thematic essay on yellow wallpaper

A Summary and Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, an 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, has the structure and style of a diary. This is in keeping with what the female narrator tells us: that she can only write down her experiences when her husband John is not around, since he has forbidden her to write until she is well again, believing it will overexcite her.

Through a series of short instalments, we learn more about the narrator’s situation, and her treatment at the hands of her doctor husband and her sister-in-law.

To summarise the story, then: the narrator and her husband John, a doctor, have come to stay at a large country house. As the story develops, we realise that the woman’s husband has brought her to the house in order to try to cure her of her mental illness (he has told her that repairs are being carried out on their home, which is why they have had to relocate to a mansion).

His solution, or treatment, is effectively to lock her away from everyone – including her own family, except for him – and to forbid her anything that might excite her, such as writing. (She writes her account of what happens to her, and the effect it has on her, in secret, hiding her pen and paper when her husband or his sister come into the room.)

John’s suggested treatment for his wife also extends to relieving her of maternal duties: their baby is taken out of her hands and looked after by John’s sister, Jennie. Jennie also does all of the cooking and housework.

It becomes clear, as the story develops, that depriving the female narrator of anything to occupy her mind is making her mental illness worse, not better.

The narrator confides that she cannot even cry in her husband’s company, or when anyone else is present, because that will be interpreted as a sign that her condition is worsening – and her husband has promised (threatened?) to send her to another doctor, Weir Mitchell, if her condition doesn’t show signs of improving. And according to a female friend who has been treated by him, Weir Mitchell is like her husband and brother ‘only more so’ (i.e. stricter).

The narrator then outlines in detail how she sometimes sits for hours on end in her room, tracing the patterns in the yellow wallpaper. She then tells us she thinks she can see a woman ‘stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.’ At this point, she changes her mind, and goes from being fond of the pattern in the yellow wallpaper to wishing she could go away from the place.

She tells John that she isn’t getting any better in this house and that she would like to leave, but he tells her she is looking healthier and that they cannot return home for another three weeks, until their lease is up and the ‘repairs’ at home have been completed.

Despondent, the narrator tells us how she is becoming more obsessed by the yellow wallpaper, especially at night when she is unable to sleep and so lies awake watching the pattern in the wallpaper, which she says resembles a fungus.

She starts to fear her husband. She becomes paranoid that her husband and sister-in-law, Jennie, are trying to decipher the pattern in the yellow wallpaper, and she becomes determined to beat them to it. (Jennie was actually checking the wallpaper because the thought it was staining their clothes; this is the reason she gives to the narrator when asked about it, anyway. However, the more likely reason is that she and John have noticed the narrator’s obsession with looking at the wallpaper, and are becoming concerned.)

Next, the narrator tells us she has noticed the strange smell of the wallpaper, and tells us she seriously considered burning down the house to try to solve the mystery of what she smell was. She concludes that it is simply ‘a yellow smell!’ We now realise that the narrator is losing her mind rather badly.

She becomes convinced that the ‘woman behind’ the yellow wallpaper is shaking it, thus moving the front pattern of the paper. She says she has seen this woman creeping about the grounds of the house during the day; she returns to behind the wallpaper at night.

The narrator then tells us that she believes John and Jennie have become ‘affected’ by the wallpaper – that they are losing their minds from being exposed to it. So the narrator begins stripping the yellow wallpaper from the walls, much to the consternation of Jennie. John has all of his wife’s things moved out of the room, ready for them to leave the house. While John is out, the narrator locks herself inside the now bare room and throws the key out the window, so she cannot be disturbed.

She has become convinced that there are many creeping women roaming the grounds of the house, all of them originating from behind the yellow wallpaper, and that she is one of them. The story ends with her husband banging on the door to be let in, fetching the key when she tells him it’s down by the front door mat, and bursting into the room – whereupon he faints, at the sight of his wife creeping around the room.

That concludes a summary of the ‘plot’ of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. But what does it all mean?

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ begins by dangling the idea that what we are about to read is a haunted house story, a Gothic tale, a piece of horror. Why else, wonders the story’s female narrator, would the house be available so cheaply unless it was haunted? And why had it remained unoccupied for so long? This is how many haunted house tales begin.

And this will turn out to be true, in many ways – the story is often included in anthologies of horror fiction, and there is a ‘haunting’ of a kind going on in the story – but as ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ develops we realise we’re reading something far more unsettling than a run-of-the-mill haunted house story, because the real ghosts and demons are either inside the narrator’s troubled mind or else her own husband and her sister-in-law.

Of course, these two things are linked. Because one of the ‘morals’ of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ – if ‘moral’ is not too strong a word to use of such a story – is that the husband’s treatment of his wife’s mental illness only succeeds in making her worse , rather than better, until her condition reaches the point where she is completely mad, suffering from hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. So ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is a haunted house story … but the only ghosts are inside the narrator’s head.

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ borrows familiar tropes from a Gothic horror story – it ends with the husband taking an axe to the bedroom door where his cowering wife is imprisoned – but the twist is that, by the end of the story, she has imprisoned herself in her deluded belief that she is protecting her husband from the ‘creeping women’ from behind the wallpaper, and he is prepared to beat down the door with an axe out of genuine concern for his sick wife, rather than to butcher her, in the style of Bluebeard or Jack Torrance.

Narrative Style

As we mentioned at the beginning of this analysis, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ has the structure and style of a diary. This is in keeping with what the female narrator tells us: that she can only write down her experiences when her husband John is not around. But it also has the effect of shifting the narrative tense: from the usual past tense to the more unusual present tense.

Only one year separates ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ from George Egerton’s first volume of short stories , which made similarly pioneering use of present-tense narration in order to depict female consciousness.

The literary critic Ruth Robbins has made the argument that the past tense (or ‘perfect tense’) is unsuited to some modes of fiction because it offers the ‘perspective that leads to judgment’: because events have already occurred, we feel in a position to judge the characters involved.

Present-tense narration deters us from doing this so readily, for two reasons. First, we are thrown in amongst the events, experiencing them as they happen almost, so we feel complicit in them. Second, because things are still unfolding seemingly before our very eyes, we feel that to attempt to pass judgment on what’s happening would be too rash and premature: we don’t know for sure how things are going to play out yet.

Given that Gilman is writing about a mentally unstable woman being mistreated by her male husband (and therefore, given his profession, by the medical world too), her decision to plunge us headlong into the events of the story encourages us to listen to what the narrator is telling us before we attempt to pronounce on what’s going on.

The fact that ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is narrated in the first person, from the woman’s own perspective and in her own voice, is also a factor: the only access we have to her treatment (or mistreatment) and to her husband’s behaviour and personality is through her: what she tells us and how she tells it to us.

But there is another narrative advantage to this present-tense diary structure: we as readers are forced to appraise everything we are told by the narrator, and scrutinise it carefully, deciding whether we are being told the whole story or whether the narrator, in her nervous and unstable state, may not be seeing things as they really are.

A good example of this is when, having told us at length how she follows the patterns on the yellow wallpaper on the walls of her room, sometimes for hours on end, the narrator then tells us she is glad her baby doesn’t have to live in the same room, because someone as ‘impressionable’ as her child wouldn’t do well in such a room.

The dramatic irony which the narrator cannot see but which we, tragically, can, is that she is every bit as impressionable as a small child, and the yellow wallpaper – and, more broadly, her effective incarceration – is clearly having a deleterious effect on her mental health. (The story isn’t perfect: Gilman telegraphs the irony a little too strongly when, in the next breath, she has her narrator tell us, with misplaced confidence, ‘I can stand it so much easier than a baby, you see.’)

