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“The Yellow Wallpaper”: Argumentative Essay

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Understanding The Yellow Wallpaper: Summary and Analysis

General Education

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Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" tells the story of a young woman’s gradual descent into psychosis. " The Yellow Wallpaper" is often cited as an early feminist work that predates a woman’s right to vote in the United States. The author was involved in first-wave feminism, and her other works questioned the origins of the subjugation of women, particularly in marriage. "

The Yellow Wallpaper" is a widely read work that asks difficult questions about the role of women, particularly regarding their mental health and right to autonomy and self-identity. We’ll go over The Yellow Wallpaper summary, themes and symbols, The Yellow Wallpaper analysis, and some important information about the author.

"The Yellow Wallpaper" Summary

"The Yellow Wallpaper" details the deterioration of a woman's mental health while she is on a "rest cure" on a rented summer country estate with her family. Her obsession with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom marks her descent into psychosis from her depression throughout the story.

The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" begins the story by discussing her move to a beautiful estate for the summer. Her husband, John, is also her doctor , and the move is meant in part to help the narrator overcome her “illness,” which she explains as nervous depression, or nervousness, following the birth of their baby. John’s sister, Jennie, also lives with them and works as their housekeeper.

Though her husband believes she will get better with rest and by not worrying about anything, the narrator has an active imagination and likes to write . He discourages her wonder about the house, and dismisses her interests. She mentions her baby more than once, though there is a nurse that cares for the baby, and the narrator herself is too nervous to provide care.

The narrator and her husband move into a large room that has ugly, yellow wallpaper that the narrator criticizes. She asks her husband if they can change rooms and move downstairs, and he rejects her. The more she stays in the room, the more the narrator’s fascination with the hideous wallpaper grows.

After hosting family for July 4th, the narrator expresses feeling even worse and more exhausted. She struggles to do daily activities, and her mental state is deteriorating. John encourages her to rest more, and the narrator hides her writing from him because he disapproves.

In the time between July 4th and their departure, the narrator is seemingly driven insane by the yellow wallpaper ; she sleeps all day and stays up all night to stare at it, believing that it comes alive, and the patterns change and move. Then, she begins to believe that there is a woman in the wallpaper who alters the patterns and is watching her.

A few weeks before their departure, John stays overnight in town and the narrator wants to sleep in the room by herself so she can stare at the wallpaper uninterrupted. She locks out Jennie and believes that she can see the woman in the wallpaper . John returns and frantically tries to be let in, and the narrator refuses; John is able to enter the room and finds the narrator crawling on the floor. She claims that the woman in the wallpaper has finally exited, and John faints, much to her surprise.

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Background on "The Yellow Wallpaper"

The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was a lecturer for social reform, and her beliefs and philosophy play an important part in the creation of "The Yellow Wallpaper," as well as the themes and symbolism in the story. "The Yellow Wallpaper" also influenced later feminist writers.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, known as Charlotte Perkins Stetsman while she was married to her first husband, was born in Hartford, CT in 1860. Young Charlotte was observed as being bright, but her mother wasn’t interested in her education, and Charlotte spent lots of time in the library.

Charlotte married Charles Stetsman in 1884, and her daughter was born in 1885. She suffered from serious postpartum depression after giving birth to their daughter, Katharine. Her battle with postpartum depression and the doctors she dealt with during her illness inspired her to write "The Yellow Wallpaper."

The couple separated in 1888, the year that Perkins Gilman wrote her first book, Art Gems for the Home and Fireside. She later wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" in 1890, while she was in a relationship with Adeline Knapp, and living apart from her legal husband. "The Yellow Wallpaper" was published in 1892, and in 1893 she published a book of satirical poetry , In This Our World, which gained her fame.

Eventually, Perkins Gilman got officially divorced from Stetsman, and ended her relationship with Knapp. She married her cousin, Houghton Gilman, and claimed to be satisfied in the marriage .

Perkins Gilman made a living as a lecturer on women’s issues, labor issues, and social reform . She toured Europe and the U.S. as a lecturer, and founded her own magazine, The Forerunner.

Publication

"The Yellow Wallpaper" was first published in January 1892 in New England Magazine.

During Perkins Gilman's lifetime, the role of women in American society was heavily restricted both socially and legally. At the time of its publication, women were still twenty-six years away from gaining the right to vote .

This viewpoint on women as childish and weak meant that they were discouraged from having any control over their lives. Women were encouraged or forced to defer to their husband’s opinions in all aspects of life , including financially, socially, and medically. Writing itself was revolutionary, since it would create a sense of identity, and was thought to be too much for the naturally fragile women.

