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The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis

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The main character and narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jane, conveyed her troubles with the stifled freedom of expression for women during the 1890’s in her marriage through her thoughts, actions, and environment. The story projected Jane’s perspective, from her journal, as she wrote about the couple’s and caretaker’s summer stay in ancestral halls, due to home improvement work. Jane, an upper-middle class woman, married her husband, John, a physician, who diagnosed her with “temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency (Gilman 363).” Since John fulfilled the position of her physician, he prescribed absolute rest to detain her hysterical tendencies. Jane’s caretaker and sister-in-law, Jennie, …show more content…

Consequently, Jane’s restricted activities caused her to become infatuated with the tarnished, yellow wallpaper tattered around the room, specifically the woman, who Jane believed was suffocating behind the paper covering, till she released her by ripping the horrid paper. This scene of hysteria caused John to faint at the sight. Accordingly, written in the 18th century, the knowledge of mental-illness was limited and displayed Jane as an animal in a cage, segregated from others and viewed as insane, also the patriarchal expectation, the belief that women are to be servants to men, worsened her condition as John controlled all aspects of Jane’s life, including her care …show more content…

As the couple arrived at their summer estate, the reader gained a glimpse of the unequal relationship as Jane states “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that (Gilman 364),” after voicing her opinion on the peculiar estate. Since Jane claimed that one should expect John’s actions, the reader can experience the dynamic between the couple as it displays the power he possesses over his wife, and the way he views her. Jane has become acquainted with her husband’s ripostes, such as laughing at her, but displays her fatigue at John’s retorts. Although John acted as her physician, Jane expressed her doubts and fears about him controlling every aspect in her life, including her treatment, as she could not inform John of her newly found turmoil as she feared “he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away (Gilman 369).” The wallpaper and women behind the paper become metaphoric for their marriage as the women “get through and then the pattern strangles them off and turns them upside down and make their eyes white (Gilman 370)!” Jane drowned in her marriage as John directed her in all aspects in life, that cut off her air supply to forever become a floating figure in her ocean of life. She struggled with the stifled freedom of expression by not being able to express her troubles due to her marriage, therefore her actions

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She is oppressed by not only her husband, but her illness as well and she wishes to break free just as the woman in the wallpaper does. Jane feels as though this oppression is inescapable and the battle of breaking free is impossible. Shortly thereafter, the reader can see that Jane’s oppression turns to distrust. When she first began to unravel the wallpaper, she didn’t share what she saw because she wanted to be the first to figure it out, but now she proclaims “I have found out another funny thing, but I shan’t tell it this time! It does not do to trust people too much” (319).

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No one could see that the narrator is completely unstable because she is withdrawn from everyone as an effect of her depression. By the time the husband notices her state of mind, it is too late. The narrator is mentally gone and stuns the husband. As the husband faints, Jane is too withdrawn to respond; therefore, she continues her routine although her husband’s body is lying in the way. She loses her sanity because she has to find companionship in wallpaper since she could not associate with any living beings.

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In the story of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, dramatically changes for Janes behavior has been shown towards the end of the story. On the last night, her husband has once again going in town for attending to a patient, and Jane asks Jennie not to disturb her. As no one know notice Jane, she locks herself in the nursery to allow uninterrupted time for peeling wallpaper and thus freeing the shadowy woman. As Jane was tearing off the paper, she knows that she is closer to be woman who is behind the wall, until the point she loses her sense of personal identity and merges with the woman behind the wallpaper. When the time her husband breaks through the door to find out his wife was crawling amid the torn paper, and proclaiming that the woman behind

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For the time period, in which the story takes place, a male-controlled marriage was normal. Jane stated, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” (Gilman) from the statement the reader can deduce the fact, that unequal balance between male and female in marriage was common. Throughout the story of Jane being neglected and belittled, leads to her losing her mind at the end go the story. Jane imagines that a woman is in the wallpaper to hide her problems.

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Written in the late 1800s by one of the most outstanding feminine authors of the century the yellow wallpaper is a utterly complex and layered text. Within this piece the author gives us a look into the the complexity of maternal female bodies and the many parallels that women see in the text and houses confinements. "The Yellow Wallpaper" effectively evokes the question of subjectivity itself. The story suggests that Janes mental condition is the true subjectivity of the text. Although she is prescribed rest for her supposed hysteria, It seems to be the worst treatment for her as it merely leaves her with extended time to drown in her questionable thoughts and she begins to hallucinate.

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In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a strange yet intriguing short story by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, the narrator and her husband rent an isolated and remote mansion one summer in the late 1800s. The narrator, a sufferer of worsening nervous depression, is forced to stay in a room donned in yellow wallpaper by her husband John, who is a physician that thinks this separation will do his wife good and cure her case. Conversely from what he thought, the narrator’s depression quickly escalates into insanity as she begins to see horrifying images dance across the gruesome yellow walls. Although there are several themes alluded to throughout the chilling short story, one theme that is highlighted is the gender inequality between the narrator and other women in the story and John.

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At the beginning of the short story Jane absolutely hates the wallpaper in her bedroom, but at the end Jane claims that she is “getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper.” (page ) At the beginning of the story Jane is aggravated at John and after John’s treatment she describes him as “so wise” (page ) and “loving [her] so.” (page ) Throughout the “Yellow Wallpaper” John consistently makes Jane’s condition worse and worse until she finally has a mental breakdown.

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He forbids her to write but she does it secretly, in a kind of diary, a private and hidden place where she expresses her ideas, fears, and thoughts. The room that John chooses for his wife is a reflection of this hidden desire. She wants the bedroom on the first floor, but she agreed to be in a room with yellow wallpaper. In this sense, the yellow wallpaper could be interpreted as a projection of the narrator, who from the first pages reveals her desire and need to write, but also makes us accomplices of her activity as a writer in hiding. In addition, she does not only reveal her health condition but also her repression as a writer, a profession that, even in the nineteenth century, was viewed with distrust.

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The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892 shows mental illness through the narrator first hand. The theme in this story is going insane verses loneliness as well as being trapped. These themes are shown through the main character (the narrator of the story) as she works through her own mind, life, and surroundings. First, the theme of the woman’s state of mind is the main focus in this story.

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Ever since she set foot in the house, she has hated the hideous yellow wallpaper. Then after looking at it for months, she realized there is a women barred inside the yellow wallpaper. She realized the woman inside the wallpaper is herself because she said “I’ve got out at last, “in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” (320).

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The wallpaper itself can be broken down to represents the narrator’s marriage. According to Treichler, “The yellow wallpaper is variously interpreted by readers to represent the ‘pattern’ which underlines sexual inequality”(62). Many readers have come up with the idea that the wall paper’s design represents how men felt about women during that time period, “Pointless” and with “lame uncertain curves”. While the background would represent the many men of this time period. The men were the framework of most marriages as is the background is to most work.

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Through her many stories, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, developed the notion of how being a strong independent woman can be inspirational to all. The expression of her personal feelings and opinions behind the guise of a seemingly fictional story brings new life to the story itself. During the nineteenth century, there were many stereotypes on what was expected from women. In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman composes the story of a woman who suffers from postpartum depression and stares at yellow wallpaper. Seeing that Gilman herself has experienced this form of mental illness, we can analyze the context of the text and see the reflection of her own life and in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

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