The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story which deals with the depression of a married woman and how her husband ignores her silent cries for help. Along with her depression, the theme of struggle to cope with the circumstances and to help oneself is also apparent. At many instances a reader can detect the autobiographical note in the story. Gilman herself suffered from post partum depression and at that time no one could really help her or understand her. This dilemma was also quite apparent in the protagonists’ life. The main aim of this research is to compare the narrator’s declining health, depression, its causes and consequences with Gilman’s depression. Furthermore the research paper also highlights the similarities between the narrator and Gilman’s own life. Moreover the research also detects the attitude of society towards a woman in the Victorian era.
When this story was published, the critics saw this as another tale about madness and insanity. It was related to gothic fiction because of the dark feelings and other supernatural elements like the movement of wallpaper and a woman residing in the wallpaper. No one thought at that time that this story actually was symbolic of the society and the attitude of men towards women.
The narrator begins the story by telling that she is “resting” at the mansion which was her husband’s idea. She recently had a baby and so he though that it would be good for her depression to spend some time alone and to rest. This is also quite similar to Gilman’s life. When she had a baby she went into post partum psychosis. This condition is common in mothers when they give birth. They go through a lot of mood swings, have hallucinations and have an irritable demeanor. These symptoms are not only visible in the protagonist but were also present in Gilman when she gave birth.
The narrator goes on to say that she was not allowed to do any stressful work like writing but she still continued to write this story. Similarly, Gilman’s passion for writing, which she inherited from her father, was the only saving grace in her life. Moreover the yellow wallpaper, which the narrator thought was revolting and disgusting later, becomes a symbol of her. She began to saw a reflection of woman in the wallpaper that was trapped behind bars just as the narrator felt trapped and suffocated in the shackles of the mansion. In the end she tries to escape from the trap which was a hindrance in her creative abilities as well.
In this story the theme of marriage is also there. As this story was written in Victorian era, it highlights the society of that time and what kind of bonding was there between husband and wife. The narrator is not happy with her married life because she does not have a say in anything. Whenever she tells her husband that she does not what to stay in the mansion or the wallpaper scares her, he rejects her thoughts calling her foolish or hysterical. The narrator says:
“John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage. John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figuresYou see he does not believes I am sick” (Gilman)
She also gets a little sarcastic when she says:
“If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?My brother is also a physician and he says the same thing. 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.”
But underlining her sarcasm is a strong feeling of despair and helplessness.
Similarly Gilman was not happy when she married Charles Walter Stetson. She felt as trapped as the narrator felt. It was also at that time when Gilman suffered from post partum psychosis but her husband did not pay any heed to her and her thoughts. In Gilman’s autobiography, it is stated:
“This was an age in which women were seen as "hysterical" and "nervous" beings; thus, when a woman claimed to be seriously ill after giving birth, her claims were sometimes dismissed as being invalid.”
But what was more surprising was despite the strict laws in the era; Gilman divorced her husband to live a peaceful life. Similarly, when the narrator can’t take it anymore in she managed to leave her husband. At that time divorces and separations were practically unheard of but in Gilman’s case she not only took this step but this procedure was carried out amicably. When her first husband later married another woman, she congratulated them and said that she was quite happy for the couple. Gilman herself married sometime later and she was quite happy in her second marriage.
Moreover before the onset of twentieth century, the profession of medicine was considered as “god like”. This is one of the reasons that the narrator’s husband is so arrogant and does not pay attention to his wife’s emotions. In those circumstances it was even more difficult for a woman to voice her opinions and emotions. Dr Weir Mitchells, who was Gilman’s doctor and who prescribed the rest cure, wrote:
“American woman is, to speak plainly, too often physically unfit for her duties as woman, and is perhaps of all civilized females the least qualified to undertake those weightier tasks which tax so heavily the nervous system of man. She is not fairly up to what nature asks from her as wife and mother. How will she sustain herself under the pressure of those yet more exacting duties which nowadays she is eager to share with the man?”
Gilman, after reading this, wrote an article, “Why I wrote The Yellow Wallpaper?” In this article she writes that once her story was finished she sent the first copy to her doctor Mitchell’s telling him that rest cure is sometimes not the best cure.
“She says, "the best result . . . years later I was told the great specialist had admitted to friends of his that he had altered his treatment of neurasthenia since reading The Yellow Wallpaper.
But the surprising element in this short story as well as Gilman’s life is that they were able to sustain her. They found a solution to their insanity and problems instead of finding the easy way out like suicide.
But on the whole this story focuses on the role of women in that society and how they cope with it. Barbara Welter in her article writes:
“The Yellow Wallpaper is symbolic of the Cult of True Womanhood, which binds women to the home and family. As in the case of Charlotte Gilman, women were constricted to the set parameters that men determined.”