Women's health was a particularly misunderstood area of medicine, as women were viewed as nervous, hysterical beings, and were discouraged from doing anything to further “upset” them. The prevailing wisdom of the day was that rest would cure hysteria, when in reality the constant boredom and lack of purpose likely worsened depression .

Perkins Gilman used her own experience in her first marriage and postpartum depression as inspiration for The Yellow Wallpaper, and illustrates how a woman’s lack of autonomy is detrimental to her mental health.

Upon its publication, Perkins Gilman sent a copy of "The Yellow Wallpaper" to the doctor who prescribed her the rest cure for her postpartum depression.

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"The Yellow Wallpaper" Characters

Though there are only a few characters in the story, they each have an important role. While the story is about the narrator’s mental deterioration, the relationships in her life are essential for understanding why and how she got to this point.

The Narrator

The narrator of the story is a young, upper-middle-class woman. She is imaginative and a natural writer, though she is discouraged from exploring this part of herself. She is a new mother and is thought to have “hysterical tendencies” or suffer from nervousness. Her name may be Jane but it is unclear.

John is the narrator’s husband and her physician. He restricts her activity as a part of her treatment. John is extremely practical, and belittles the narrator's imagination and feelings . He seems to care about her well-being, but believes he knows what is best for her and doesn't allow her input.

Jennie is John’s sister, who works as a housekeeper for the couple. Jennie seems concerned for the narrator, as indicated by her offer to sleep in the yellow wallpapered room with her. Jennie seems content with her domestic role .

Main Themes of "The Yellow Wallpaper"

From what we know about the author of this story and from interpreting the text, there are a few themes that are clear from a "Yellow Wallpaper" analysis. "The Yellow Wallpaper" was a serious piece of literature that addressed themes pertinent to women.

Women's Role in Marriage

Women were expected to be subordinate to their husbands and completely obedient, as well as take on strictly domestic roles inside the home . Upper middle class women, like the narrator, may go for long periods of time without even leaving the home. The story reveals that this arrangement had the effect of committing women to a state of naĂŻvetĂŠ, dependence, and ignorance.

John assumes he has the right to determine what’s best for his wife, and this authority is never questioned. He belittles her concerns, both concrete and the ones that arise as a result of her depression , and is said so brush her off and “laugh at her” when she speaks through, “this is to be expected in marriage” He doesn’t take her concerns seriously, and makes all the decisions about both of their lives.

As such, she has no say in anything in her life, including her own health, and finds herself unable to even protest.

Perkins Gilman, like many others, clearly disagreed with this state of things, and aimed to show the detrimental effects that came to women as a result of their lack of autonomy.

Identity and Self-Expression

Throughout the story, the narrator is discouraged from doing the things she wants to do and the things that come naturally to her, like writing. On more than one occasion, she hurries to put her journal away because John is approaching .

She also forces herself to act as though she’s happy and satisfied, to give the illusion that she is recovering, which is worse. She wants to be a good wife, according to the way the role is laid out for her, but struggles to conform especially with so little to actually do.

The narrator is forced into silence and submission through the rest cure, and desperately needs an intellectual and emotional outlet . However, she is not granted one and it is clear that this arrangement takes a toll.

The Rest Cure

The rest cure was commonly prescribed during this period of history for women who were “nervous.” Perkins Gilman has strong opinions about the merits of the rest cure , having been prescribed it herself. John’s insistence on the narrator getting “air” constantly, and his insistence that she do nothing that requires mental or physical stimulation is clearly detrimental.

The narrator is also discouraged from doing activities, whether they are domestic- like cleaning or caring for her baby- in addition to things like reading, writing, and exploring the grounds of the house. She is stifled and confined both physically and mentally, which only adds to her condition .

Perkins Gilman damns the rest cure in this story, by showing the detrimental effects on women, and posing that women need mental and physical stimulation to be healthy, and need to be free to make their own decisions over health and their lives.

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The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis: Symbols and Symbolism

Symbols are a way for the author to give the story meaning, and provide clues as to the themes and characters. There are two major symbols in "The Yellow Wallpaper."

The Yellow Wallpaper

This is of course the most important symbol in the story. The narrator is immediately fascinated and disgusted by the yellow wallpaper, and her understanding and interpretation fluctuates and intensifies throughout the story.

The narrator, because she doesn’t have anything else to think about or other mental stimulation, turns to the yellow wallpaper as something to analyze and interpret. The pattern eventually comes into focus as bars, and then she sees a woman inside the pattern . This represents feeling trapped.

At the end of the story, the narrator believes that the woman has come out of the wallpaper. This indicates that the narrator has finally merged fully into her psychosis , and become one with the house and domesticated discontent.

