Theme Of Mental Illness In The Yellow Wallpaper

The unsatisfying setting that appears around the ill woman unravels an understanding

Martin states that the narrator’s confinement in the upstairs bedroom fortifies her mental illness developing into “a frightening hallucinatory world constructed around the pattern of the yellow paper on the wall.” This shift in her identity happens as the shift in her disposition towards the wallpaper changes. The wallpaper is a visible metaphor that eventually becomes her identity. In the beginning of her stay in the bedroom she says the wallpaper is “committing artistic sin” (Par34) and can push anyone to “suddenly commit suicide” (Par35) These comments show her despise towards the wallpaper and the separation she originally has from it.

“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!”(Gilman 244). The narrator describes herself becoming part of an inanimate object and escaping her confinement. When she becomes depressed after giving birth to her child, the narrator has strict orders to follow in order to “make her better.” As she follows the doctor’s commands and isolates herself from everyone and everything she loved, she loses her mental stability.

This isolation affected her sanity. She intended to criticize men and how they considered women as inferior and less intelligent. The male character in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is powerful and dominant over

“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892 is a short story that explores the effects of challenging patriarchal and social oppression on a woman’s mental health. The story’s protagonist is an unnamed woman who is prescribed a rest cure by her physician husband, John, to help her recover from what he describes to be a “nervous depression”. The woman is confined to a room in their summer home decorated with yellow wallpaper. As the days pass, she becomes increasingly fixated on the wallpaper and begins to lose touch with reality. In the final moments of the story, the woman descends into madness, and her husband passes out after discovering the states she is in.

In Charlotte Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” focuses on an unnamed female protagonist that suffers from “temporary nervous depression” that her husband, who is her primary doctor, treats her illness with the resting cure. Which does not allow her to do any activities that could overwork her or her mind leading her to keep a secret journal about her true feelings and motives? Gilman skillfully uses of tone, style, theme, and symbol conveyed a feminist ideal, presenting a first-wave feminism masterpiece. The understanding of the tone of a story gives readers a particular message of what the author feels about the subject.

Instead of believing her, or even attempting to help her, he acts as a direct hindrance in her ability to receive the proper care she needs. His oppression of the

Treichler starts off her article by grabbing the attention of the reader adequately by presenting the controversial ideas of improper diagnosis by a domineering husband taking advantage of the time periods stereotype of hysterical women. She then persuasively depicts the setting of the story and adds some sympathy for the narrator who is being forced to accept her diagnosis. The introduction she gives is excellent because it provides the background information to the story and adequately prepares the points that she wants to get across to the

In the short story “the Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator, Jane who has just given birth becomes progressively more ill and depressed. Her husband John, who is a physician prescribes that she get lots of rest and fresh air so Jane and John rent a colonial mansion for the summer. Throughout the story John is one of the main causes for Jane’s deepening depression.

The vast majority of people wouldn’t give the wallpaper much thought, however the narrator becomes obsessed with it. To the narrator, the wallpaper is alive and becomes the focus of all her time. Her overwhelming lure to the wallpaper becomes obvious when she first provides a very vivid description stating “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide – plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions” (217-218). As she begins to lose her grip on reality, the narrator beings to see faces and eventually a woman within the wallpaper. At first, her description of seeing faces in the wallpaper seems like it could be her mind making since of the varying patterns or just part of her imagination.

The woman was going crazy in her own world as she saw something coming out the yellow wall. The wallpaper had a bright yellow color that drove the narrator crazy and tried to peel it down. The woman was fighting with her mental illness as she explains her influence of her personal life, a woman’s right, and her mental illness. A woman in the early 20th century wrote a story, her story was heard about her mental illness and she had no type of support. The narrator of the story “Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper” says, “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked” (Gilman

Eventually, we realize that the woman in the wallpaper is the narrator. Throughout the story, the narrator 's mental state continues to deteriorate. Being both the narrator 's husband and physician, John assumes that he knows what’s best for his wife. However, in this essay, I will argue that Gilman portrays John as an antagonist or “villain” in her story because, through his actions, he is the main reason for his wife 's descent into insanity which proves that he didn’t know what was best for his wife after all.

Patronized Depression Could it be that the cause of sin and madness is due to the limitation of the human mind? In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells the story of a young women who tends to distract herself by trying to free the lady inside the wall. However, this figure might not only be the thing Jane or the narrator might want to free, as she is clinically depressed, and is constantly being patronized by John her husband, who seems to limit Jane’s interaction with other people and her personal diary. The Yellow wallpaper is seen as a way to escape her depression. In this story the role of Jane is limited due to her “Condition,” and her ability to express herself.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a short story about a narrator, Jane, known as the wife, who suffers from post-natal depression and is isolated from the rest of society, which causes her to feel trapped. Published in 1982, it portrays the author’s personal experience of depression, including a traumatic experience with the rest cure. She created this short story to inform readers about depression by illustrating the feeling of entrapment, which left the narrator to lose her sanity. While the author portrays the perception of entrapment, John Steinbeck’s, “The Chrysanthemums” paints a similar picture. This story is about a woman named Elisa Allen who feels discontent with her current lifestyle.

Psychoanalytic reading of The Yellow Wallpaper In Charlotte Gilman's short story The Yellow Wallpaper, the speaker seems to be suffering from postpartum depression or "temporary nervous depression." (648). Accordingly, her husband makes the decision for her and takes her to a country house because he believes that it would be good for her. The narrator is not allowed to take care of her own child as she was imprisoned in her room where she should do nothing but "rest."