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Understanding The Yellow Wallpaper: Summary and Analysis

General Education

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.

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.

"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 naïveté, 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.

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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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.

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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Analysis of 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by C. Perkins Gilman

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Like Kate Chopin's " The Story of an Hour ," Charlotte Perkins Gilman's " The Yellow Wallpaper " is a mainstay of feminist literary study. First published in 1892, the story takes the form of secret journal entries written by a woman who is supposed to be recovering from what her husband, a physician, calls a nervous condition.

This haunting psychological horror story chronicles the narrator's descent into madness, or perhaps into the paranormal, or perhaps—depending on your interpretation—into freedom. The result is a story as chilling as anything by Edgar Allan Poe or Stephen King .

Recovery Through Infantilization

The protagonist's husband, John, does not take her illness seriously. Nor does he take her seriously. He prescribes, among other things, a "rest cure," in which she is confined to their summer home, mostly to her bedroom.

The woman is discouraged from doing anything intellectual, even though she believes some "excitement and change" would do her good. She is allowed very little company—certainly not from the "stimulating" people she most wishes to see. Even her writing must happen in secret.

In short, John treats her like a child. He calls her diminutive names like "blessed little goose" and "little girl." He makes all decisions for her and isolates her from the things she cares about.

Even her bedroom is not the one she wanted; instead, it's a room that appears to have once been a nursery, emphasizing her return to infancy. Its "windows are barred for little children," showing again that she is being treated as a child—as well as a prisoner.

John's actions are couched in concern for the woman, a position that she initially seems to believe herself. "He is very careful and loving," she writes in her journal, "and hardly lets me stir without special direction." Her words also sound as if she is merely parroting what she's been told, though phrases like "hardly lets me stir" seem to harbor a veiled complaint.

Fact Versus Fancy

John dismisses anything that hints of emotion or irrationality—what he calls "fancy." For instance, when the narrator says that the wallpaper in her bedroom disturbs her, he informs her that she is letting the wallpaper "get the better of her" and refuses to remove it.

John doesn't simply dismiss things he finds fanciful though; he also uses the charge of "fancy" to dismiss anything he doesn't like. In other words, if he doesn't want to accept something, he simply declares that it is irrational.

When the narrator tries to have a "reasonable talk" with him about her situation, she is so distraught that she is reduced to tears. Instead of interpreting her tears as evidence of her suffering, he takes them as evidence that she is irrational and can't be trusted to make decisions for herself.

As part of his infantilization of her, he speaks to her as if she is a whimsical child, imagining her own illness. "Bless her little heart!" he says. "She shall be as sick as she pleases!" He does not want to acknowledge that her problems are real, so he silences her.

The only way the narrator could appear rational to John would be to become satisfied with her situation, which means there is no way for her to express concerns or ask for changes.

In her journal, the narrator writes:

"John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him."

John can't imagine anything outside his own judgment. So when he determines that the narrator's life is satisfactory, he imagines that the fault lies with her perception. It never occurs to him that her situation might really need improvement.

The Wallpaper

The nursery walls are covered in putrid yellow wallpaper with a confused, eerie pattern. The narrator is horrified by it.

She studies the incomprehensible pattern in the wallpaper, determined to make sense of it. But rather than making sense of it, she begins to identify a second pattern—that of a woman creeping furtively behind the first pattern, which acts as a prison for her.

The first pattern of the wallpaper can be seen as the societal expectations that hold women, like the narrator, captive. Her recovery will be measured by how cheerfully she resumes her domestic duties as wife and mother, and her desire to do anything else—like write—is something that would interfere with that recovery.

Though the narrator studies and studies the pattern in the wallpaper, it never makes any sense to her. Similarly, no matter how hard she tries to recover, the terms of her recovery—embracing her domestic role—never make sense to her, either.

The creeping woman can represent both victimization by the societal norms and resistance to them.

This creeping woman also gives a clue about why the first pattern is so troubling and ugly. It seems to be peppered with distorted heads with bulging eyes—the heads of other creeping women who were strangled by the pattern when they tried to escape it. That is, women who couldn't survive when they tried to resist cultural norms. Gilman writes that "nobody could climb through that pattern—it strangles so."