Though Jennie doesn’t have a major role in the story, she does present a foil to the narrator. Jennie is John’s sister and their housekeeper, and she is content, or so the narrator believes, to live a domestic life. Though she does often express her appreciation for Jennie’s presence in her home, she is clearly made to feel guilty by Jennie’s ability to run the household unencumbered .

Irony in The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Yellow Wallpaper" makes good use of dramatic and situational irony. Dramatic literary device in which the reader knows or understands things that the characters do not. Situational irony is when the character’s actions are meant to do one thing, but actually do another. Here are a few examples.

For example, when the narrator first enters the room with the yellow wallpaper, she believes it to be a nursery . However, the reader can clearly see that the room could have just as easily been used to contain a mentally unstable person.

The best example of situational irony is the way that John continues to prescribe the rest-cure, which worsens the narrator's state significantly. He encourages her to lie down after meals and sleep more, which causes her to be awake and alert at night, when she has time to sit and evaluate the wallpaper.

The Yellow Wallpaper Summary

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is one of the defining works of feminist literature. Writing about a woman’s health, mental or physical, was considered a radical act at the time that Perkins Gilman wrote this short story. Writing at all about the lives of women was considered at best, frivolous, and at worst dangerous. When you take a look at The Yellow Wallpaper analysis, the story is an important look into the role of women in marriage and society, and it will likely be a mainstay in the feminist literary canon.

What's Next?

Looking for more expert guides on literary classics? Read our guides on The Cask of Amontillado and The Great Gatsby .

Need important and interesting quotes? Check out these 18 To Kill a Mockingbird Quotes and 9 Great Mark Twain Quotes .

For help analyzing literature and writing essays , read our expert guide on imagery , literary elements , and writing an argumentative essay .

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Carrie holds a Bachelors in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College, and is currently pursuing an MFA. She worked in book publishing for several years, and believes that books can open up new worlds. She loves reading, the outdoors, and learning about new things.

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Women Have Nothing to Lose but Their Chains: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman approaches attitudes regarding gender and mental health in her 1892 short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Through her diary entries, Gilman illustrates the life of a woman who we assume to be named Jane, who has traveled to a colonial mansion with her physician husband, John, in order to alleviate her illness. Jane’s self-perception of her health is slowly shattered by John’s arrogant and neglectful reactions. Jane’s mental state deteriorates as she becomes infatuated with the wallpaper in her room which permeates every facet of her mind. Jane is powerless in obtaining the mental and emotional support she needs due to the unquestioned patriarchal order that is sustained throughout the story. Gilman’s portrayal of Jane critiques this patriarchal order that was omnipresent in the late 19 th century and serves as a message to women that they need to resist those who perpetuate gender inequality.

Throughout the story, it is obvious that John has little respect or care for his wife’s emotional wellbeing. Because he is a physician and a man, he believes that his opinion is worth more than his wife’s. From the beginning of the story, Jane is cognizant of her husband’s apathetic tendencies, yet is even more aware of her lack of power in her situation. She states, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?” (pg. 2). Jane’s recognition of this power inequality combined with her demoralized reaction is evidence that the patriarchal standards were never to be challenged. Jane repeats the phrase, “what is one to do?” a few lines later when she writes, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?” (pg. 2). In a situation where she is desperate to be heard, the oppressive patriarchy silences her. Her question will never be answered so long as those who uphold gender norms dictate society.

John is excellent at using his position of authority to discard any and all of Jane’s self-perception. While Jane’s mental state is becoming increasingly unstable as she becomes infatuated with the yellow wallpaper, John manipulates her and exacerbates her mental crisis. He attempts to comfort Jane despite ignoring every objection of hers by stating, “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” (pg. 8). John and his proclaimed expertise contradict the very real and destructive deterioration of Jane’s mental health. His assertion of “I know” takes a toll on Jane as she is led to question what it is that she truly knows about herself. In a last attempt to protest that she is mentally unwell, she is instantly cut off by John who proclaims, “There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It is a false and foolish fancy. Can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so?” (pg. 9). This attitude of condescension is the breaking point for Jane. At this moment, any hope for Jane to receive the help that is necessary for her rehabilitation is shattered, as her mental state descends into a downward spiral.

As Jane’s fixation on the wallpaper becomes ever more acute, she begins to imagine that there are women trapped behind its surface. She ponders, “Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over” (pg. 11). The women that are locked in the wallpaper are those that have been oppressed by the severe inequality perpetuated by the patriarchy. Jane is present among these women and she knows that she must break out of the chains of oppression that have enslaved her. Jane compares the wallpaper to a prison cell when she writes, “in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard” (pg. 11). Gilman’s decision to portray the wallpaper as a prison cell expresses her feelings of confinement regarding society’s perception of women and their mental health.

