The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis Essay

Introduction to The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, was published in 1892. The story unfolds in the form of diary entries and explores an unnamed woman’s descent into madness after she is forced into solitude due to postpartum depression.

The story has been hailed as one of the earlier instances of feminist literature as it explores how women are subjugated in a patriarchal society. It is also a critique of the social stigma surrounding mental health. Though readers in the late nineteenth century dismissed the social commentary and considered it a gothic horror story, it eventually earned a global reputation for being one of the best feminist short stories.

The Yellow Wallpaper: A Short Summary

The story of The Yellow Wallpaper progresses through the unnamed woman’s diary entries.

First entry:

The narrator begins her first diary entry by marveling at the summer house that her husband has brought her so she can recover from her illness. She marvels at the grand, aristocratic house but also describes it as a "haunted house" since it had no inhabitants for a long time.

While talking about the house, the narrator reveals more information about her marriage and the reason for them spending the summer in that house. She had recently given birth and had been suffering from a "nervous depression" for a while. Her husband John, who is also her physician, dismisses her concerns and believes that all she needs is "rest-cure." He prohibits her from doing any work or writing since he believes such strenuous activities will worsen her condition.

However, the narrator believes such restrictions won't be good for her and therefore decides to write the journal in secret.

Second entry:

After a few weeks of living in the house, the narrator's condition gradually worsens. She is extremely lonely and desires some stimulating company. But her husband refuses to pay heed to her deteriorating mental condition. As a result, the narrator starts to become obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room. Earlier, her only complaint about the wallpaper was that it was ugly. But as she is confined in her room for days, the wallpaper starts taking a menacing form.

Unlike her husband, who is a rationalist, the narrator is quite sensitive and imaginative. As a result, the restrictions imposed on her leads her to imagine people around the house and strange patterns on the wallpaper. John actively discourages his wife from indulging in such fantasies and refuses to change the wallpaper.

Third entry:

The narrator reveals that her family had come over for a few days during the Fourth of July, which left her exhausted. Her deteriorating condition leads John to threaten to send her to Weir Mitchell. The narrator spends most of her time alone in her room, fascinated by the wallpaper and finding patterns in the design.

Fourth entry:

As the narrator’s depression worsens, she can’t even request her husband to let her cousins visit before breaking down into tears. Her obsession with the wallpaper increases as she keeps watching it intently to figure out patterns.

Fifth entry:

The narrator’s obsession with the yellow wallpaper increases to the point where she wakes up from sleep to investigate the wallpaper. Her movements wake John up, and he admonishes her for suggesting they leave the house. Her concerns about her mental suffering also fall on deaf ears.

Sixth entry:

As the narrator keeps staring at the wallpaper, she feels that the patterns change based on the lighting. Now, she begins to see the silhouette of a woman behind bars on the wallpaper. However, she can’t share this with John because she distrusts him.

Seventh entry:

The narrator is adamant about uncovering the truth behind the yellow wallpaper before she has to leave. She also doesn’t express the joy and complicated emotions she feels watching the wallpaper.

Eighth entry:

The wallpaper's color and smell repel the narrator, and she starts seeing traces of it all around the house. While staring at the wallpaper, she notices a smudge on it that runs around the room, almost as if someone has rubbed the smudge while crawling around in the wallpaper.

Ninth entry:

The woman's silhouette gets stronger, and the narrator now sees her shaking the bars on the wallpaper, trying to escape. No matter how much she shakes, she can’t escape the wallpaper.

Tenth entry:

The narrator also mentions that she saw her creeping around the house during the day when she could escape briefly. She mentions that she, too, creeps around the house during the day. Finding the shadow woman interesting, the narrator wishes to be alone with her.

Eleventh entry:

The narrator believes that John and Jennie are aware of her obsession with the wallpaper and are being affected by it. So, she decides to peel off the wallpaper at night to reveal what’s behind it.

Twelfth entry:

The morning after the narrator starts peeling off the wallpaper, she gets into a frenzy and bites it off to free the woman’s silhouette that continues to struggle behind the wallpaper. She descends into madness as she believes that she is surrounded by multiple women creeping around. The narrator starts thinking she has come out of the wallpaper herself and starts creeping around the room, smudging the wallpaper. When her husband arrives, he sees the horror and faints at the doorway.

Background of The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper during a time when there was a huge stigma surrounding mental health. Medical practitioners (mostly men) were also quick to dismiss women’s health concerns and dubbed women as “hysterical” instead of trying to find the root cause of the problem.

The story also highlights the narrator’s tumultuous relationship with her husband. Since John was her doctor, he refused to acknowledge the narrator’s concerns and believed his diagnosis was the best solution. He kept her isolated in order to treat her and prohibited her from indulging in any kind of work or creative venture. During this time, women had no say in their lives. They were constantly subjugated to their husband's whims and decisions. Furthermore, women did not have any means of financial independence and had to rely completely on their fathers or husbands for everything.

