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The Yellow Wallpaper Unreliable

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According to the CDC 1 in 5 people suffer from some type of mental illness. This can cause people to spiral and become unreliable. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe a caregiver kills an old man because he had a sickness and hallucinates about the old man. The other story is “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman follows a woman named Jane as she writes in her journal about her mental illness. Her husband John locks her in a room with a yellow wallpaper and Jane hallucinates that there's a woman in the walls. Because of Jane's mental health causing her to be overly medicated and hallucinate she is the most unreliable narrator. Jane in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the most unreliable narrator because she is being overly medicated …show more content…

Some will argue that the caretaker in “The Tell-Tale Heart '' is the most unreliable because he only hallucinates a heart beat. “The ringing became more distinct: --It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness --until, at length, i found that the noise was not within my ears.” (Poe 4). This point is true but not important because Jane is hallucinating someone in the wall and harming herself whereas the caretaker hallucinated a heart beat. After John leaves for the day Jane writes in her journal, “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard!” (Perkins Gilman 13). Jane hallucinates so badly and makes her think she was trapped behind the wall. She finally fully accepts that she's the woman in the wallpaper. When John got home he went to go talk to Jane, ‘“I’ve got out at last,” said I, “in spite of you and Jane. And i've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!”’ (Perkins GIlaman 14). Jane's hallucinations got so bad she caved and tore off all the wallpaper. Now that the woman in the wallpaper is out Jane is free from the hallucinations. Although the caretaker has hallucinations they aren't as bad as Jane’s where she does not even identify with herself making her more

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