The story concludes with the violent finale when Jane theatrically shreds the yellow wallpaper. At this moment, Jane is at the peak of her mental disarray, and when she has finally decided that she must break free from the chains that John has subjugated upon her. She yells at John, “I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” Gilman uses this act of violence and resistance to highlight the only solution that was left to Jane. After exhausting all of her resources, John left no choice for Jane but for her to violently shred through the wallpaper, freeing herself from the strangle of the patriarchy.

Through “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman is making a fervent and direct assertion: the patriarchy will never yield to the demands of women. Gilman uses Jane and her futile attempts to persuade John to listen to her in order to reach this assertion. The solution to this is present in the violent conclusion, where Jane rips through the yellow wallpaper in an attempt to free women from the oppressive patriarchy. Gilman is signaling to her readers that the structures in society that continue to oppress women must collapse. To achieve this, women must resist the patriarchy, even if violence is necessary. In essence, Gilman is proclaiming that women have nothing to lose but their chains.

Works Cited:

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Project Gutenberg , 1 Nov. 1999, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1952?msg=welcome_stranger. 

“Millions around the World Take to the Streets for International Women’s Day.” YouTube , uploaded by Democracy Now!, 9 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ISyOgJuqg&t=132s.

“Sad Piano – Struggle.” YouTube , uploaded by Lucas King, 31 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs9dbZMkKJg.

“The Yellow Wallpaper.” YouTube , uploaded by Joshua Cantrell, 10 Oct. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhcLaM-Ig84.

“Women of the World Unite.” Feminist Current , 27 June 2016, www.feministcurrent.com/2016/03/21/are-we-there-yet/130614_5e69z_rci-statusquo-karencho_sn6351/.

“Women’s Suffrage.” Brittanica , www.britannica.com/topic/woman-suffrage.

Featured Image:

Macallister, Greer. “The Lesser Known Life Behind’The Yellow Wallpaper.’” Literary Hub , 21 Mar. 2019, lithub.com/the-lesser-known-life-behindthe-yellow-wallpaper/.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wall-Paper

Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wall-Paper

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on April 28, 2022

First published in New England Magazine in January 1892, and reprinted by Small, Maynard and Company as a chapbook (1899), “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s most famous work. Depicting the nervous breakdown of a young wife and mother, the story is a potent example of psychological realism. Based loosely on Gilman’s own experiences in undergoing the rest cure for neurasthenia, the story documents the psychological torment of her fictional first-person narrator.

The narrator’s husband, John, a physician, prescribes isolation and inactivity as treatment for her illness, a “temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency” (10). John forbids her to engage in any kind of labor, including writing. Despite his admonitions, however, the narrator records her impressions in a secret diary.

argumentative essay about the yellow wallpaper

Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo

These diary entries compose the text of the story; they reveal the narrator’s emotional descent. As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that she is suffering an acute form of postpartum depression, a condition acknowledged neither by John nor by the late-19th-century medical community. So severe is the narrator’s depression that a nursemaid has assumed care of the new baby. Deprived of the freedom to write openly, which she believes would be therapeutic, the narrator gradually shifts her attention to the yellow wallpaper in the attic nursery where she spends her time. The paper both intrigues and repels her; it becomes the medium on which she symbolically inscribes her “text.” Soon she detects a subpattern in the wallpaper that crystallizes into the image of an imprisoned woman attempting to escape. In the penultimate scene, the narrator’s identity merges with that of the entrapped woman, and together they frantically tear the paper from the walls. In an ironic reversal in the final scene, John breaks into the room and, after witnessing the full measure of his wife’s insanity, faints. Significantly, however, he is still blocking his wife, literally and symbolically obstructing her path so that she has to “creep over him every time!” (36).

Critics disagree over the meaning of the story, variously arguing the significance of everything from linguistic cues, to psychoanalytic interpretations, to historiographical readings. While some critics have hailed the narrator as a feminist heroine, others have seen in her a maternal failure coupled with a morbid fear of female sexuality. Some have viewed the story, with its yellow paper, as an exemplar of the silencing of women writers in 19th-century America; others have focused on its gothic elements.

Since the Feminist Press reissued the story in 1973, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” has been widely anthologized and is now firmly assimilated in the American literary body of work.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wall-paper. Boston: Small, Maynard, & Co., 1899. Reprint, Old Westbury, N.Y.: Feminist Press, 1973. Lanser, Susan A. “Feminist Criticism, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ and the Politics of Color in America.” Feminist Studies 15, no. 3 (Fall 1989): 415–441. Shumaker, Conrad. “ ‘Too Terribly Good to Be Printed’: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’ ” American Literature 57, no. 4 (1985): 588–599. Veeder, William. “Who Is Jane? The Intricate Feminism of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” Arizona Quarterly 44, no. 3 (1988): 40–79.