In the last analysis, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is so unsettling because it plays with established Gothic horror conventions and then subverts them in order to expose the misguided medical practices used in an attempt to ‘treat’ or ‘cure’ women who are suffering from mental or nervous disorders. It has become a popular feminist text about the male mistreatment of women partly because the ‘villain’, the narrator’s husband John, is acting out of a genuine (if hubristic) belief that he knows what’s best for her.

The whole field of nineteenth-century patriarchal society and the way it treats women thus comes under scrutiny, in a story that is all the more powerful for refusing to preach, even while it lets one such mistreated woman speak for herself.

10 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”

I absolutely loved this story. read it a few times in a row when I first crossed paths with it a few years ago –

“The Yellow Wallpaper” remains one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read. Excellent analysis!

Fantastic book.

I cringe every time this story appears on a reading list or in a curriculum textbook. It’s almost hysterical in tone and quite disturbing in how overstated the “abuse” of the wife is supposed to be. It’s right up there with “The Awakening” as feminist literature that hinders, instead of promoting, the dilemma of 19th century women.

How is it overstated?

To witness the woman’s unraveling and how ignored she is, to me, a profound statement how people with emotional distress are not treated with respect.

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Terrific analysis. Gothic fiction is always open to many forms of reading and particularly for feminist reading – as openly presented by Angela Carter’ neo-gothic stories (which I would love to read your analyses of one day Oliver!). ‘the Yellow Wallpaper’ I think is the go-to story for most feminist commentators on Gothic fiction – and rightly so. I can’t help notice the connections between this story and the (mis)treatments of Sigmund Freud. Soooo much in this story to think about that I feel like a kiddie in sweet shop!

Thank you as always, Ken, for the thoughtful comment – and I completely agree about the links with Freud. The 1890s really was a pioneering age for psychiatric treatment/analysis, though we cringe at some of the ideas that were seriously considered (and put into practice). Oddly enough I’ve just been rearranging the pile of books on the floor of my study here at IL Towers, and The Bloody Chamber is near the top of my list of books to cover in due course!

I will wait with abated breath for your thoughts! I love Angela Carter :)

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The Yellow Wallpaper

By charlotte perkins gilman, the yellow wallpaper themes.

In the story, wallpaper, a usually feminine, floral decoration on the interior of walls, is a symbol of female imprisonment within the domestic sphere. Over the course of the story, the wallpaper becomes a text of sorts through which the narrator exercises her literary imagination and identifies with a feminist double figure.

When John curbs her creativity and writing, the narrator takes it upon herself to make some sense of the wallpaper. She reverses her initial feeling of being watched by the wallpaper and starts actively studying and decoding its meaning. She untangles its chaotic pattern and locates the figure of a woman struggling to break free from the bars in the pattern. Over time, as her insanity deepens, she identifies completely with this woman and believes that she, too, is trapped within the wallpaper. When she tears down the wallpaper over her last couple of nights, she believes that she has finally broken out of the wallpaper within which John has imprisoned her. The wallpaper's yellow color has many possible associations - with jaundiced sickness, with discriminated-against minorities of the time (especially the Chinese), and with the rigid oppression of masculine sunlight. By tearing it down, the narrator emerges from the wallpaper and asserts her own identity, albeit a somewhat confused, insane one. Though she must crawl around the room, as the woman in the wallpaper crawls around, this "creeping" is the first stage in a feminist uprising.

Creativity vs. Rationality

From the beginning of the story, the narrator’s creativity is set in conflict with John’s rationality. As a writer, the narrator thrives in her use of her imagination, and her creativity is an inherent part of her nature. John does not recognize his wife’s fundamental creativity and believes that he can force out her imaginative fancies and replace them with his own solid rationality. In essence, a large part of the “rest cure” focuses on John’s attempt to remove the narrator’s creativity; by forcing her to give up her writing, he hopes that he will calm her anxious nature and help her to assume her role as an ideal wife and mother.

However, the narrator is not able to suppress her creativity, despite her best efforts to follow John’s instructions. Because she is not able to write openly and feels the repression of her imagination, she inadvertently exercises her mind via the yellow wallpaper. Although the narrator attempts to incorporate John’s rationality into the chaotic pattern of the wallpaper, she fails; the wallpaper cannot be quantified in John’s way. Her repressed imagination takes control, and she loses all sense of reality, becoming lost in delusions and the idea that she herself was the woman trapped in the wallpaper.

Gilman believes in creativity without restraints and argues that the narrator’s repressed imagination is the fundamental cause of her psychotic breakdown. Gilman also suggests that the narrator’s attempt to deny a fundamental part of her nature was doomed from the beginning. John should have been able to accept the true nature of his wife, rather than trying to force her to adhere to the prescriptions of his own personality.

The Domestic Sphere as Prison

Throughout the story, Gilman presents the domestic sphere as a prison for the narrator. Just as the woman in the wallpaper is trapped behind a symbol of the feminine domestic sphere, the narrator is trapped within the prison-like nursery. The nursery is itself a symbol of the narrator’s oppression as a constant reminder of her duty to clean the house and take care of the children. The numerous barred windows and immovable bed also suggest a more malignant use for the nursery in the past, perhaps as a room used to house an insane person. The narrator's sense of being watched by the wallpaper accentuates the idea of the room as a surveillance-friendly prison cell.

John’s treatment of the narrator perpetuates this sense of the domestic sphere as a prison. As a practical doctor, John automatically patronizes his imaginative, literary wife. He views her writing as unimportant, rarely takes her anxieties seriously, and constantly refers to her with the diminutive “little.” The narrator has no option of escaping her role as a wife and mother; John is unable to perceive her as anything more than that. However, the narrator is imprisoned even further because Jennie and Mary assume her identity as wife and mother; the narrator has no identity left to her because even the ones provided by the society have been taken from her. Unlike the narrator, Mary and Jennie do not have any aspirations beyond the prison of the domestic sphere and thus, they do not recognize it as a prison at all.

The "Rest Cure"

Because of Gilman’s personal experience with the “rest cure,” it is not surprising that S. Weir Mitchell’s treatment plays a significant role in the context of the narrative. From the start of the story, the narrator is supposed to be suffering from neurasthenia, a disease that requires Weir Mitchell’s particular technique for nervousness. Yet, it is unclear if the narrator is actually ill, or if the “rest cure” treatment causes her to go insane. Gilman’s argument is that a treatment that requires complete inactivity is ultimately far more detrimental to a woman suffering from a minor anxiety disorder. Significantly, according to Gilman’s autobiography, she sent a copy of “ The Yellow Wallpaper ” to Weir Mitchell, and he subsequently changed his treatment for neurasthenia.

Beyond the “rest cure,” Gilman also criticizes any sort of medical treatment in which the personal opinion of the patient is not considered. Although the narrator repeatedly asks John to change the treatment over the course of the story, he refuses to acknowledge her requests, believing that he had total authority over the situation. This is also a reflection of the society conditions of the time, but either way, John abuses his power as both a husband and physician and forces the narrator to remain in an oppressive situation from which her only escape is insanity.