Becoming a Creeping Woman

Eventually, the narrator becomes a creeping woman herself. The first indication is when she says, rather startlingly, "I always lock the door when I creep by daylight." Later, the narrator and the creeping woman work together to pull off the wallpaper.

The narrator also writes, "[T]here are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast," implying that the narrator is only one of many.

That her shoulder "just fits" into the groove on the wall is sometimes interpreted to mean that she has been the one ripping the paper and creeping around the room all along. But it could also be interpreted as an assertion that her situation is no different from that of many other women. In this interpretation, "The Yellow Wallpaper" becomes not just a story about one woman's madness, but a maddening system.

At one point, the narrator observes the creeping women from her window and asks, "I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did?"

Her coming out of the wallpaper—her freedom—coincides with a descent into mad behavior: ripping off the paper, locking herself in her room, even biting the immovable bed. That is, her freedom comes when she finally reveals her beliefs and behavior to those around her and stops hiding.

The final scene—in which John faints and the narrator continues to creep around the room, stepping over him every time—is disturbing but also triumphant. Now John is the one who is weak and sickly, and the narrator is the one who finally gets to determine the rules of her own existence. She is finally convinced that he only "pretended to be loving and kind." After being consistently infantilized by his comments, she turns the tables on him by addressing him condescendingly, if only in her mind, as "young man."

John refused to remove the wallpaper, and in the end, the narrator used it as her escape. 

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“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Critical Analysis

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in 1892 in the New England Magazine, was later included in a collection of Gilman’s works called In This Our World in 1893.

Introduction: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Table of Contents

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in 1892 in the New England Magazine , was later included in a collection of Gilman’s works called In This Our World in 1893. The story features a narrator who is struggling with what her husband believes is a nervous disorder, and he has taken her to a rented summer home where she is forbidden from working or stimulating herself in any way. The narrator becomes increasingly obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room, which she despises, and begins to see a woman trapped inside its pattern. The story is a powerful critique of the patriarchal medical profession and the oppression of women during the late 19th century. Its features include a first-person narrative, symbolism, and a sense of claustrophobia and desperation that builds towards a tragic conclusion.

Main Events in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Introduction to the Setting and Characters
• The narrator, along with her husband John, secure a colonial mansion for the summer.
• John, a physician, dismisses the narrator’s illness as mere nervous depression.
• Description of the Mansion
• The mansion is isolated, with a beautiful but eerie garden, and has been empty for years.
• The narrator senses something strange about the house.
• Initial Observations and Discomfort
• The narrator expresses dislike for their room, especially the ghastly yellow wallpaper.
• She feels trapped by John’s control over her schedule and activities.
• Analysis of the Wallpaper
• The wallpaper is described as revolting, with a pattern that changes in the light.
• The narrator starts to see a woman trapped behind the pattern and becomes fixated on it.
• Deterioration of the Narrator’s Mental State
• The narrator’s mental state deteriorates as she becomes obsessed with the wallpaper.
• She feels increasingly isolated and begins to distrust John and the housekeeper, Jennie.
• Attempts to Confront John
• The narrator tries to communicate her distress to John, but he dismisses her concerns.
• She becomes fearful of John and suspects he may be affected by the wallpaper as well.
• Discovery and Liberation
• The narrator discovers a woman creeping behind the wallpaper and believes she must free her.
• She peels off the wallpaper in a fit of liberation and decides to confront John.
• Climax and Resolution
• The narrator locks herself in the room, determined to confront John when he returns.
• She feels triumphant in her act of defiance and eagerly awaits John’s reaction.

Literary Devices in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Characterization in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Major characters.

• The Narrator: An unnamed woman with a rich inner life and intellectual curiosity. She suffers from what her physician husband John diagnoses as “temporary nervous depression” or “a slight hysterical tendency.” John dismisses her concerns about her mental health and the unsettling effect of the yellow wallpaper, which she feels is contributing to her condition. Confined to the upstairs nursery for a supposed “rest cure,” the narrator becomes increasingly frustrated and isolated. With limited outlets for her thoughts and feelings, the yellow wallpaper becomes an all-consuming obsession.
• John: The narrator’s husband and a physician. John dismisses his wife’s concerns about her health and the unsettling effect of the wallpaper. He believes he is taking the best course of action by enforcing “rest” and disregarding her anxieties. John’s controlling and dismissive behavior contributes to the narrator’s mental decline.