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“The Yellow Wallpaper” and Women’s Pain

Charlotte Gilman wrote her famous short story in response to her own experience having her pain belittled and misunderstood by a male physician.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The woman is ill, but nobody believes her. She sits in a room with yellow wallpaper, unable to convince the men around her that her suffering is real. “You see he does not believe I am sick!” she writes of her doctor husband.

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That cry, uttered by the unnamed protagonist of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” could just as well be that of Abby Norman, author of Ask Me About My Uterus , or Porochista Khakpour, author of Sick . Both memoirs, published this year, focus on women whose physical symptoms are downplayed and disbelieved. And both carry uncomfortable echoes of Gilman’s creepy story.

The tale, which follows its protagonist’s slow descent into madness as she gradually discerns a woman trapped inside the yellow wallpaper of her sickroom, has long been heralded as a feminist masterpiece, a cry against the silencing patriarchy. But literary scholar Jane F. Thrailkill warns against looking too hard for those meanings in the text . Instead, she focuses on Gilman’s own insistence that medical gender distinctions hurt female patients.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” comes from Gilman’s own struggle with a “nervous disorder,” a depression for which she was treated by a physician named S. Weir Mitchell. It was a new diagnosis at the time, and when physicians treated women with complaints for which they could find no obvious source, they turned to new diagnostic techniques and treatments.

Mitchell was entirely interested in the body, not what women had to say about their own symptoms. His signature “rest cure” relied on severe restriction of the body. Patients were kept completely isolated, fed rich, creamy foods and forbidden to do any kind of activity, from reading a book to going on a walk. “Complete submission to the authority of the physician” and enforced rest were seen as part of the cure.

But Mitchell was no women’s specialist. In fact, writes Thrailkill, he honed his medical skills during the Civil War, treating soldiers who became “hysterical” or developed symptoms like phantom limbs after amputations, surgeries, and traumatic battles. As a result, Gilman was treated with what Thrailkill calls “a model of disease articulated through experience with male bodies.” Mitchell likened the strain of the nineteenth-century home to that of war and his female patients to vampires who sucked the life out of everyone around them.

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Gilman bucked hard against her treatment and Mitchell’s misogynistic reign. Nonetheless, notes Thrailkill, she shared some of his views. Like Mitchell, Gilman believed that psychological conditions were physical ones. But she used that belief to push for equality both in medical treatment and in life. Women’s brains are no different than men’s, she argued, and women should be able to sidestep a stifling home life in favor of a professional career.

Today, it’s more common for women to document their pain through memoir as opposed to fiction. Books like Sick and Ask Me About My Uterus  insist on gender parity in medicine, while also situating women’s pain within a patriarchy that stifles and silences. Thrailkill encourages readers to try reading “ The Yellow Wallpaper” literally. Gilman, she writes, wanted the story to shock readers—specifically, her own doctor—into changing their treatment of women.

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Feminist Perspective on “The Yellow Wallpaper” Essay

  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
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Introduction

Feminist critique of the yellow wallpaper, works cited.

The short play, The Yellow Wallpaper , by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is based on the lives of a chauvinistic husband and a sick wife. The over-dominating nature of the husband called John makes the environment unbearable for the mentally ill wife Jane. The wife is involuntarily imprisoned by the chauvinistic nature of her husband who would not listen to any of her suggestions. Moreover, John is quick at relating any of her ‘weak ‘ideas to mental illness. This paper presents a critique of the play The Yellow Wallpaper from a feminist perspective by applying symbolism to understand the 1800s society.

Detained in a mental prison as a result of the machination of her husband, the main protagonist Jane is deeply embodied in an unending struggle that women seeking freedom in their thoughts and actions face. The short play The Yellow Wallpaper is written figuratively to connote the gender struggle between men and women, especially in the institution of marriage. Although an open interpretation would denote a psychological thriller, it is apparent that the play was mainly a commentary on the unfortunate conditions of the women population in the 1800s. Especially, it captures the views of the author of how the then patriarchal society was hurting female freedom. For instance, the character of Jane’s chauvinist husband connotes an over-controlling person who cares very little about the thoughts of his wife. He proceeds to confine Jane in an oppressive environment against her will and would not listen to any of her suggestions (Schroder 39). In the conversations, John’s decision is final and cannot be debated by Jane. Although the wife has attempted on several occasions to confront John to change his stand, the conversations often end with the husband reaffirming an antagonist stand (Schroder 41). From a feminist perspective, John’s dominance in the conversations and decision-making on behalf of Jane is representational of female imprisonment and control by men against their will.

