Deceit, Betrayal, and Resentment In life, individuals are put through various difficult and stressful situations. To escape these situations, one might have resorted to using deceptive and deceitful behavior which ultimately led to betrayal. In the words of Paul Laurence Dunbar, author of the poem “We Wear the Mask,” “We wear the mask that grins and lies, / … This debt we pay to human guile;” (1:1-3:534). This means that one might hide their true emotions to disguise what they felt. In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator throughout the story always hid what she was truly feeling from John, her husband, and sister-in-law Jennie. Since during that time period women were being oppressed, the narrator …show more content…
Everyday language that was used in the late 1800’s may sound foreign to individuals who speak the same language today. As a matter of fact, the old cryptic language contributes to the sophistication of the story and the time period in which it was written. This helps the reader envision the stories’ time period and also infer situations the protagonist was in because of the individual’s gender or family history. In this context, early modern English is referred to as using terms and statements that would be considered odd within today’s standards of normal. Gilman’s short story was heavily influenced by unique early modern English. She wrote “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?” (76). The tone of this quotation illustrated that the speaker uses phrases and statements that might be considered odd for today’s society. When she said that her husband was a physician and then stated “what is one to do,” it showed how woman have a lack of power, being oppressed by her husband, during this time period. In the same manner, Poe’s short story also had nuances of being written in early modern English. He wrote “The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, with his head …show more content…
In Gilman’s short story, the first symbol that occurred was the yellow wallpaper. When the narrator entered the nursery where she was going to reside for the rest of her stay, she stated that the windows were barred and the yellow on the walls were both “flamboyant” and “lame” (78). This was a representation of herself. She felt confined to the sanctions of what society thought a woman in that time period should do, hence the barred windows. The yellow wall color represented her personality. She was a person who had an abundance of exceedingly intricate and original ideas, but this side of her was masked by the fact that she was a woman who could not express herself to her fullest potential. This symbol helped to move the story forward because it helped express her individuality and the person she could have been. On the other hand, in Poe’s literary work, Montresor was described in a unique way. Poe wrote “Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself on my arm. Putting on a mask of black silk, and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.” (15) This quotation described the attire Montresor wore, which the author took time to explain, showing its significance. Montresor was portrayed wearing a black mask with a cloak, which one could assume was black
Gilman herself suffered from post-partum hysteria and was treated by a famous doctor of the era, one who prescribed his famous "rest cure", the same cure the female narrator cannot tolerate and defies in The Yellow Wallpaper. In this story the narrator remains nameless and there is good reason for it. She feels as if she has no identity or control over obtaining fulfillment and unity and satisfaction in life. Her husband is a doctor who also prescribes complete rest for her and is opposed to her doing the one thing that seems to give her a unique voice, writing. Thus, the narrator defies her...
The narrator’s words play a strong role in displaying her being the inferior gender in society. Judith A. Allen states that, “Gilman's early brush with madness, fictionalized in her famous short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," resulted not from a doctor's prescription of the rest cure as the story might suggest, but from the excruciating miseries--sexual, economic and otherwise--of her first marriage” (Allen). One way the narrator shows that her husband was of higher rank is by saying, “There comes John, and I must put this away… he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman 801). Writing in a journal shows her desire to express her thoughts, but if she does she will be punished by her husband. The n...
Gilman manipulates the reader s perspective throughout her story as she immediately introduces us to her world. Language plays an important role as a normal woman assesses her husband s profession and her own supposed illness. The narrator comes across intelligent if not a little paranoid-less concerned with a slighthysterical tendency but rather a queer untenanted (Gilman 691) house. Her suspicion occurs early on; appearing at first as misdirection meant to foreshadow a possible ghost story. She goes on to describe the most beautiful place with a delicious garden (Gilman 692). Her depiction is that of a quaint home-leading thereader to imagine a stable woman in a new setting. Clearly the narrator s broad vocabulary is an indication of her right-mindedness as well as her ability to examine a condition she disagrees with.
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper” we are introduced to a woman who enjoys writing. Gilman does not give the reader the name of the women who narrates the story through her stream of consciousness. She shares that she has a nervous depression condition. John, the narrator’s husband feels it is “a slight hysterical tendency” (266). She has been treated for some nervous habits that she feels are legitimately causing harm to her way of life. However she feels her husband, a physician, and her doctor believe that she is embellishing her condition. The woman shares with the reader early in the story that she is defensive of how others around her perceive her emotional state. This causes a small abrasion of animosity that festers into an infection of insanity.
The theme of inferiority reoccurs throughout Gilman’s work. Throughout the story it seems as though men have the upper hand and the power in the relationship of husband and wife. The narrator’s husband, being a physician, prescribes medications to cure her hysteria. Even though she does not agree with his methods she goes along with them. An example would be when the narrator states, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas...But what is one to do?” (Gilman 625). This conformity to her husband’s wil...
“The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Stetson (Gilman)” embodies the idea that imprisonment in the “yellow wallpaper” room was the cause of the narrator’s absolute madness, as seen how her character changes and at the end and she no longer addresses her husband as John but “that man”. When reading the story we can see the narrator is being oppressed by her husband, “John is a physician, and perhaps – (I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) – perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (p.g.1). This quote shows us how the narrator is trapped and can’t express her feelings fearing her husband. The helpless sensation of oppression and being trapped leads the narrator to madness and we can witness the whole scene unfold. From her change in attitude to obsession with the wallpaper and the illusion of herself as the woman behind the wallpaper.