Minor Characters

• John’s Brother: Another physician who readily agrees with John’s diagnosis of the narrator’s condition, demonstrating the limitations of the medical field at the time.
• Mary: The baby’s caretaker. The narrator seems to find comfort and trust in Mary’s kindness and competence.
• Baby: The narrator and John’s child. The narrator expresses relief that the baby does not have to occupy the room with the yellow wallpaper.
• Mother & Nellie: John’s mother and sister who visit the narrator for a week. Their presence likely restricts the narrator’s freedom and reinforces John’s control.
• Jennie: The maid who helps take care of the narrator. The narrator becomes suspicious of Jennie’s behavior in relation to the wallpaper, hinting at the narrator’s growing paranoia.
• Cousin Henry & Julia: The narrator’s relatives whom she expresses a desire to visit. John discourages this visit, further isolating the narrator and suggesting his desire to maintain complete control over her.

Major Themes in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• The Suffocating Effects of Patriarchy : The story critiques the limitations placed on women in 19th-century society. The narrator’s unnamed state reflects her lack of agency. John, her husband and physician, dismisses her concerns about her health and confines her to a room with the justification of a “rest cure,” a common but harmful treatment for women’s “nervous conditions” at the time. This enforced idleness fuels her descent into madness, highlighting the societal expectation for women to be passive and submissive.
• Confinement and the Loss of Self: The yellow wallpaper becomes a symbol of the narrator’s entrapment. Initially, she describes it as “gross, uneven paper” with “odor of stale dead wood” (emphasis added). As her mental state deteriorates, the wallpaper takes on a life of its own, with its “repellent” yellow color and strange pattern seeming to crawl and pulsate. The narrator’s obsession with peeling back the layers of the wallpaper reflects her desperate attempt to break free from her confined existence.
• The Power of Imagination and Perception: The story explores the blurring lines between reality and perception. John dismisses the narrator’s anxieties about the wallpaper as mere “fancy,” but the reader experiences the story through her increasingly unreliable narration. As the lines between reality and delusion blur, the wallpaper transforms into a monstrous entity that the narrator feels compelled to liberate. This raises questions about the validity of female experience and the power of a stifled imagination to manifest as madness.
• The Thin Line Between Sanity and Madness: The story explores the descent into madness through the narrator’s journal entries. Initially, she expresses frustration with her situation and a longing for intellectual stimulation. Over time, her entries become fragmented and cryptic, reflecting her deteriorating mental state. The ending, where the narrator believes she has freed a woman trapped behind the wallpaper, leaves the reader questioning whether she has achieved liberation or succumbed entirely to madness.

Writing Style in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Introspective Narrative Voice:
• Example: “I am sitting here at the window now, up in this atrocious nursery, and there is nothing to hinder my writing as much as I please, save lack of strength.”
• Fragmented Prose Reflecting Mental State:
• Example: “The front pattern does move, and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!”
• Vivid and Descriptive Language:
• Example: “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.”
• Symbolism and Allegory:
• Example: The wallpaper itself symbolizes the oppressive societal constraints placed upon women during the 19th century, while the protagonist’s obsession with it serves as an allegory for her own mental imprisonment.
• Exploration of Gender Roles:
• Example: The protagonist’s confinement to the nursery and her husband’s dismissal of her desires to write reflect the restrictive gender roles of the time, highlighting the lack of autonomy afforded to women.
• Representation of Mental Illness:
• Example: The protagonist’s gradual descent into psychosis, as evidenced by her fixation on the wallpaper and eventual hallucinations, provides a poignant portrayal of mental illness and its impact on individuals.
• Engagement with Themes of Autonomy:
• Example: The protagonist’s struggle to assert her own agency and autonomy in the face of her husband’s control and societal expectations underscores the theme of personal liberation.