From the interaction between John and Jane, the husband is a typical illustration of a spouse who has mastered the art of absolute control. Specifically, he treats Jane as an inferior partner. The wife says that “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in a marriage” (Gilman 1). In the view of the husband, Jane is a partner with weird, laughable, and inconsistent ideas which should not be taken seriously. Moreover, the mockery directed at the sick wife conforms to the expectations of the patriarchal society. However, the dominance is challenged when Jane decided to take command of her thoughts. As a result, the authoritative male figure was trimmed down and he became ‘as weak as a woman’. Jane confesses, “Now why should that man have fainted” (Gilman 17). When John saw the transformation of his wife to an independent thinker, he passes out. He could not believe that a woman could challenge his decision. In this scene, Jane reversed the traditional expectations characterized by male control of the thoughts of women (Golden 23). The shock and eventual fainting of John are triggered by the desire to overexert control over his wife. The husband is determined to conform to the expectations of patriarchal society through exerting dominance in his household.

The ideas and thoughts of Jane are representative of the feminist perspective. For instance, she desires to freely express her thoughts against the barriers imposed by society. Jane is defiant and confesses that “I did write for a while in spite of them” (Gilman 1). As a woman, Jane is depressed until she regains the ability to express her feelings in the hidden journal she is writing. Although she can continue scripting in hiding, Jane is depressed by the need to conceal her activities away from the chauvinistic husband. Specifically, Jane is struggling to remain in the full care of her husband. For instance, she says “he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful to value it more” (Gilman 2). Though the actions of the husband to pay the bills are good, Jane’s resentment is figurative of the resulting feeling of uselessness and imprisonment of the female gender (Tischleder 13). Just like other women, Jane feels the negative pressure imposed on her by society to worship the husband as a primary provider.

The entire plot of the play is exposed in a room that reminisces insanity and scorn from the perspective of a feminist. The empty and dull room is accentuated through the surrounding of Jane in thoughts and actions. For instance, her description of the room is emblematic of a prison-like environment where Jane’s requests cannot be heeded. When she requests the husband to consider repainting the walls, Jane gets a negative response from John. The husband says “that after the wall-paper was changed, it would be the heavy bedstead, and then the barred windows, and then that gate at the head of the stairs, and so on” (Gilman 3).

The unwillingness to change Jane’s environment is figurative of the desire of John to continue imprisoning her from free expression. Moreover, the description of the wallpaper is also symbolic of a psychological prison. Jane confesses that “at night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars” (Gilman 10). Across the play, Jane’s thoughts are concentrated on the wallpaper, and only gets relief when she removes it from the wall. Jane is captivated by the wallpaper to a point that she is unable to ignore the strange pattern on it. She later connected to the perceived image of a trapped woman in the background of the wallpaper (Goodman 18). Jane only gets relief after she gets rid of the paper. From a feminist perspective, the actions of Jane aimed at regaining control over thoughts and actions are representational female emancipation from the yoke of male dominance.

The Yellow Wallpaper story portrays a patriarchal society where men control the actions and thoughts of their wives. In this relationship, women are expected to take orders from men whose decisions are final. The author has expressed underlying feminist perspectives to illustrate the mental and physical hardships encountered by women during the 1800 era. These perspectives are hidden in the dominating actions of John, hidden thoughts of his wife Jane, and the room where the plot is played. However, Jane is determined to escape this prison by directing her thoughts in a hidden journal. Gilman has reflected on the psychological and physical imprisonment of the women through the symbolic use of the wallpaper, poorly painted room, and mental illness.

Gilman, Charlotte. The Yellow Wallpaper . Virago, 1981.

Golden, Catherine, editor. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wall-Paper: A Sourcebook and Critical Edition . Routledge, 2013.

Goodman, Lizbeth. Literature and Gender . Routledge, 2013.

Schroder, Marie. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s the Yellow Wall-Paper from a Feminist Perspective. A Woman’s Place in a Patriarchal World . GRIN Publishing, 2016.

Tischleder, Babette. The Literary Life of Things: Case Studies in American Fiction . Campus Vergal, 2014.