This story also teaches about the significance of expression. In the story, the narrator can’t express herself in front of her husband or bother because she knows they will snub her or make fun of her serious issues. That is why she used to keep a journal with her in which she wrote about all her feelings and thoughts.
The courageousness of Gilman was not only for herself but was also an example for the other women of that time. Moreover her life also was an inspiration for the upcoming writers, of that era, like Sylvia Plath and Alice Walker (Quwas).
Quwas Rula also wrote in an Australian journal:
“At the time, Women’s rights advocates believed that the outbreak of women being diagnosed as mentally ill was the manifestation of their setbacks regarding the roles they were allowed to play in a male-dominated society. Women were even discouraged from writing, because their writing would ultimately create an identity, and become a form of defiance for them. Charlotte Perkins Gilman realized that writing became one of the only forms of existence for women at a time where they had very few rights.”
However when it comes to Sylvia Plath, Gilman was and inspiration but she ultimately committed suicide because of her extreme suffering from childhood. The main similarity between Plath’s life and Gilman’s life was the influence of men. Plath’s father was a very domineering, strict and, worst of all, a cynical man. Plath never got a word of praise from him and then her marriage to Ted Hughes also led her to suicide. Many critics say that she also suffered from post partum psychosis (Quwas).
When it came to women and society, Gilman put forth the idea that domestic life and to top that, the patriarchal rule took away the rights of all females. She was even against the idea of Darwinism because according to her Darwin’s theory did not celebrate the role of female in the society or evolution; it only concentrated on the role and evolution of men (Lane 230).
This story is also considered as a feminist writing because of the freedom celebrated by the narrator at the end. She literally steps over her fainted husband to run out of the house (Hotchman). The narrator says at the end of the story:
“I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulderI'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! Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!” (Gilman)
She also in a way finds humor in the situation when her husband faints when he sees her running away. That is why she writes: “Now why should that man have fainted?”
In this story it is also portrayed that how medical terms and ways were used to snub a woman or to keep her calm and inside the house. By staying at the house she got more and more depressed and when she meekly suggested of going outside, they men manipulated them by staying at the house. Rula Quwas also writes:
“Gilman portrays the main character’s insanity as a way to protest the medical and professional oppression against women at the time. While under the impression that husbands and male doctors were acting with their best interests in mind, women were being depicted as mentally weak and fragile. At the time, Women’s rights advocates believed that the outbreak of women being diagnosed as mentally ill was the manifestation of their setbacks regarding the roles they were allowed to play in a male-dominated society.” (Gilman)
This is what happens with the narrator when she is told to take rest at the mansion. Similarly, Gilman was given the same excuses’ in her first marriage. Her husband wanted a conservative marriage where a wife only has to stay at home and look after the house and children. Gilman wanted to go out and live according to her own ways. Therefore she took the drastic step of divorce and ended everything to live peacefully.
Through this story Gilman wanted to convey the idea that “rest cure” is not always the appropriate cure. In this way, a woman starts to think about other matters which further deteriorate her health. She should be allowed to work and do whatever she wants to keep her mind from wandering. This story was specially written for DR. Mitchell who was her doctor and kept on suggesting rest cure (Trahilkill, 528). She was not allowed to touch pen or paper which depressed her further but in the end she took matters in to her own hands. This not only improved her health but also made her happy. Gilman wrote in her own magazine, Forerunner:
“This story does not intend to drive people crazy but to prevent people from going crazy.”
This story also conveys the message that in certain situations women have to take matters in their own hands. They should not be only good mothers or daughters or wives but also good managers. It was because of these points that this piece of literature gained prominence on the Victorian era and set an example for all the women.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. 1973. New York: Feminist Press at the City Univ, 1892. Print.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper?” Forerunner. 1913: 19-20. Print.
Hotchman, Barbara. The Reading Habit and "The Yellow Wallpaper". . Duke University Press, 2002. Print.
Knight, Denise. “The Reincarnation of Jane: ‘Through this’ - Gilman’s Companion to ‘The Yellow Wall-paper’." Women Studies 20. (1992): 287-302. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.
Lane, Anne J. Herland: A Lost Feminist Utopian Novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. New York: Pantheon Books, 1979. Print.
Mitchell, Weir. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Ed. Dale M. Bauer. Boston: Belford Books, 1998. 134-141. Web.
Quawas, Rula. "Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association”. Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association. 35 (2006): n. page. Print.
Thomas, Deborah. "The Changing Role of Womanhood: From True Woman to New Woman in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”."American Literature Research and Analysis Web Site. N.P., 27 March 1998. Web. 24 Nov 2012. <
Treichler, Paula. “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in 'The Yellow Wallpaper'." Tulsa Studies in Woman Literature. (1984): n. page. Print.
Welter, Barbara. The American Family in Social Historical Perspective. New York: St.Martins, 1978. 373-392. Print.