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Topics, Questions, and Thesis Statements about “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Short Questions/Answers about/on “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Who is the real prisoner in the story, and why?
• While the narrator is physically confined to the upstairs room, the story argues that John, her husband, is the one truly imprisoned. John clings to outdated medical practices and societal expectations, limiting his own intellectual and emotional growth. The narrator, on the other hand, embraces a more fluid and imaginative reality at the story’s end, even if it appears to be madness.
• (Reference: John enforces the “rest cure” despite the narrator’s objections. The narrator, by the end, seems to find a strange liberation in her delusion.)
• Does the yellow wallpaper actually have a hidden pattern, or is it a figment of the narrator’s imagination?
• The story cleverly leaves this ambiguous. The narrator initially describes the wallpaper as having a “tortuous effect on the eye” but later becomes fixated on a hidden pattern that seems to creep and crawl. John dismisses it as her imagination. The lack of a definitive answer allows the reader to explore themes of perception, sanity, and the limitations of relying solely on a patriarchal viewpoint.
• (Reference: The narrator describes the wallpaper as “un-patterned” but later becomes convinced of a hidden pattern.)
• Is the ending a victory or a descent into madness?
• The narrator’s triumphant declaration of finally freeing a woman trapped behind the wallpaper can be interpreted in two ways. On one hand, it suggests a complete break from reality. However, it can also be seen as a symbolic victory. The narrator, by embracing her unconventional perspective, finds a way to challenge the oppressive forces represented by the yellow wallpaper and John’s controlling behavior.
• (Reference: The ending has the narrator creeping around the room, believing she has freed a woman trapped behind the wallpaper.)

Literary Works Similar to “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• “ The Tell-Tale Heart ” by Edgar Allan Poe – Like “The Yellow Wallpaper,” this short story delves into the psyche of its unreliable narrator, exploring themes of madness and obsession.
• “ The Lottery ” by Shirley Jackson – While not directly addressing mental health, “The Lottery” similarly examines the oppressive nature of societal norms and the consequences of blindly adhering to tradition.
• “ The Metamorphosis ” by Franz Kafka – This novella, like “The Yellow Wallpaper,” explores themes of alienation and the individual’s struggle against oppressive forces, albeit through a different lens of existentialism.
• “ A Rose for Emily ” by William Faulkner – Faulkner’s story, much like Gilman’s, delves into the psychological complexities of its protagonist, exploring themes of isolation, decay, and the impact of societal expectations.
• “ The Birthmark ” by Nathaniel Hawthorne – This short story, while focusing more on science and the pursuit of perfection, shares themes of obsession and the consequences of trying to control nature, similar to the themes found in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

Suggested Readings about/on “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings. Edited by Catherine Golden, Broadview Press, 2007.
• Showalter, Elaine. The Yellow Wallpaper : Women, Madness, and the Gothic. Cornell University Press, 1981.
• Herndl, Diane Price. “The Writing Cure: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Anna O., and ‘Hysterical’ Writing.” NWSA Journal , vol. 1, no. 1, 1988, pp. 52–74. JSTOR , http://www.jstor.org/stable/4315866. Accessed 1 May 2024.
• Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper . The Victorian Web . [electronic text] https://crea.ujaen.es/bitstream/10953.1/10476/1/Garca_Jaenes_Mara_Jos_TFG_Estudios_Ingleses.pdf

Representative Quotations from “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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Themes 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 explores a number of ‘big’ themes and ideas. Let’s take a look at some of the key themes of the story.

First, however, let’s briefly summarise the plot of the story: 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.

Mental Illness.

Perhaps the most important theme of Gilman’s story is the narrator’s mental illness, which is present from the beginning of the story and gradually worsens as her narrative develops. Having the narrator tell her own story and provide her own observations in the form of a diary means we have unfiltered access to her thoughts and moods, and this can make parts of the story uncomfortable reading.

Gilman is obviously suggesting that the narrator’s husband, John – who as both a man and a qualified doctor is expected to ‘know what’s best’ for his wife – is misguided in his belief that rest and withdrawal from society, including her own family, is what his wife needs to improve her mental state.

At one point in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, the narrator mentions Weir Mitchell , who was a real person: a neurologist who viewed depression in women as a disorder of their nerves, or as ‘hysteria’ (a term which itself began as gendered: it comes from the ancient Greek word for ‘womb’, because only women were thought to suffer from the condition). Intellectual stimulation was frowned upon, and prolonged periods of rest were prescribed.