Writing, which was considered a form of liberation since it allowed one to create an identity, was also considered too mentally taxing for women.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman was part of the first wave of feminist movements. She participated in the Women’s Suffrage Movement to fight for women’s rights to vote, enjoy economic independence and become free from societal constraints.

Gilman had suffered from postpartum depression herself and had a horrible experience as the male medical practitioners forced her to undergo the controversial "rest cure." Therefore, her short story The Yellow Wallpaper draws a lot from her own experience.

Though the story didn’t gain much attention when it was published, feminists highlighted the social commentary in the work during the twentieth century.

The Yellow Wallpaper: Critical Analysis Essay

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is a powerful commentary on the dominance of patriarchy and poor medical treatment women used to receive during the late nineteenth century.

The narrator is a woman who has been suffering from postpartum depression, and her husband decides she will recover if she undergoes the "rest-cure" treatment. He isolates her completely and prohibits her from doing any work or indulging in her writing, for these are too strenuous for a woman. Such thoughts reveal the patriarchal notions of the time, where men believed that women were too fragile and incapable of handling intellectual and demanding physical activities.

The narrator's husband controls her decisions and movements and doesn't pay heed to her concerns. He believes he knows about her physical and mental health better than her, and being her doctor, he knows what's best for her.

As the narrator finds herself confined in a room with yellow wallpaper, she expresses her distaste for the color quite frequently. But her husband does not attempt to get rid of the wallpaper to soothe her nerves.

The woman is isolated in the room for such a prolonged time that she starts seeing patterns on the wallpaper. Her obsession with the yellow wallpaper grows to the point where she starts seeing the silhouette of a woman trapped in the wallpaper, trying to break free.

The yellow wallpaper becomes a symbol of the societal constraints placed on women in the late nineteenth century. The silhouette that the narrator sees crawling around and trying to break free is equated with the narrator herself and all the women of contemporary times who continue to struggle with the shackles that society has placed on them.

Major Themes in The Yellow Wallpaper

In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte P. Gilman explores the themes of patriarchy and gender roles, self-expression, and mental health.

1. Patriarchy and gender roles

The story of The Yellow Wallpaper is set in the late nineteenth century when women had to fight for their rights. They had no financial independence, no say in decisions concerning their lives, and were completely dependent on their husbands for everything. The gender roles prevalent during the times dictated women be completely subservient to their husbands.

When the narrator suffers from postpartum depression, her husband and doctor dictates her actions. She is kept isolated in a room and prohibited from indulging in any physical or intellectual activities. Though the narrator feels better when she writes, her husband refuses to let her continue since he believes such intellectual activities can be too strenuous for a woman.

There is a significant imbalance in the power dynamics between the husband and wife. John is the patriarchal head of the family and doesn't treat his wife as his equal. In fact, he often infantilizes her.

2. Self-expression

The narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper is denied all kinds of outlets for her to express herself. Her husband prevents her from interacting with her friends and does not recommend her to continue writing. She is completely alone in the house with no one to talk to.

Being deprived of mental stimulation worsens her mental health. She starts imagining people around the house, becomes obsessed with finding patterns on the wallpaper, and sees the silhouette of a woman trying to break free.

Her husband doesn’t even allow her to let her imagination run wild. Instead of treating her as an equal, he infantilizes her and doesn’t consider her opinions worth her time.

However, even if he denies all forms of self-expression, the narrator continues to write in her journal in secret.

3. Mental health

Gilman's mental health suffered significantly when she was prescribed the "rest cure" because of her postpartum depression. So, it's not surprising that The Yellow Wallpaper offers a harsh critique of the poor awareness of mental health for women. During the nineteenth century, there was a huge stigma surrounding mental health. Women suffering from such conditions were often dismissed as being hysterical and were forced to go under solitary confinement to get better. View Examples

In the story, the narrator’s husband is also her doctor, and he believes that fresh air and solitude will cure his wife. Gilman also criticizes the attitude of male medical practitioners to ignore female patients’ inputs through John’s constant dismissal of his wife’s concerns.

Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper

1. The yellow wallpaper

The yellow wallpaper is a prominent symbol in Gilman's short story. It represents the social restrictions imposed on women during the late nineteenth century. The narrator constantly sees a silhouette struggling to break free from the wallpaper. When she finally rips it apart, she becomes free of the constrictions that were binding her.

2. The woman in the wallpaper

The narrator keeps seeing the silhouette of a woman trapped behind the wallpaper. This woman symbolizes the author's feelings of confinement. She identifies with the woman and, by tearing off the wallpaper, liberates the silhouette and herself from the confines that society has placed on them.

In conclusion,

The Yellow Wallpaper is an extraordinary short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She explores themes of feminism, mental health, and liberation. The short story is hailed by critics as a classic work of literature and is one of the earlier instances of works dealing with feminism.