The Yellow Wallpaper Synthesis Essay

Don’t Depend on Others
The story of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is based on the 19th century era where men and women’s roles were strictly defined than any other time in history. This story illustrates attitudes in the 19th century towards women’s health both physically and mentally. The narrator was diagnosed with depression by her doctor who is also known as her husband and, as a form of treatment, she was treated with the “rest cure” a common treatment which most women in the 19th century was treated with. Since her husband has treated her with the rest-cure, it means she must stay in the room for months and is forbidden from any activity. Throughout the story, it shows the narrator’s reactions to the course of treatment

There are many critics who talk about the patriarchal discourse and women’s discourse that is in the story. For example, the articles “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Paula Treichler and “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Women’s Discourse” by Karen Ford both argue that the story is concerned with the “conflict between patriarchal language and women’s discourse” (Treichler 62). In the 19th century, patriarchy was very common in society. Men treated women like slaves because men were the more powerful ones in society. Men usually told women what to do and they had to listen to them, just like how the husband treated the narrator in the story which I believe can be a reason why she goes insane. For example, in the beginning of the story the narrators says, “So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas” which talks about how the narrator “disagrees with her treatment, but she has no power to change the situation” because men hold the power to make the decisions (SparkNotes) (Gilman 526). Treichler believes that the wallpaper represents “women’s writing or women’s discourse” basically a new vision of how people should see women (Treichler 64). He also believed that

The rest-cure was a treatment that was well known in the 19th century. Mostly women were the ones who were treated with the rest-cure. The narrator had to be on bed rest for a long period of time because her husband thought it was the best way to regain her health. He has forbidden her to do anything active and he didn’t even want her to write even though she told him that it was helping her to gain her health back. Her husband thinks he is helping her but in reality, he is just making her worse because the treatment doesn’t really make women feel better. The article “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Paula Treichler would agree with my argument about how her husband’s treatment is causing her to go insane. In the beginning of the article, Treichler talks about how the narrator is forbidden from any sort of activity and how her husband isolates her from talking or seeing other people. In the story, the narrator states “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus – but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad” which she is talking about how her husband has cut her off and isolated her from the outside world (Gilman 527). That’s why I believe that the rest-cure started her journey of insanity because she was trapped in a creepy