Yellow Wallpaper
By: regina • Research Paper • 1,902 Words • April 18, 2010 • 905 Views
Yellow Wallpaper
Ashley Jameson
Mrs. Kelly Armstrong
English 102
March. 3, 2005
“The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, in the 1860s, by
her mother. Charlotte Perkins married a artist, and shortly afterwards gave birth to her
daughter. After the birth of her child, Charlotte was diagnosed with an nervous condition.
Charlotte then committed herself under the care of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, after the constant
urging of her husband. The care from Dr. Mitchell, and her husband consisted of isolation and
total rest. It was not long before Charlotte was driven to insanity due to these reprimands
encourage by both her husband, and the doctor. Shortly after she fled the care of her husband and
Dr. Mitchell, she moved to California, and began a career as a lecturer and writer on feminist
topics(Gilman782).
In 1892, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote the most significant, and image-like story of her
life, known as “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Gilman uses an unnamed narrator of the story. The
unnamed narrator is purposely left unnamed; the narrator could be any woman, wife, and
mother. Gilman paints a vivid picture of a woman who is demeaned, deprived and mad.
Gilman does not leave her readers with an over- powerful image of the woman. Gilman
only conveys the image of a woman creeping around her room, who is suffering from anxiety
and madness.
The woman is under the care of her husband, who is an physician. He locks her in an
nursery in hopes that the confinement and rest will help aid her troubling nervous condition. The
woman seems to be losing her grasp and control over her own life, primarily because she is
under the care of her husband.
As the narrator opens the story, the first striking image that the readers are presented with
is the character John. The husband of the narrator, John, is described as “practical and extreme”.
(Gilman,782). John refuses to accept his wife’s condition; he does not believe that
there is anything truly wrong with her. The narrative states these comments about her husband.
“You see he does not believe I am sick”! “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?”(783).
The narrator submits to the will of her husband. She gives into his ideas regarding what
is good for her and her nervous condition. She does not stand up for herself, she basically allows
him to control her life.
The narrator wants to be free from the confinement of the room, but she is absolutely
forbidden. So she writes in spite of John. The narrator writes: “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 think about my condition and I confess it always makes me feel bad, so I will let
it alone and talk about the house” (783).
John treats his wife as a child.