Role of Women in the 19th Century

According to the social norms of the time period, women in the 19th century were expected to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers and be content in their existence as nothing more. Men and women were divided between the public and private sphere, and women were doomed to spend their lives solely in the domestic sphere. Not coincidentally, women who dared to enter the masculine public realm were viewed as something akin to prostitutes, the lowest level of society.

With that in mind, although John could be seen as the domineering villain of the story, he is simply a reflection of his society. The narrator’s desire to have more in her life than John and her child does not correspond to social expectations. Moreover, her love of writing and creativity further distinguishes her from the idealized “angel of the house” that she is supposed to emulate. Gilman herself rebelled against these social expectations and, by leaving her first husband and moving to California to write, was not deemed fit to belong in respectable society.

The Narrator vs. The Woman in the Wallpaper

From the start, the narrator has a constant bond with the woman in the wallpaper. Even when the narrator is unable to discern her figure beyond the pattern, she is still preoccupied with the wallpaper and feels an uncanny connection to it. As the story continues, the narrator’s connection to the woman in the wallpaper is heightened, and Gilman begins to present the wallpaper woman as a sort of doppelganger to the narrator. Although the woman is trapped behind the chaotic yellow wallpaper, she is essentially in the same position as the narrator: imprisoned in the domestic sphere and unable to escape without being strangled by the bars of social expectation.

By the end of the narrative, the narrator’s insanity has reached such a heightened state that she can no longer differentiate herself from the figure that she has seen in the wallpaper. She is the woman in the wallpaper and no one, not even John, can imprison her in the wallpaper again. There is no doubt that the narrator will be physically imprisoned at some point in the future. After John regains consciousness and discovers his wife still creeping around the nursery, he will have no choice but to send her to Weir Mitchell or place her in a mental institution. Yet, the narrator’s mind will still remain “free,” mirroring the freedom enjoyed by the woman in the wallpaper. In other words, the woman in the wallpaper can be seen as a manifestation of her creative imagination that finally breaks through the rigid expectations of the domestic sphere. Unfortunately, the escape of her imagination means that she cannot ever regain any sort of rationality; by freeing the woman in the wallpaper, the narrator ensures that her mind will be trapped in a prison of insanity.

Sunlight vs. Moonlight

Although the yellow color of the wallpaper has associations with illness, its most developed motif is the conflict between sunlight and moonlight. In Gilman's story, sunlight is associated with John's ordered, dominating schedule and the rational sphere of men. John prescribes something for the narrator for every waking hour while he goes about his daily rounds, forcing her to take on the same order and control that defines his life.

At night, however, the balance shifts. Men's day jobs in the public sphere are irrelevant, and women can achieve a more equal level with their husbands. While he is asleep, John is unable to monitor the narrator’s behavior, and she is not in a perpetual state of inferiority or being constantly controlled. More importantly, the narrator’s flexible subconscious roams free at night, as in during dreams. It is always by moonlight, a traditional symbol of femininity and the Goddess Artemis, that the narrator understands more about the figure trapped within the wallpaper. In sunlight, the woman stays still, afraid of being caught, and, once she creeps about outside, she does so boldly only at night. Moreover, the narrator cannot see the figure under the oppressive glare of sunlight in her room and is overwhelmed by the pattern of the wallpaper. By the cool, feminine light of the moon, the narrator is able to grasp the woman’s plight and ultimately recognize in it a reflection of her own imprisonment.

The Yellow Wallpaper Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Yellow Wallpaper is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Why is the house standing empty after so many years?

We are never apprised of the reason that the house is empty.

8. Throughout the story, the narrator uses the word “creep” and “creeping” to describe the wallpaper figure’s movements. What does this word choice suggest about the narrator?

The words "creep" and "creeping" suggest that the narrator has sensed a disturbing feeling from the wallpaper figure’s movements. The narrator has begun to see the pattern as that of a woman wanting to be free. She related herself with this woman...

6. How does the story’s narrative form contribute to the development of the narrator’s point of view

The first person narrative is instrumental in conveying the events story's events as the narrator experiences them without the use of flashbacks or alternate settings. In turn, we as readers, experience the events alongside the narrator and become...

Study Guide for The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper study guide contains a biography of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Yellow Wallpaper
• The Yellow Wallpaper Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper.

• Responding to the Wallpaper
• The Stages of Feminine Injustice
• "Personally, I Disagree With Their Ideas"
• Paper, Paper, On the Wall...
• Prescription to Madness

Lesson Plan for The Yellow Wallpaper

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Introduction to The Yellow Wallpaper
• Relationship to Other Books
• Notes to the Teacher

E-Text of The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper E-Text contains the full text of The Yellow Wallpaper

• Full Text of The Yellow Wallpaper

Wikipedia Entries for The Yellow Wallpaper

• Introduction
• Plot summary
• Interpretations
• Dramatic adaptations

Intresting Analysis of the Yellow Wallpaper

This essay about Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” explores the themes of female oppression, mental health, and personal agency within the context of a patriarchal society. Through the protagonist’s confinement and descent into madness, Gilman critiques societal norms and challenges readers to question the status quo. The narrative techniques employed, including vivid imagery and intimate diary entries, draw readers into the protagonist’s struggles, prompting reflection on gender, mental wellness, and societal expectations both past and present. Ultimately, the essay advocates for a more just and compassionate world, inspired by the timeless lessons of Gilman’s masterpiece.

How it works

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” stands as a beacon of feminist literature, weaving a tapestry of intricate themes and nuanced characters that continue to captivate readers with each turn of the page. In this essay, we embark on an analytical journey into the depths of this seminal work, unraveling its threads to reveal the hidden layers of meaning and social commentary it holds.

At the heart of our exploration lies the theme of female oppression in a patriarchal society, a motif as poignant today as it was during Gilman’s time.

Through the protagonist’s confinement within the eerie confines of her room, adorned with the haunting yellow wallpaper, Gilman casts a spotlight on the suffocating constraints placed upon women by societal norms and expectations. The wallpaper itself becomes a symbol of this oppression, its creeping patterns mirroring the protagonist’s own sense of entrapment within the confines of her gender role.

Yet, beyond the surface-level examination of oppression, “The Yellow Wallpaper” delves into the intricacies of mental health and the effects of isolation on the human psyche. As the protagonist’s descent into madness unfolds, we are invited to witness the fragile boundaries between sanity and insanity blur, each brushstroke of the wallpaper serving as a stark reminder of the fragility of the human mind. Gilman’s masterful portrayal of this psychological unraveling leaves an indelible impression on the reader, prompting reflection on the delicate balance between perception and reality.

Central to our analysis is the character of the protagonist herself, a figure shrouded in complexity and contradiction. Through her eyes, we bear witness to the struggles of motherhood, marriage, and personal autonomy, each layer of her identity peeled back to reveal the raw vulnerability beneath. Her rebellion against the stifling authority of her husband, John, serves as a rallying cry for female empowerment, challenging the notion of women as passive objects to be controlled and manipulated.

Moreover, Gilman’s narrative techniques serve to enhance the impact of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” drawing the reader into the protagonist’s innermost thoughts and emotions. Through the intimate format of a diary, we are granted access to the inner workings of her mind, each entry a window into her unraveling sanity. The vivid imagery woven throughout the narrative, particularly in the descriptions of the yellow wallpaper, creates a palpable sense of unease and foreboding, immersing the reader in the oppressive atmosphere of the protagonist’s surroundings.

