reader to truly understand the mental anguish the narrator suffers by adding to the irrational state of mind. This boosts the story’s overall horror
The main character's state of mind declines as the story continues. She begins to see objects that aren't there as her fixation with the wallpaper intensifies. The reader observes that the protagonist has been losing touch with reality as an outcome of her mental illness, resulting in them possibly feeling terrified.
Psychological horror: As the main character’s state of mind declines, the story becomes increasingly more unsettling and disturbing. Her hallucinations, in addition to her feelings of paranoia and anxiety, combine in a concerning and eerie setting of psychological