  • Summary & Analysis
  • Themes & Symbols
  • Quotes Explained
  • Questions & Answers
  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Biography
  • The Play "Fool for Love" by Sam Shepard
  • Setting's Influence: "A Doll’s House" and "The Handmaid’s Tale"
  • Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper & Trifles
  • “The Yellow Wallpaper” a Story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  • "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Gilman: Diary Form of Writing
  • Choice and Responsibility in “August: Osage County”
  • "The Way West" by Mona Mansour
  • Madness in "Henry IV" by Luigi Pirandello
  • Act 1 Scene 2 of the "Hamlet" Play by Shakespeare
  • Ophelia and Hamlet’s Dialogue in Shakespeare’s Play
  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

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The Yellow Wallpaper - Essay Samples And Topic Ideas For Free

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a seminal piece of feminist literature, explores themes of mental illness, patriarchal oppression, and female autonomy. Essays could delve into the narrative structure, the symbolism of the wallpaper, and the psychological descent of the protagonist. They might also discuss the historical context of women’s mental health during the late 19th century, and how Gilman’s personal experiences influenced her work. Discussions could extend to the story’s influence on feminist literary criticism, its relevance in contemporary discussions on mental health and gender, and how “The Yellow Wallpaper” resonates with or challenges modern readers in understanding the historical and ongoing struggles for women’s autonomy and well-being. We’ve gathered an extensive assortment of free essay samples on the topic of The Yellow Wallpaper you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

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If Edgar Allan Poe had lived to see the days that Charlotte Perkins Gilman was alive and writing, he would have commended her for her excellent taste in literary devices. It may be true that the father of dark romanticism and this social reformist have little in common, between their life stories and the messages they aimed to portray in their works. However, Gilman and Poe both utilized a combination of literary devices, specifically symbolism and irony, to solidify the […]

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The Yellow Wallpaper Character Analysis

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The Yellow Wallpaper: the Symbolism between the Mental Conditions and the Wallpaper

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The Yellow Wallpaper Theme

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Gender Oppression in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

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Comparative Study on the Yellow Wallpaper and Young Goodman Brown

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The Feminist Views on the Yellow Wallpaper

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Critical Evaluation the Yellow Wallpaper

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Control and Feminism in the Yellow Wallpaper

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Originally published :January 1892
Author :Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Text :The Yellow Wallpaper at Wikisource
Characters :The Woman in the Wallpaper, John, Mary, Narrator, Jennie
Genre :Novella
Adaptations :Apocalypse Now (1979), Heart of Darkness (1993), Windigo (1994), Heart of Darkness

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How To Write an Essay About The Yellow Wallpaper

Introduction to charlotte perkins gilman's the yellow wallpaper.

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a pivotal work in feminist literature, exploring themes of mental illness, female oppression, and the struggle for self-expression. Your essay should begin with an introduction to the short story, outlining its plot which centers on a woman's descent into psychosis and her obsession with the yellow wallpaper in her room. It's important to contextualize the story within the era it was written, highlighting the 19th-century attitudes towards women's health, both physical and mental. This introduction sets the stage for an analysis of the story's key themes and Gilman's commentary on the societal norms of her time.

Analyzing Key Themes and Symbolism

The body of your essay should delve into the story's themes and symbols. One of the main themes to explore is the treatment of women's mental health in the 19th century, particularly the practice of the "rest cure" prescribed to the protagonist. Discuss how the yellow wallpaper itself becomes a symbol of the protagonist's mental state and her struggle against the patriarchal structures that confine her. The story's exploration of identity and self-expression through the protagonist's secret journal entries can also be a critical point of analysis. Support your discussion with specific examples and quotes from the text, and consider how Gilman uses narrative techniques to convey the protagonist’s gradual loss of reality and her increasing obsession with the wallpaper.

Contextual Analysis

Offer a contextual analysis of "The Yellow Wallpaper," considering it within the broader framework of feminist literature and its historical context. Explore how the story reflects Gilman's own experiences and views on women's rights and the societal expectations of women during her time. Discuss the public and critical reception of the story when it was first published and how perceptions of it have evolved over time. This analysis should demonstrate an understanding of how "The Yellow Wallpaper" goes beyond a simple tale of psychological horror to become a powerful feminist statement.

Concluding Thoughts

Conclude your essay by summarizing the key points of your analysis, emphasizing the significance of the story in both literary and historical contexts. Reflect on the enduring relevance of "The Yellow Wallpaper" in modern times, particularly in discussions surrounding mental health and gender equality. Your conclusion should not only reiterate the main themes of the story but also invite readers to consider its impact and relevance in today's society. A well-crafted conclusion will leave the reader with a deeper understanding of Gilman's work and its contribution to feminist literature.

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Interesting Literature

The Symbolism of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ Explained

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is an 1892 short story by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. A powerful study of mental illness and the inhuman treatments administered in its name, the story succeeds largely because of its potent symbolism. Let’s take a look at some of the key symbols in the tale.

We have summarised the plot of the story and analysed it in detail in a separate post .