Yet, perhaps most striking of all is the relevance of “The Yellow Wallpaper” to contemporary discourse surrounding gender, mental health, and societal expectations. In an age where discussions of women’s rights and mental wellness continue to dominate public discourse, Gilman’s words ring as true today as they did over a century ago. Through her poignant critique of patriarchal society and its impact on the female psyche, Gilman challenges us to question the status quo and strive for a more equitable future for all.

In conclusion, “The Yellow Wallpaper” stands as a timeless masterpiece, its pages imbued with the echoes of a bygone era yet resonant with the enduring struggles of the human experience. Through its exploration of themes such as female oppression, mental health, and personal agency, Gilman invites us to confront the complexities of our own society and chart a course towards a more just and compassionate world. As we close the book on our analysis, let us carry forth the lessons of “The Yellow Wallpaper” into our own lives, striving to dismantle the walls of oppression and embrace the light of progress and understanding.

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The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte perkins gilman, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Reading the series of diary entries that make up the story, the reader is in a privileged position to witness the narrator’s evolving and accelerating descent into madness, foreshadowed by her mounting paranoia and obsession with the mysterious figure behind the pattern of the yellow wallpaper.

As the portrayal of a woman’s gradual mental breakdown, The Yellow Wallpaper offers the reader a window into the perception and treatment of mental illness in the late nineteenth century. In the style of a Gothic horror story, the tale follows the gradual deterioration of its narrator’s mental state, but it also explores the ways that her husband John’s attempted treatment aggravates this decline. In one sense, then, the story is a propaganda piece criticizing a specific way of ‘curing’ mental illness. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author of the story, suffered from post-partum depression and, in circumstances very similar to those of the story’s narrator, was prescribed a ‘rest cure’ by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, who is mentioned by name in her tale. She underwent a mental breakdown as a result of this enforced idleness, which forbade any form of writing or work outside of the domestic sphere. The forced confinement of the story’s narrator, and her husband’s injunctions against writing or other activity, mirror this ‘rest cure’ in the author’s life.

John, the narrator’s husband, serves also as her de facto doctor. As such, he is a model of traditional attitudes toward mental illness. He is driven purely by practicalities, prescribing self-control above all else, and warning against anything that he sees as indulging his wife’s dangerous imagination or hysteria. His refusal to acknowledge his wife’s concerns about her own mental state as legitimate, or to listen to her various requests – about their choice of room, receiving visitors, leaving the house, her writing or, of course, the wallpaper – ultimately contributes to her breakdown, as she finds herself trapped, alone, and unable to make her inner struggles understood. This feeling of powerlessness, of an inability to communicate, is portrayed with special horror to inspire empathy in a progressive reader, who may have been moved to reconsider methods such as the rest cure of Weir Mitchell.

Mental Illness and its Treatment ThemeTracker

Mental Illness and its Treatment Quotes in The Yellow Wallpaper

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. You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?

He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.

I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more. He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get.

The paint and paper look as if a boys' school had used it. It is stripped off—the paper—in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and in a great place on the other side of the room low down. I never saw a worse paper in my life.

John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious. I am glad my case is not serious! But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing. John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no REASON to suffer, and that satisfies him.

There comes John's sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing. She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which made me sick!

But, on the other hand, they connect diagonally, and the sprawling outlines run off in great slanting waves of optic horror, like a lot of wallowing seaweeds in full chase.

Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn't able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there; and I did not make out a very good case for myself, for I was crying before I had finished.

If we had not used it, that blessed child would have! What a fortunate escape! Why, I wouldn't have a child of mine, an impressionable little thing, live in such a room for worlds. I never thought of it before, but it is lucky that John kept me here after all, I can stand it so much easier than a baby, you see.

Of course if you were in any danger, I could and would, but you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color, your appetite is better, I feel really much easier about you.

On a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind… You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turns a back-somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream.

At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candle light, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be.

It used to disturb me at first. I thought seriously of burning the house—to reach the smell. But now I am used to it. The only thing I can think of that it is like is the COLOR of the paper! A yellow smell.

There is a very funny mark on this wall, low down, near the mopboard. A streak that runs round the room. It goes behind every piece of furniture, except the bed, a long, straight, even SMOOCH, as if it had been rubbed over and over. I wonder how it was done and who did it, and what they did it for. Round and round and round—round and round and round—it makes me dizzy!

And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern—it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads.

I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once.

I have found out another funny thing, but I shan't tell it this time! It does not do to trust people too much.

John knows I don't sleep very well at night, for all I'm so quiet! He asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind. As if I couldn't see through him!

Then I peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor. It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it! All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision!

I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try. Besides I wouldn't do it. Of course not. I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued.

I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard! It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please! I don't want to go outside. I won't, even if Jennie asks me to. For outside you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow. But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way.

"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!" 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!

Essays on The Yellow Wallpaper

Women’s role in the yellow wallpaper, the storm & the story of an hour.

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The Yellow Wallpaper Gender Roles

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The Yellow Wallpaper Character Analysis

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Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper

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Using Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper

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Comparative Study on The Yellow Wallpaper and Hills Like White Elephants

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Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper

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Setting and Realism in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

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Self-Expression: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

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Crippling Depression and Isolation in The Yellow Wallpaper

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Role of Women in Society: Charlotte P. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

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The Feminist Perspective of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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Argumentative essays about The Yellow Wallpaper

Written as diary notes, the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a masterpiece by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. As in many novels in American literature, the book speaks about the unfair treatment of women trying to break loose from partial oppression. As a result, it paves the path for endless The Yellow Wallpaper essay topics and examples.

Told in first person, the narration reveals the writer’s depression due to her worsened emotional and mental state. Conversely, John symbolically represents the male-dominated world that assigns women specific roles they must take and remain trapped in the wallpaper.

With the feminism movement gaining traction, you will probably have to write an argumentative essay on The Yellow Wallpaper in school. To this end, you’ll need a catchy topic sentence, summary, introduction, and outline for essays on The Yellow Wallpaper.

If you lack ideas or prompts for your papers or struggle with finding a thesis statement for The Yellow Wallpaper, check SupremeStudy. The platform abounds with theme and literary analysis essay examples about The Yellow Wallpaper to draw inspiration for your research paper on The Yellow Wallpaper.

As per Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ has been first distributed 1899 by Small and Maynard, Boston, MA. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ was a women’s activist break however and elucidation of the imagery and it was viewed principally as a powerful story of ghastliness and craziness in the convention of Edgar Allan Poe. Charlotte Perkins Gilman constructed the story in light of her involvement with a ‘rest fix’ for psychological instability. The ‘rest fix’ motivated her to compose a scrutinize of the medicinal treatment recommended to ladies experiencing a condition at that point known as ‘neurasthenia’ (Golden 145).

Indeed, it applauded the work as ‘one of the uncommon bits of writing we have by a nineteenth-century lady who straightforwardly faces the sexual governmental issues of the male-female, spouse wife relationship.’. Almost these pundits recognize the story as a women’s activist content written in dissent of the careless treatment of ladies by a man centric culture.

In any case, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, the storyteller experiences misery following the introduction of her tyke. Her significant other, John, analyze her conduct as ‘delirium.’ He endorses her rest and rents a house in the nation for her recovery, and it was on its surface, about a lady made crazy by post pregnancy anxiety and a risky treatment. In any case, an examination of the hero’s portrayal uncovers that the story is in a general sense about personality. The hero’s projection of a fanciful lady which at first is just her shadow against the bars of the backdrop’s example pieces her character, disguising the contention she encounters and inevitably prompting the total breakdown of the limits of her personality and that of her anticipated shadow.

