The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins, Essay Example

The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s is an iconic piece that details the underlying societal struggles of 19^th century women. The narrator uses a vacation home shared between her and her husband to detail the oppressive nature and confinement that she feels. She speaks of various things in the home; however she pays particular attention to the wallpaper found in the bedroom. Through analyzing the patterns in the wallpaper she leads the reader to have a better understanding of her struggles, as well as draw from the role of women during this era in history. This paper will explore the narrator’s comparison of her own oppressive marriage to the yellow wallpaper that traps other women from escaping the restrictions placed by society through the sanctity of marriage.

Oppression within the Wallpaper

The narrator speaks of the vacation house in a positive manner, but notes that something is odd or “queer” about the house. She describes specific details of the home such as the “rings and things” in the bedroom walls (Gilman). Noting that it appeared to have been a nursery in the past which some suggest is a symbolic comparison between women’s and children’s treatment in society at the time. She explains that both her husband and brother as well respected physicians, who both believe that she is not ill and should rest until her “nervous depression” subsides. While she doesn’t agree with their consensus, she notes, “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 depressions-a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do” (Gilman). This suggests the belief by the narrator that she lacks the ability to take care of her own health or express her beliefs.

She speaks of her husband’s disregard and belittling nature and even hides her diary as writing is forbidden by her husband. This suggests that she has no power or say in her own world, which was consistent with that time in society, where women were considered to be second class citizens.

The narrator, even though repulsed by the yellow wallpaper becomes obsessed with it. She begins analyzing the patterns and identifies the strange sights that she sees hidden in the paper. Hiding her attempts to reasonably assess the patterns she notes that the paper changes in the light. “At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, 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” (Gilman). To the narrator the woman in the paper is trapped and unable to get out through the pattern and bars. Perhaps she feels the loss of power and boredom of being confined to the house and begins to identify as the “trapped woman” that she sees in the wallpaper. After all she has a lack of control, decision making or ability through the controlling rationale of her husband and a male dominant society, therefore her imagination and fantasies are the only control that she does has.

Finding Mental Freedom

Mental illness was not clearly understood and the belief that the narrator conveys is her desire to be free from the restraints placed on her. She is suffering from Depression and instead of being allowed to engage in activity, that she believes would help, she is further constrained. The patterns that she attempts to analyze and interpret in the wallpaper are seen as being like the bars of a cage. The narrator says that she sees the heads of many women that stoop, crawl and look for a way to escape the pattern that holds them inside. The pattern is symbolic for the oppressive societal norms for women during this time of history. She identifies with the trapped women and is also looking for an escape, a method by which to free her mind, engage in writing and become free of her husband’s control. She believes that writing and engaging in other activities would actually help her condition, however she is forbidden by her husband, who is a well-respected doctor. She is not allowed to question or take her health into her own hands. Instead her decisions are made for her, just like all married women at this time in history.

The wallpaper in some sense gives the narrator power and she begins to find comfort in finding freedom as the woman in the wallpaper. She notes that she refuses to be a “little goose” any longer and begins to tear away at the wallpaper, therefore freeing herself and the woman behind the bars (Gilman). Her husband is no longer able to control her inner thoughts and she tears away at the restrictive emotional control as she begins to rip the wallpaper. She uses her teeth and destroys the wallpaper in a symbolic manner to remove the oppression from her own mental status. When her husband finds her and sees the damage that she has done he faints and she notes that she “creeps over to him” (Gilman). At this point she has little regard for his feelings or the fact that he has fainted and simply creeps over him and continues her mission (Gilman). She goes ahead with the tearing of the wallpaper which is a symbolical refusal to allow his control of her thoughts, feelings or beliefs about freeing the trapped woman.

In conclusion, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a fascinating tale of a woman’s struggles to maintain her rightful mind and also take some control within her own life. She is subjected to rest for her condition and even though she believes that writing or other activities would help her mental status, she is forbidden. She finds refuge in recording her thoughts and feelings through the analyzing of the wallpaper, eventually finding a way to break free of the mental control held by her husband, which is also symbolically representative of society. The work is symbolic of the lack of freedom and beliefs about women during that time in history. Gilman’s work symbolizes the need and desire for women to break free of the restraints and controls held by a male dominated society.

Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The yellow wallpaper . 1st ed. New York: Feminist Press, 1973. Print.