But let’s briefly summarise the plot of the story here, as a reminder: 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. His proposed (well, enforced ) treatment is to lock his wife away from everyone except him, and to withhold everything from her that might excite her.

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 outlines to us how she sometimes sits for hours in her room, tracing the patterns in the yellow wallpaper on the walls of her room.

She then tells us she thinks she can see a woman ‘stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.’ She becomes obsessed with the wallpaper as her mental state deteriorates, before eventually locking herself within the room and crawling around on the floor.

The Mansion.

‘ The Yellow Wallpaper ’ begins with the idea that we are about to read a haunted house story, a Gothic tale, a piece of horror. Such stories were a staple of late nineteenth-century magazines and enjoyed huge popularity.

And 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, so we are deliberately placed on this track, but it will turn out to be the wrong track.

But as we read on, we realise that the ‘haunting’ is not supernatural but psychological: the narrator of Gilman’s story contains her own demons within her mind, and her husband’s ‘treatment’ actually accentuates and intensifies these.

‘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, because he forbids her to write because he thinks it will overexcite her. The whole story thus has the air of a secret text, with the narrator confiding in us – indeed, the reader is her only confidant.

But it also has the effect of shifting the narrative tense: from the usual past tense to the more unusual present tense. This has benefits in that it creates the sense of a continuous narrative, and events unfolding as we read them.

The Husband.

The narrator’s husband, John, is a doctor, but he is a world away from the ‘mad doctor’ trope found in Gothic texts, especially those influenced by Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde .

John’s greatest flaw is not his inherent evil but his dogged devotion to the prevailing scientific opinion of the day. His danger to his wife is not in being some eccentric or power-hungry outlier, but in holding too fast to the medical orthodoxy of the time. He believes that incarcerating his wife alone away from her family – even her own children – will make her better.

Gilman uses suggestive symbolism to dramatise the complex relationship between husband and wife in the story. Take that final dramatic scene where John is about to break down the door to his wife’s chamber with an axe. So far, so ‘mad axeman found in countless horror stories and fairy tales’, with shades of Bluebeard , that wife-killer from European folk history.

But this narrative is complicated by the fact that John has come to save his wife from herself, while she – having locked herself away in the room in order to protect her husband and family from the strange women she believes are behind the yellow wallpaper in the room – believes she is protecting him.

Of course, her madness has been made worse by John’s treatment of her in the first place, but he believes he is acting in her own interests. The symbolism of the axe here, and the husband being prepared to break down the door to his wife’s bedroom, is layered and complex.

The Nursery.

It is significant that the room in which the narrator is incarcerated is the old nursery in the large house. The narrator tells us that there are bars on the windows to protect little children from hurting themselves, although ‘bars’ here also symbolise the narrator’s de facto imprisonment in the room.

The fact that the room was once a nursery and then, the narrator deduces, a ‘gymnasium’ is loaded with significance. The room thus symbolises the narrator’s own childlike state as she is treated like a naughty child by her husband and locked away in her room. The reference to a gymnasium is ironic, since a gymnasium is a room for exercise, but the room actually worsens the narrator’s health.

The Yellow Wallpaper.

The most powerful symbol in the story is the yellow wallpaper itself. But it is also, perhaps, the most ambiguous symbol in the story, because it can invite at least two very different interpretations.

The first interpretation views the yellow wallpaper as an outward and visible symbol of the narrator’s own internal state of mind. Her disordered mental state leads her to see all manner of figures in the paper’s patterns. Human beings have evolved to look for patterns as a survival mechanism, but here the narrator’s pattern-hunting is her undoing.

At one point, she mentions a ‘particularly irritating’ pattern which ‘you can only see it in certain lights, and not clearly then’. This closely ties the paper’s patterns with the narrator’s shifting moods and highlights the subjective nature of what she sees (or thinks she sees) in the wallpaper.

However, given the kinds of shapes the narrator describes seeing in the wallpaper, a second interpretation is possible. This one is more firmly focused on the story’s feminist message, and sees the shapes in the wallpaper as symbols of female oppression at the time the story was written. For example, the narrator describes detecting a figure ‘like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.’

Indeed, the word ‘creeping’ (and its accompanying adjective, ‘creepy’, which seems doubly apt here) recurs numerous times throughout this short story. It implies that the narrator sees a version of herself – and all oppressed women – within the wallpaper, having to tread carefully around others, unable to be fully themselves. The verb ‘stooping’ also suggests bearing the weight of some kind of burden.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Yellow Wallpaper — The Yellow Wallpaper: A Literary Exploration of Mental Health

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The Yellow Wallpaper: a Literary Exploration of Mental Health

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Published: Dec 3, 2020

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argumentative essay about the yellow wallpaper

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