On July 3, 1860, Charlotte Anna Perkins Gilman was conceived in Hartford, Connecticut. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was the main scholarly in the ladies’ development amid the initial twenty years of the twentieth century. Her dad was Frederick Beecher Perkins, and her mom was Mary Fitch Westcott. The Beecher’s, including her initial good example, Harriet Beecher Stowe, affected her social feelings. In her later life as an author, she was kept on doubting her innovative side, in spite of the fact that she at times gave it opportunity. In 1882 Gilman met Walter Stetson, who proposed marriage under three weeks after their first gathering.

In spite of the fact that Stetson regarded Gilman and comprehended her complaints to a conventional marriage, it was not to be a glad association. Gilman was pregnant inside half a month, and she was liable to extraordinary attacks of sorrow all through the pregnancy and a while later. She started to feel increasingly a detainee—not of her significant other but rather of the establishment of marriage—and preliminary detachments and treatment of her ‘nerves’ neglected to help. In 1886, Gilman had a breakdown and was dealt with for insanity by nervous system specialist S. Weir Mitchell, who recommended totaled rest and restraint from work. In spite of the treatment, Gilman deteriorated and dreaded for her mental soundness. She chose to bring matters into her hands, isolated from Stetson, and moved to California, where she started to distribute and address on the financial and household reliance of ladies.

Next, the fizzled marriage was to be the motivation for a few ballads that helped built up Gilman’s notoriety and for her story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ which has turned into her most generally anthologized work. At the season of its distribution in 1892, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ took advantage of perusing ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ it is essential to get a handle on the authentic setting of Gilman’s story. Since that time, Gilman’s story has been examined by scholarly commentators from an extensive variety of points of view, including personal, authentic, mental, women’s activist, semiotic, and sociocultural. Amid the late nineteenth century, ladies were viewed as weaker than men, both physically and rationally, and were permitted next to no close to home office.

Through the storyteller of the short story acknowledges she has a disease; her significant other’s sentiments of skill and predominance keep her from getting treatment. Indeed, even her conclusion of ‘mania’ is established in her general public’s comprehension of ladies’ wellbeing and life systems. Late nineteenth century assumptions about conjugal jobs and emotional wellness laid the foundation for this story. Amid the 1890s, Gilman distributed the short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ in light of her breakdown and rest treatment. Henceforth, Gilman experienced episodes of wretchedness stemming her longing to fill in as craftsman, essayist, and supporter of ladies’ rights and the contention between this craving and her more conventional job as spouse and mother.

One technique Gilman utilizes is the backdrop as an image of the storyteller’s repression. The backdrop can likewise be believed to symbolize the storyteller’s psyche. After some time, the storyteller sees the example of her room’s yellow backdrop as a progression of bars, detaining the state of a lady behind them. The storyteller and the caught lady can be translated. For instance, she composes,’ I pulled, and she shook, and she pulled, and before morning we had peeled off yards of that paper.’ Her gathering of people esteems the yellow backdrop on an individual level as a spouse with a controlling husband and on a fundamental level as a lady in a controlling society. Emblematically, this mirrors the estimations of the general public in which the storyteller lives. They esteem this since When the storyteller pulls at the yellow backdrop, the caught lady shakes it. On the other hand, when the storyteller shakes it, the caught lady pulls. The lady caught behind the backdrop’s example reflects the stifled female self-caught in a man centric culture.

In spite of the fact that the storyteller may not understand it, her demonstration of pulling down the backdrop fills in as a demonstration of insubordination. By attempting to free this lady, she is endeavoring to free herself. On a bigger topical scale, her demonstration shows how she needs to break free of the societal limitations holding her back. The storyteller’s possible suspicion of the caught lady’s character can be perused as emblematic of the storyteller’s recovery of her autonomy, inauspicious as it might be. Subsequently, by utilizing the word decision’ crawling’ done by the lady in the backdrop is a physical showcase of the untainted vulnerability the storyteller has been pushed into by her significant other and her sickness.

When it is later uncovered that the storyteller herself has been crawling around her room, it ends up questionable whether the storyteller is reliably observing the state of a lady in the backdrop or is, actually, responding to her shadow. John’s regular nonappearances and the inevitable disclosure that he knows about the storyteller’s evening time alertness consider the likelihood that her hallucinations have been expedited by cooperating with her shadow. In the event that this is valid, a definitive truth of the story—that the storyteller is the lady in the backdrop—conveys a physical and also mental measurement. For instance, she kept in touch with: ‘It is a similar lady, I know, for she is continually crawling, and most ladies don’t crawl by sunshine.’ The storyteller of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ encounters her battle in a profoundly close to home field: her home and brain.

In any case, entries, for example, this one propose that she perceives the more extensive ramifications of her encounters and the potential impacts they have on other ladies. In determining that ‘most ladies don’t crawl by sunshine,’ she appears to propose that most other ladies do in any case ‘creep,’ or slither, just not when they can be seen. While the storyteller proceeds to depict herself slithering around her room, the stating prompts perusers to consider how all ladies are diminished to sneaking in some ways, regardless of whether they take awesome consideration not to be taken note. This section strengthens the imagery of ‘crawling’ as a demonstration of enslavement and demonstrates the storyteller’s developing mindfulness that numerous components of her imprisonment are a direct result of her sex.

In the second logical component of the beginning of the story, another methodology Gilman utilizes the house in which the storyteller and her better half stay symbolize the general public that limits the storyteller. The house can be perused as a physical portrayal of the connection between the storyteller’s body and brain. At first, the storyteller needs a room on the principal floor of the house with roses by the window. She additionally wishes to draw in with the world outside herself: she needs to see companions and work on her composition. Rather, the storyteller is compelled to remain on the second floor of the house in an expansive, confused stay with noticeable harm and distractingly appalling backdrop. Thus, the storyteller is denied imaginative incitement and headed to focus on her psychological state.

Another technique Gilman utilizes sensational incongruity in depicting the storyteller’s association with her better half. In spite of the fact that John appears to think about his better half’s prosperity, he effectively hampers her treatment by setting her on a rest fix. While he demands that she needs to quit ‘working’ until the point that she recuperates, the storyteller experiences weariness and turns out to be effectively depleted by keeping her composition mystery. Her absence of office worsens her condition, driving her to tears and sadness. After some time, as the storyteller’s freedom develops through her singular battles with the backdrop, she appears to end up mindful of the incongruity of her circumstance: that her better half, the medicinal master, is totally uninformed of his significant other’s actual state.

Notwithstanding, she utilizes is presumptions the traditions of the mental repulsiveness story to investigate the situation of ladies inside the organization of marriage, particularly as drilled by the ‘respectable’ classes of her chance. At the point when the story was first distributed, most perusers accepting it as a frightening story about a lady in an extraordinary condition of awareness—a holding, exasperating.

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79 The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis – Essay Topics & Prompts

Charlotte Perkins Gilman published this short story in 1892, and it immediately resonated among the public. It is a secret diary of a young lady suffering from postpartum depression and gradually falling into madness. Meanwhile, her husband, “a physician of high standing,” ignores her wishes and treats her as a child who needs mentorship.

Gilman writes about her painful experience. It was one of the first feministic stories and is still topical nowadays. Below you will find dozens of The Yellow Wallpaper essay topics to boost your writing inspiration.

