Good Example Of Essay On “A Rose For Emily” Versus “The Yellow Wallpaper”

“A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman both have a theme of psychological issues that are present in the main female characters of both stories. In each story the women show signs of depression through their isolation from the world. The strange and questionable behaviors displayed by each of the main characters are not handled correctly and if anything, it is exacerbated by the men in their lives. The stories both show the tragedy and turmoil that women have gone through in previous era’s when men made a large majority of all decisions.
Each of the stories compared have a similarity in the way the men in the lives of both characters are directly or indirectly responsible for the perpetuation of the mental illness faced by each of the women. In “A Rose for Emily” her father is a controlling figure in her life when he is alive, which prevents her from marrying a man. By the time her father passes away she is on the older side for marriage for that period in time, which leaves her somewhat desperate seeking the companionship of the only many who makes her think that they will marry. For example, “That was two years after her father's death and a short time after her sweetheart--the one we believed would marry her --had deserted her” (Faulkner).The outcome of these circumstances lead to her strange choices with living in a bedroom with the dead body of the man she wished to marry. Meanwhile, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” the main character is forced to stay in her room isolated from the world by her husband who is a physician and thinks he knows what is best for her. “John is a physician, and PERHAPS—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)—PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster” (Gillman). Being stuck in the room alone without interaction tends to make the character’s symptoms worse driving her to insanity.
One of the symptoms that appear to have afflicted both women from the two stories was depression. Although in “A Rose for Emily” there is not real reference to her mental illness, it is quite obvious by her isolated manner of living. Reference to the bad smell in and around her home is indication of something being horribly wrong with her condition- “So SHE vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell” (Faulkner). In “A Yellow Wallpaper” it is much more obvious that the narrator is dealing with post-partum depression, although it is being called other things by her husband who thinks that rest and isolation will cure her. Each of these women seems to go deeper into depression as a result of the isolation from society that each faces. Emily appears to choose that option due to her circumstances, while the narrator in the other story is forced into remaining in her bedroom by her husband with no choice of her own. The following quote confirms this assumption- “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” (Gillman).
When going back over both stories there is inclination that helps foretell the outcome of the stories. At the beginning of “A Rose for Emily” when the story begins and the narrator mentions that no one had seen Emily for quite some time there is evidence of something wrong with the picture (Faulkner). In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the urging of her husband to force the narrator to remain in that room despite her dislike of that particular room gives the reader some doubt about how this will end (Gillman). Each of the stories plots has a series of questionable events regarding the isolation of the women that would be indicative of the way the stories end.