But although we can view the narrator’s madness as a tragic outcome of her husband’s misguided belief in his psychological, rational, and scientific approach to her illness, it is possible also to view the narrator’s ‘descent’ into madness as a perverse kind of liberation for her. In triumphantly asserting to John, ‘I’ve got out at last … in spite of you and Jane’, the narrator is taking back a form of control over her surroundings.

And given the gender dynamics at play in the story, we also need to engage with another key theme in the story: gender itself.

Women in Society.

In the late nineteenth century in the United States, women were still often dependent on men both financially and socially. John’s strict control over his wife’s behaviour and confinement needs to be understood (though not necessarily condoned) in this context.

Of course, it is worth bearing in mind the context of the narrator’s depression, too: it is postpartum depression – that is, depression that follows giving birth to her son. She has fulfilled the duty of a wife and mother, as nineteenth century society dictates, but the experience has left her suffering from depression.

It is also clear from the narrator’s diary that her own views about herself have been heavily shaped by the men in her life: not only her husband but also her brother. It is clear that she would like to keep writing to help her through her depression, but she is forbidden to do so, on the grounds that it would make her mental state worse.

Of course, there is something symbolic – when we analyse ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ from a feminist perspective, as many critics have – about the female narrator being forbidden to write or express herself. And there is something quietly triumphant about the fact that she goes ahead and writes her journal despite being told not to do so.

Related to this theme of gender and the place of women in society is the theme of marriage, which is central to ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ given the narrator’s marriage to John and his strict orders concerning what his wife is and is not allowed to do.

It is revealing that John often views and treats his wife not so much like a fellow adult as like a child: at one point, he even calls her a ‘little girl’. This belittling language indicates that, well-meaning though he might be, John also does not view his wife as his equal, intellectually or emotionally. She is weak and delicate and needs to be told what to do, for her own protection.

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The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte perkins gilman.

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Mental Illness and its Treatment

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…

Gender Roles and Domestic Life

Alongside its exploration of mental illness, The Yellow Wallpaper offers a critique of traditional gender roles as they were defined during the late nineteenth century, the time in which the story is set and was written. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent feminist, who rejected the trappings of traditional domestic life and published extensively about the role of women in society, and saw the gender roles of the time as horribly stifling.

The story’s family…

Outward Appearance vs. Inner Life

Another major theme in the story lies in the contradiction between outward appearance and inner life.

The story’s form, in a series of diary entries, gives the reader a glimpse into its writer’s inner life. This, in turn, allows us to watch as the narrator’s husband misinterprets her condition, and as she begins to consciously deceive both him and Jennie . Our privileged view into the narrator’s mind leads to an appreciation of the sarcasm …

Self-Expression, Miscommunication, and Misunderstanding

Alongside questions of gender and mental illness in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the simple story of a woman who is unable fully to express herself, or to find someone who will listen.

The narrator’s sense that the act of writing, which she has been forbidden to do, is exactly what she needs to feel better suggests this stifled self-expression. Since she is unable to communicate with her husband, this diary becomes a secret outlet for…

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Yellow Wallpaper — Analysis Of Feminism In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Analysis of Feminism in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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Psychology in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Essay

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Introduction

Psychological aspects of the short story, works cited.

One of the reasons why Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper has traditionally been referred to as such that constitutes a high literary and philosophical value is that in it, the author succeeded in providing readers with an in-depth insight into what should be considered the emerging symptoms of one’s mental illness. Moreover, despite the fact that Gilman wrote this particular story at the time when psychology/psychiatry was remaining in an essentially embryonic state, in The Yellow Wallpaper she proved herself as a rather efficient psychologist, who never ceased being fully aware of what accounted for the conceptual deficiency of the late 19 th century’s psychiatric conventions (Quawas 36). In my paper, I will aim to explore the validity of this thesis at length.

The reading of Gilman story’s few initial lines suggests that the reason why the narrator and her husband John decided to spend the summer in a secluded mansion is that this was supposed to help improving the narrator’s mental condition, as she would be spared of socialization-related distresses. According to Treichler, “Her (narrator’s) physical isolation was in part designed to remove her from the possibility of over-stimulating intellectual discussion” (61).