📌 Top 10 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Topics

• ✅ The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis
• 📝 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Topics with Prompts

🔤 The Yellow Wallpaper Theme Essay Topics

• 👩 Character Analysis Essay Topics
• ❓ 20 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Questions

🗨 References

• Can the reader trust the narrator, and why?
• Would the story end differently if the husband agreed to change the wallpaper?
• Did the diary help the narrator keep afloat?
• Is the husband the antagonist in the short story?
• Which stereotypes ruin a woman’s life, according to Gilman?
• Psychology of young mothers: the most controversial issues.
• What would help the narrator recover?
• How does the wallpaper mirror the narrator’s psychological condition?
• Imagine what would happen after The Yellow Wallpaper ends.
• Which literary devices does the author use to describe depression?

✅ The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis Essay – Ideas

The Yellow Wallpaper is a “what if” dystopia . The author had experienced the borderline condition and imagined a situation where her symptoms would intensify and develop until the worst possible scenario. Here are the essential analysis points for your essay:

• Jane’s condition does not look alarming at first. Moreover, she spends days chilling at a mansion doing nothing (that would be a dream for many of us). Life in the same room without books, writing, or even socializing for months resembles a prison.
• The protagonist is imprisoned not only within the country mansion. Her marriage contributes to her isolation. The husband (her doctor at the same time) ignores the worsening of her condition. Jane writes in her diary, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.”
• Jane projects her mental condition onto the yellow wallpaper and gradually starts seeing some girl behind it. She finally tears the wallpaper off the wall to free the girl living there. But the reader understands she was trying to free herself from the oppressive relationship and cruel treatment.

The Yellow Wallpaper essay prompts below will help you understand the author’s message better. They will guide you through feminism, marriage, mental health, and other topics. The Yellow Wallpaper essay questions we’ve listed here are only a tiny part of what you could be asking yourself. We wish you an inspired and rewarding writing session!

📝 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts

• The yellow wallpaper as a representation of the narrator’s life. The parallel between the wallpaper extensively described in the story and the protagonist’s life and mental state can be linked through the illustration of similarities. Thus, the topic generates opportunities to present the wallpaper as a projection of the protagonist’s life: depressive, outdated, and causing her an immense sense of discomfort.
• Women’s oppression through psychiatric interventions . One of the elements of the story is the narrator’s mental state and the intervention that has been prescribed, involving a lack of physical and intellectual effort and isolation. The topic facilitates a reflection on the systems that were put in place to dismiss women, such as mental health approaches.
• The husband in The Yellow Wallpaper: Villain of a product of society? John is portrayed through first-person descriptions, which implies the readers see him through the eyes of the narrator, who suggests him being a loving and caring husband. The story can be analyzed concerning John as a family member versus John as the representation of men at the time.
• The physical and psychological prison in The Yellow Wallpaper. While the protagonist was confined to one room, is this the only prison she is a prisoner in? Is the room a representation of her life? Feeling trapped was not only associated with the narrator’s experimental conditions but also her mind, a topic that can be expanded further for analysis.
• Postpartum depression in The Yellow Wallpaper. Postpartum depression was not diagnosed with adequate treatment at the time, and the protagonist’s rest cure portrayed the inadequate approach to the issue. This can be analyzed concerning the dismissal of mental health issues in women and the burden of psychological challenges a woman was to overcome on her own.
• Discuss symbols introduced in The Yellow Wallpaper. Many elements presented in the novel act as symbols that help understand the narrative better. Consider the color and pattern of the wallpaper, the mysterious image of a woman, and the room itself. Explain their meaning within the story.
• The association between the author and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper. Explore Gilman’s biography and analyze whether her life has connections with the experiences of the story’s main character. In your discussion, consider why the protagonist remains unnamed throughout the novel and why it may be necessary from the feministic viewpoint.
• Identify literary devices in The Yellow Wallpaper and explain their usage. Gilman utilizes several literary devices to accentuate the issues of depression and feminism in the novel. For instance, the author employs repetition to demonstrate the narrator’s confusion. Discuss how each literary device assists in unraveling the meaning of the story.
• Analyze the differences in gender roles in The Yellow Wallpaper. The story’s protagonist is a lady living in a patriarchal society with a husband who does not listen to her needs. Examine how the narrative demonstrates men’s and women’s roles and compare the representation to that of another feminist novel of the same period.
• Explore the main character’s point of view in The Yellow Wallpaper. Despite having some dialogues, the novel is presented from a single person’s perspective in the form of diary entries. Discuss why the author decided not to include other characters’ standpoints and explore the significance of the protagonist being the one to unravel the story.
• Explain your understanding of The Yellow Wallpaper’s ending. The novel is gradually revealed from one character’s perspective, yet the narrator’s identity seems to change toward the finale, which is somewhat perplexing. Identify and quote the exact moment when the main character’s personality transforms and debate potential reasons and the importance of the modification.
• Study the social impact of The Yellow Wallpaper. Gilman’s novel is one of the most prominent literary works that regard feminism and patriarchy. Investigate whether the narrative’s influence on the public’s perception of gender roles has been positive or negative since its publication. Consider lessons that modern-day society can learn from the story.
• Patronizing husband and mental illness in The Yellow Wallpaper. The main character in the novel suffers from postpartum depression and is convinced that her spouse, a physician, can aid her in overcoming the condition. Describe John’s reaction to his wife’s mental wellness and discuss whether his advice was helpful or harmful.

🖊️ The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis Essay Topics

• First-person narration in The Yellow Wallpaper. The Yellow Wallpaper entirely consists of first-person narration from the protagonist’s point of view. The literary element allows the reader to see the events from her perspective and perceive the subjective standpoint of reality in the wife’s imagination. Thus, the story becomes more realistic and generates compassion and realism.
• The Yellow Wallpaper as a partly autobiographical literature work. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote the short story based on her experience with postpartum psychosis. Hence, the mental breakdown illustrated in the literature piece shows the real-life experience of a woman at the time. The parallel between the writer’s life and the story itself gives a basis for a reflective essay.
• The feminist agenda is portrayed in The Yellow Wallpaper. The topic allows for an extensive reflection on women’s issues highlighted in the literature piece, including a lack of freedom, choice, and opportunities. Moreover, the discussion can encompass subjects such as motherhood and family life, as these aspects of womanhood are portrayed from the perspective of a woman’s experience.
• The Yellow Wallpaper in the realm of feminist literature. The Yellow Wallpaper is one of the many feminist literature pieces written at a time when gender inequality would prevent women from having the same opportunities as men. The topic allows for a reflection of feminist literature as a genre, a comparison with other similar stories and novels, and a contrast of various pieces.
• The ending of The Yellow Wallpaper: Mental health decline or psychological escape? The end of the short story is ambiguous. Did the protagonist lose the connection with reality, or did she let go of the psychological boundaries and gives freely in her imagination despite being physically trapped? Examining the ending from two perspectives is an excellent topic for reflection.