In the twentieth century, the United States of America has transitioned into a more diverse nation. Immigrants arriving from around the globe combined with African Americans to challenge the American identity. As a result, prominent figures including Theodore Roosevelt believed every American should indeed be Americanized. Throughout the twentieth century, Americanization, which means to sacrifice an old culture in favor of American culture, remains an issue amongst authors in particular. Authors in the twentieth century expressed their stance on the battle between cultural heritage and American assimilation. Some authors such as Langston Hughes supported diversity and pride in their culture. On the other end of the spectrum, others like Booker
The room where the narrator stays is decorated with multiple loops, nauseating yellow wallpaper, and huge barred windows. Windows usually symbolizes hopes, but in this story it symbolizes the narrator’s confinement from her thoughts by the norms of the society. In one scene, the narrator opens the barred windows for some fresh air but John immediately said what she "felt was a draught, and shut the window" (Gilman 648). This action symbolizes John’s despotism by shutting out her hopes. Karen Ford states that, “In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the physician is the quintessential man, and his talk, therefore, is the epitome of male discourse” (310). John and the narrator’s brother are both physicians, illuminating that their decisions shall not be questioned. Indeed, when the narrator’s husband and brother diagnosed that she has neurosis, she finds it impossible to refute them and take whatever medicine is prescribed for her. She states, “Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?” (Gilman 648). The narrator’s question of “what is one to do” further suggests the society influenced women that it is normal to go along with men’s decisions. When the narrator requested being active as the form of treatment, John denied it (Gilman 649). John’s behavior demonstrates his dominance
The story "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story about control. In the time frame in which the story was written, the 1800’s, women were looked upon as having no effect on society other than bearing children, maintaining a clean house, and food on the table etc. etc. There was really no means for self expression as a woman, when men not only dominated society but the world. The story was written at a time when men held the jobs, knowledge, and society above their shoulders. The narrator on, "The Yellow Wallpaper" in being oppressed by her husband, John, even though many readers believe this story is about a woman who loses her mind, it is actually about a woman’s struggle to regain, something which she never had before, control of her life.
In The Yellow Wallpaper Gilman shows the true nature of a relationship in the 1800’s and how each genders role played in both the relationship and in society. As the story begins, both the narrator’s husband and brother, regard her as nervously depressed and hysterical. “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 what is one to do?” (Gilman, 35). The narrator’s feelings or actual understanding of what’s going on with herself, do...
Charlotte Gilman explained the requirement and use for self-expression by showing its importance to the protagonist. The message is clear that the oppressive nature of the nineteenth century and its patriarchic ways is not a healthy way for all members of a society to live. The restrictions of her every day creative and active duties caused her to be overly obsessive with the room she was encased in. It became evident that the more detailed her obsession became, the further she fell into her insanity. By symbolizing the protagonist’s descent into psychosis after the rest cure, Gilman illustrates that imagination and expressive freedom are important to every one of both sexes.
Charlotte Perkins Gillman and Edgar Allen Poe are both well-known and greatly respected writers in history with similar, but unique writing styles. They both use an unreliable narrator to mislead the reader, but slowly drop hints that something is a little off. In Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper she tells a story narrated by a woman in the late 19th century who has been ordered to get as much rest as possible because of her “temporary nervous depression.” As the story progresses, she starts to slowly lose her sanity from being condemned in her room for so long, and eventually develops a scary obsession with the wallpaper. Poe’s short story, the Cask of Amontillado, is narrated by an Italian man named Montresor who has vowed to get revenge for
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” is a lyric poem in which the point of attraction, the mask, represents the oppression and sadness held by African Americans in the late 19th century, around the time of slavery. As the poem progresses, Dunbar reveals the façade of the mask, portrayed in the third stanza where the speaker states, “But let the dream be otherwise” (13). The unreal character of the mask has played a significant role in the lives of African Americans, who pretend to put on a smile when they feel sad internally. This occasion, according to Dunbar, is the “debt we pay to human guile," meaning that their sadness is related to them deceiving others. Unlike his other poems, with its prevalent use of black dialect, Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” acts as “an apologia (or justification) for the minstrel quality of some of his dialect poems” (Desmet, Hart, and Miller 466).
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story told from the first person point of view of a doctor's wife who has nervous condition. The first person standpoint gives the reader access only to the woman’s thoughts, and thus, is limited. The limited viewpoint of this story helps the reader to experience a feeling of isolation, just as the wife feels throughout the story. The point of view is also limited in that the story takes places in the present, and as a result the wife has no benefit of hindsight, and is never able to actually see that the men in her life are part of the reason she never gets well. This paper will discuss how Gilman’s choice of point of view helps communicate the central theme of the story- that women of the time were viewed as being subordinate to men. Also, the paper will discuss how ignoring oneself and one’s desires is self-destructive, as seen throughout the story as the woman’s condition worsens while she is in isolation, in the room with the yellow wallpaper, and her at the same time as her thoughts are being oppressed by her husband and brother.
The Yellow Wallpaper is overflowed with symbolism. Symbols are images that have a meaning beyond them selves in a short story, a symbol is a detail, a character, or an incident that has a meaning beyond its literal role in the narrative. Gilman uses symbols to tell her story of a woman's mental state of being diminishes throughout the story. The following paragraphs tell just some of the symbols and how I interpreted them, they could be read in many different ways.