Nevertheless, even though that John was aware of the fact that there was a certain abnormality to his wife’s behavior, he continued denying that her mental anxieties had to be taken seriously, “You see he (John) does not believe I am sick!” (Gilman 1). Partially, the narrator herself provides an explanation as to why, despite having been an accomplished physician, John nevertheless continued referring to his wife’s pleas for help in a thoroughly arrogant manner, “John does not know how much I really suffer.

He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (2). This narrator’s remark helps us to understand the essence of John’s failure to prescribe his wife with the conceptually appropriate therapy, which in turn created objective preconditions for her to keep descending into madness. Apparently, just as it used to be the case with the majority of physicians at the end of the 19 th century, John believed that the reason why some people tend to act in a clearly neurotic manner is that they simply do not apply enough conscious effort, while trying to suppress their visually observable mental angst.

The explanation for this is quite apparent – during the course of a given historical period, it never occurred to physicians that it is specifically the unconscious aspects of an individual psyche’s functioning that define his or her conscious stance in life, and not vice versa. Partially, this had to do with the fact that, throughout the course of this period, the discursive influence of Christianity remained comparatively strong. And, as we are being well aware of, Christianity promotes the assumption that there is a structural unity to one’s soul (psyche), which is why it cannot consist of mutually incompatible elements.

Therefore, there is nothing particularly odd about the fact in the late 19 th century, the majority of physicians still continued to regard the emanations of one’s mental instability as being of an essentially physiological nature, “(In 19 th century) Psychical factors came to be regarded merely as the products of certain yet-to-be determined neuro-physiological processes” (Caplan 7). This is why, even though that throughout the course of her stay at the mansion, the narrator was exhibiting more and more indications of her mental state’s continual deterioration, John could not come up with anything better but to prescribe his wife to lead a socially withdrawn lifestyle, as it was supposed to calm her down.

Apparently, John could never bring himself to consider the possibility that the worsening of his wife’s mental condition had nothing to do with purely environmental factors, which is why he continued insisting that the key to her rehabilitation was a plenty of food and sleep, “John says I mustn’t lose my strength, and has me take cod liver oil and lots of tonics and things, to say nothing of ale and wine and rare meat” (4). It appears that it simply never occurred to John that the reason why his wife was feeling progressively more disturbed is that she has been deliberately spared of an opportunity to lead a normal life.

The reading of Gilman’s story also suggests that there was another reason why John proved himself unable to properly diagnose his wife and to intervene the process of his loved one succumbing to insanity. This is because, while acting as a physician, who should have been trying to expand of his intellectual horizons, John never made even a single attempt to reconsider the legitimacy of his male-chauvinistic prejudices towards women.

In its turn, this explains why, despite the fact that he continued observing more and more signs that there was something definitely wrong with his wife; he refused to consider these signs’ possible significance. It simply could not be otherwise – in John’s mind, the narrator’s mental anxieties were simply confirming the validity of a male-chauvinistic presumption that, just as it being the case with all women, his wife was naturally predisposed to grow hysterical from time to time, “If… 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?” (1).

In other words, John thought of his wife having been less human, as compared to what he believed was the case with himself, because she experienced a hard time, while trying to keep her irrational impulses under control (Cutter 153).

Hence, the ‘therapy’, with which the narrator was prescribed by her husband, “He (John) says no one but myself can help me out of it (depression), that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me” (5). It is needless to say, of course, that the application of this kind of ‘therapy’ could hardly produce any positive results, because it was based on a thoroughly fallacious assumption that the unconscious workings of one’s psyche can be subjected to a conscious control. Yet, contemporary psychoanalysts know that this is far from being the case. Quite on the contrary – one’s conscious attempts to suppress the unconscious workings of his or her psyche can only result in the worsening of the concerned individual’s overall mental condition.

This is exactly the reason why, as time went on, the narrator was becoming ever more delirious – the mere fact that, in full accordance with John’s advice, she tried to disregard the symptoms of depression, caused her mental despair to continue becoming even more acute. This is because, apart from experiencing depression, on the account of her inability to lead a socially productive lifestyle, she started to grow progressively worried about her self-presumed inability to live up to John’s expectations.