🎨 The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism Essay Topics

• The Problem of Suppressing Women in The Yellow Wallpaper. Are modern attitudes toward women different from those described in the story? Analyze the family relationship between the narrator and her husband. Why does the man treat her like a child ? Identify the characteristics of society’s attitudes toward women at that time.
• The abrupt end of The Yellow Wallpaper. What did the author want to convey to the reader? Why did the narrator cut the story short at this point? There are many suggestions for continuing the story. Which one do you think is the most appropriate? Explain your point of view.
• How does the narrator feel about her diary? As you read the story, you can see that the journal helps the narrator get a little relief from her heartache. Analyze the narrator’s attitude toward the diary. Does she use it only because she lacks communication or for other reasons? Argue the answer.
• The Meaning of Yellow Wallpaper in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Story. Why does the author focus so much on describing wallpaper? How does the pattern change as the disease progresses? Analyze the narrator’s attitude toward wallpaper and give examples from the text. Identify what you think the color of the wallpaper symbolizes.
• The yellow wallpaper: What does the narrator’s room symbolize? How does the narrator’s room emphasize her husband’s attitude toward her? Analyze how the narrator describes it and conclude her attitude toward the room. Do you think the narrator is a prisoner or surrounded by her husband’s care and love?
• The Uniqueness of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Story. What distinguishes The Yellow Wallpaper from other nineteenth-century works? Give specific examples of the differences. Does the description of attitudes toward women in The Yellow Wallpaper differ from other stories? Note the problem of the suppression of women and describe it in more detail.
• Problems of 19th-century family life . In your opinion, whether the narrator’s husband is guilty of The Yellow Wallpaper, argue your answer. Why does the narrator not contradict her husband? Explore in more detail the relationship between husband and wife in the 19th century as described in the story.
• Symbols in The Yellow Wallpaper. Do a literary analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper. Why the author uses symbols in work, and how do they affect the reader’s experience? Analyze the main characters in the story and explain them, giving specific examples of the use of these symbols in the story.
• Postpartum depression in The Yellow Wallpaper. How does 19th-century society view women’s problems, and do they take them seriously? Analyze women’s behavior and conclude their condition after childbirth. Do you think women of that time who suffered from postpartum depression were treated incorrectly or vice versa?
• Literary devices used in The Yellow Wallpaper. Analyze the story by giving specific examples of literary devices and explaining their significance. How does the author convey the mood and experiences of the narrator through the use of literary devices? How do these techniques affect the reader, and why are they used?
• Gender Differences in The Yellow Wallpaper.
• Stigmatization of Mental Illnesses in The Yellow Wallpaper.
• Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Stories.
• The Yellow Wallpaper and the Perception of Postpartum Depression.
• The Representation of Feminism in The Yellow Wallpaper.
• The Yellow Wallpaper: The Exploration of Freedom.
• Identity, Creativity , and Self-Expression in The Yellow Wallpaper.
• Marriage and Family in The Yellow Wallpaper.
• Isolation in Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper.
• The Yellow Wallpaper: Madness and Horror.
• A Lack of Communication in The Yellow Wallpaper.

👩 The Yellow Wallpaper Character Analysis Essay Topics

• Analyze John’s role as a patriarchal figure. It is important to note that John is a complex character who cares about the narrator but restricts and confines her to her room. Using his example in The Yellow Wallpaper, explore how patriarchy might not be intentionally oppressive towards women.
• Analyze the relationship dynamic between John and the Narrator. The Yellow Wallpaper provides a highly complex relationship dynamic between the husband and the wife. Use evidence from sources on feminism, patriarchy, and domestic abuse . Assess whether mental health justifies what John does to the Narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper.
• The role of Jennie in the feminist framework. Jennie, John’s sister, demonstrates a form of contentment with the domestic function she performs for the couple. However, it should be noted that she shows care for the narrator. You can refer to sources on Women Against Feminism to analyze how some women also promoted a patriarchal social structure.
• Assess the relationship dynamic between John and Jennie. Jennie, John’s sister, works for him as a housekeeper. Their relationship can be explored based on socioeconomic differences, siblinghood, and gender roles. You can use evidence on gender roles in families to arrive at insightful conclusions.
• Explore how John balances between being a physician and a husband. In The Yellow Wallpaper, John is related to the narrator not only as her husband but also as her physician. You might consider referring to sources on the patriarchal nature of medicine and healthcare establishments in the modern social context.
• The narrator’s socioeconomic status and mental health. The Yellow Wallpaper provides in-depth details on its central characters, such as the narrator being an upper-middle-class woman. Explore how a person’s socioeconomic status affects their ability to deal with mental health using national sources and databases to gain more insight.
• The Narrator and discouragement: a bigger picture. In The Yellow Wallpaper, John constantly discourages the narrator from doing what she desires to do, further constrains her restrictive treatment. Use sources on how self-expression affects one’s identity and reflect on the narrator’s situation, focusing on her self-perception.
• Stigmatization and prejudice in the narrator’s mental illness. The story profoundly explores the main character’s perspective, but how others perceive her mental health, mainly John could use more analysis. The language used to define and describe her problems provides a substantive subject to discuss using historical evidence.
• The effect of the rest cure on the narrator. He justifies confinement, restriction, and isolation imposed by John on the narrator as being a rest cure. Use sources on her possible mental health issue to assess the validity of the rest cure as a treatment and its role in the story.
• Guilt in the relationship dynamic between the Narrator and Jennie. It should be noted that The Yellow Wallpaper focuses on themes of patriarchy and gender roles, and the latter can also have an impact relationship between two women. Explore how gender role expectations invoke guilt in the narrator due to Jennie’s housekeeping abilities.

❓ The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Questions

• How does John represent patriarchy?
• Is John truly well-intentioned in his treatment?
• How power imbalance dictates the relationship between John and the Narrator?
• Is John domestically abusing the narrator?
• Is Jennie an antifeminist figure in The Yellow Wallpaper?
• Does Jennie’s contention with housekeeping constitute feminism?
• How the gender roles affect the relationship between John and Jennie?
• How does siblinghood change the gender roles between John and Jennie?
• Can gender roles be inherited through John/Jennie’s family values?
• How does the narrator’s socioeconomic status relate to her mental health?
• Is the rest cure imposed on the narrator effective?
• Is John more of a doctor or husband for the narrator?
• How John’s discouragement of writing affects the narrator?
• How the narrator’s mental health is communicated in the story?
• Are there signs of prejudice against the narrator’s mental state?
• Why does Jennie make the narrator feel guilty?
• How the rest cure imposed on the narrator exemplifies situational irony?
• Why does the narrator perceive the room to be a nursery?
• What would be the best way to treat the narrator?
• What could John do to the narrator to make her feel better?
• House of horror: the poisonous power of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper – The Guardian .
• Analysis of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper by C. Perkins Gilman – ThoughtCo.
• The Yellow Wallpaper: a 19th-century short story of nervous exhaustion and the perils of women’s ‘rest cures’ – The Conversation.
• The Yellow Wallpaper – Britannica.
• The Yellow Wallpaper: Psychological Analysis – HubPages.
• ‘The Yellow Wallpaper Questions for Study – ThoughtCo.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Yellow Wallpaper — Imagery In The Yellow Wallpaper

Imagery in The Yellow Wallpaper

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Published: Mar 5, 2024

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Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily Compare & Contrast Essay

Introduction.

Does it leave one wondering whether Emily Grierson, in ‘A Rose for Emily,’ should be blamed for her solitude and isolation from the rest of the society much as the woman narrator in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’?

Emily Grierson, in ‘A Rose for Emily,’ treats her solitude and isolation from the rest of society as a norm. When she dies, everyone goes for her funeral not because they liked her, but because she was a monument for the community. Some were curious to peep inside her house known only to a gardener and a cook for almost ten years.

The woman narrator in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ on the other hand, sees her isolation from the community like a plague that will eat on her very soul. She yearns for her husband John, to be by her side but quickly points out that he is out attending to more severe cases. It is from the narrator that we learn that he is a physician.

Emily & the Narrator: Characters Comparison

Emily’s isolation and solitude are enhanced by her father’s influence on her ideas and actions. She is brought up in the era of civil war. His father turned away a lot of suitors to the effect that she was still single at the age of thirty. Miss Emily is brought up with the notion that she is from an influential and proud Southern family: The Griersons. This is supported by the part in which she starts hanging out with the Northerner Homer Barron.

It is regarded as a bad act; the laborer from the North was not her type or class. When her father dies, she in denial agrees to release his body for burial after a lot of pressure. She turns the community women come to pay homage to her away from her doorstep. This enhances her stubborn nature and highlights her isolation and solitude.

In the text, there is every indication that Emily represented the last of the pre-civil war era. She lives in a pre-civil war house. Factories and cotton ginneries have replaced all the other houses close to her. She chooses to hang to her past more than the present, making her an isolated case in the ever-changing society. A lot of symbolism shows her isolation. She lived in an isolated beat-down house that was dark and dusty, a clear indication of her isolation, character, and solitude from the other society.

Emily’s contempt for the new laws and rules show how torn apart from the society she is. An indication of this is when she goes to the druggist to buy poison even when the law requires to abound up a reason to buy the poison; she stares at the druggist once, and she gets the poison she uses for murdering Homer Barron.

Another instance is when the aldermen representatives from the council come to visit her over the remittance of taxes. She tells them off, indicating that her father had loaned the town with special reference to Colonel Sartoris, the former mayor who had passed on for more than ten years. We can assume that she never knew whether the Colonel had passed on, thus highlighting her level of isolation and solitude.

When the Federal State departments issue an order on postal addresses, she refuses to comply, indicating her disregard for the new laws and developments. Her mere mention of her name for the foul smell emanating from her house by her neighbors’ to the present mayor shows how hard it is to deal with her.

The mayor, rather than confronting her, dispatches some men to pour lime around her house at night, and several days later, the smell subsides. In various instances in the story, it is reported that she is rarely seen outside by the people after her father’s death and after Homer was reported missing. This shows us of Emily, who is quite satisfied with her present state of affairs.

Her behavior makes her an embodiment of the pre and civil war era of a true and proud Southerner. We can try to understand it in these terms; she has a black man who, at the beginning of the text, is a young man now stooped and never talked perhaps due to restrictions around him. After he opens the door for the people after Emily’s death, he leaves never to be seen again.

We can conclude Emily’s behavior isolated her from a society that tried to involve her in every way, as indicated in the events in the story. She was so out of place such that when she bought the poison, everyone thought she was going to kill herself. This was thought to have been brought out by her relationship with Homer Barron, whom it was known was not ready to commit to marriage.

Her association with him had even led people to suggest that she be counseled by a church minister who later said he would never wish to engage her again. She was a fascination even after her death, with many coming to her funeral, the women more curious to look into her house where the skeleton body of Homer Barron was found (he had been missing for more than forty years) and a strand of her grey hair on a pillow next to him.

It was now understood of the course of her isolation. She was never the type that liked isolation. It was just that the only man she would have been glad to be with was not committed, resulting in her murdering him and retaining him in her upstairs room where she could see him and lie next to him, a symbol of bonding even after death.

In the ‘Yellow Wallpaper,’ isolation and solitude are well outlined by the dominance of the male over the female. John’s wife is always the one on fault. John is always on the right. The setting of this story is in the late nineteenth century. We come close to a lady who suffers from nervous sickness.

John, her husband, believes that she truly deserves rest and that her writing is doing her more harm than good. We are made to understand that her writing makes her think more creatively and clearly much to the disagreement of her husband, who believes more on facts than anybody else.

We could say that the tattered yellow wallpaper is symbols of worn-out belief of man’s perceived thought of ownership and provision for his wife. She claims to see a woman behind the wallpaper who rearranges the patterns beheld by it. There is a symbolic reflection of herself as she tries to change the perception of a submissive housewife.

She is trying to break free from the predominance of male possession. The woman she talks of seems to be free and creeps in the yard and road in daylight. In this case, male dominance and other misinformation may represent the tattered yellow wallpaper. They are the tattered beliefs and stereotypes of that age when a woman is to heed to a man’s advice and not her own.

The woman in this story has to heed to her husband John’s instruction and his symbol of authority in the form of Jennie, a talented housekeeper. The woman gets used to the yellow wallpaper smell but later on, she is unpleasant of its creepy smell. This symbolically means that she is disentangling herself from the firm possession of out of place belief s that she cannot be party to her conviction. We even understand that when they first moved in, she is eager to leave but later on she is more interested in staying there for a while. It may be due to a self-discovering of her freedom, which she fears will be robbed of her if they move back to their house. It is ironic that John’s projection was to have his wife’s health nurtured back by her resting. She is not supposed to do anything save bathing and dressing. At first, we see the fruits of recovery, but ironically it’s due to her self discovery, not John’s taunted point of view.

An incisive critique can only reveal that Emily in ‘A Rose for Emily’ has no time to discover her self-worth and chooses to spend her time in isolation and self-pity. These two stories tell of two contrasting women in similar influence. They are both squirming under male dominance. In as much as Emily is entangled in this, she is not willing to acknowledge the disastrous effects.

She believes that her fate lies with male dominance and possession. She believes that the only way to survive is to cling to her past. This is evident in her denial of her father’s death, the tax reduction, the death of Homer Barron, and the fact that her house is the placid building left behind by her father (she did not repair it in any way).

When she passed on, people could only imagine the places she would have been with them as indicated in part of the story: “Miss Emily as if she had been a contemporary of theirs, believing that they had danced with her and courted her perhaps, confusing time with its mathematical progression, as the old do, to whom all the past is not a diminishing road.”

The woman narrator on The Yellow Wallpaper, on the other hand, has discovered her self-worth. She is ready to tear the wallpaper and break loose. She is envious of her husband and Jennie, her house help. She narrates that she has found them both staring at the yellow wallpaper much to their own discomfort and to her great amazement. She is an embodiment of a great breakthrough in the fact that she rediscovers her new energy and point of view.

Her nervousness is by then over. She breaks the bond of isolation and solitude on negative matters and prefers to be possessed with more positive values such as self-trust. She describes the amazement of Jane and her husband due to her new discovery in the last part of her story as: “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!”

“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!”

In both stories, the writers try to show us the effect of being complacent to change and the effect of restricting yourself to one popular belief. For Emily, she is described as a monument which symbolically means unchanging. As for the woman narrator in the Yellow wallpaper, she is happy to have discovered herself and actually improves in her health. The contrasting effect of isolation and solitude is felt throughout both stories.

• Summary & Analysis
• Themes & Symbols
• Quotes Explained
• Essay Topics
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• Questions & Answers
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Biography
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IvyPanda. (2022, August 9). Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-rose-for-emily-and-the-yellow-wallpaper-comparison/

"Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily." IvyPanda , 9 Aug. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/a-rose-for-emily-and-the-yellow-wallpaper-comparison/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily'. 9 August.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily." August 9, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-rose-for-emily-and-the-yellow-wallpaper-comparison/.

1. IvyPanda . "Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily." August 9, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-rose-for-emily-and-the-yellow-wallpaper-comparison/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily." August 9, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-rose-for-emily-and-the-yellow-wallpaper-comparison/.

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