Predictably enough, it created yet additional precondition for the narrator to continue losing her grip on things, because without being able to articulate her own unconscious fears, she allowed them to accumulate deep inside her sub-consciousness – hence, making it only the matter of time before they would break out of their psychic confinement into the realm of the main character’s consciousness. After it happened, the narrator’s ability to indulge in a rationale-based reasoning sustained an irreparable damage, because at the end of Gilman’s story she started to behave as a maniacally obsessed schizophrenic, endowed with the fictitious sense of self-identity (Bak 44).

Thus, it will not be much of an exaggeration to suggest that The Yellow Wallpaper can be referred to as a particularly powerful indictment of what used to account for the 19 th century’s approaches to the treatment of mental illnesses in America. Apparently, besides having been scientifically illegitimate, these approaches were also perceptually arrogant. The fact that such an accomplished physician as John allowed his wife’s mild depression to develop into a full-scaled schizophrenia validates the appropriateness of this statement.

I believe that the earlier deployed line of argumentation, as to the fact that the story’s main character may be well considered a victim of the 19 th century’s healthcare conventions, is being fully consistent with the paper’s initial thesis. In its turn, this explains why, despite having been written in 1892, Gilman’s story continues to emanate an undermined literary appeal. This simply could not be otherwise, because in The Yellow Wallpaper, the author succeeded in outlining the discursive principles of what will later become known as the methodology of psychoanalysis, based upon the assumption that people’s behavior reflects the essence of their unconscious anxieties.

Treichler, Paula. “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 3.1/2 (1984): 61-77. Print.

The main idea that is being explored throughout the course of Treichler article’s entirety can be conceptualized as follows: the reason why John proved himself incapable of properly diagnosing the essence of his wife’s mental inadequateness is that, while assessing the significance of her depression-symptoms, he relied upon his rationale-driven masculine logic. Author attests that the very concept of ‘diagnosis’, in the traditional sense of this word, is by definition discursively arrogant, “(Diagnosis) is a male voice that privileges the rational, the practical, and the observable” (65).

In its turn, this has led Treichler to suggest that there is a symbolic meaning to John’s attempts to help the narrator to attain an emotional comfortableness with the room, in which she was confined – apparently, he wanted to make sure that his wife would never be in a position to challenge his patriarchal authority. Therefore, according to Treichler, John’s diagnosis of his wife’s mental condition can be discussed in terms of a ‘sentence’ – by prescribing her with the ‘therapy’ of bellyful idleness, John was unconsciously trying to deny the narrator her basic humanity.

I think that in her article, Treichler came up with a number of discursively relevant observations. The author also needs to be given a credit for making the line of her reasoning logically substantiated. At the same time, however, Treichler’s argumentation, in regards to the discussed subject matter, cannot be referred to as such that represents an undeniable truth-value. This is because in her article, the author made a deliberate point in representing herself as a hard-core feminist, which I believe undermined the extent of this article’s objectiveness.

Bak, John. “Escaping the Jaundiced Eye: Foucauldian Panopticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” Studies in Short Fiction 31.1 (1994), 39-46. Print.

Caplan, Eric. Mind Games: American Culture and the Birth of Psychotherapy , Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Print.

Cutter, M. “The Writer as Doctor: New Models of Medical Discourse in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Later Fiction.” Literature and Medicine 20.2 (2001): 151-182. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper . Web.

Quawas, Rula. “A New Woman’s Journey into Insanity: Descent and Return in The Yellow Wallpaper.” AUMLA: Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association 105 (2006): 35-53. Print.

• Summary & Analysis
• Themes & Symbols
• Quotes Explained
• Questions & Answers
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Biography
• “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” Story by J. Thurber
• Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a Gothic Horror Tale
• "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Gilman: Diary Form of Writing
• Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Story Analysis
• Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’: Point of View
• Narrator in “The Cathedral” by Raymond Carver
• Symbols in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"
• Point of View in Chopin's "The Story of an Hour"
• Unreliable Narrator in "The Black Cat" by Poe
• Plot and Narrative of "The Cold Dish" by C. Johnson
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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