Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

718 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis for the yellow wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman has already expressed her strong feelings about women and the way they’re viewed. Gilman’s outlook on the fact that believes there is no real difference, related to, the mental state between men or women is strongly made clear through “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story about a female who has a mental illness but is not capable of healing because of her spouse’s lack of belief. The story feels to have a setting during a time in life where women were treated harshly. Women were handled as inferior citizens in society during this period of time. Charlotte precisely represents the way of thinking of the society during the time period in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” was being written. Using the characteristics of feminism, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins, I was able to survey through the eyes of both the male and female point of view, and through the symbol found in the story. …show more content…

The Narrator quotes “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-slight hysterical tendency- what is one to do?” (Gilman) and that describes how men saw woman as juveniles rather than adults because they were not able to make their own decisions such as changing the wallpaper or moving to a different room. The other side of women is described as well when Gilman mentioned the women felt free once she let the wallpaper go and no longer feeling imprisoned by her family. The narrator then gained characteristics of a powerful independent woman for speaking her opinions and making a change. Dialogue was the most effective way in presenting aspects of both

Show More
Related

  • Treatment of Women with Mental Illness in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’sThe Yellow Wallpaper

    584 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...l. Men thought they knew what was best, and ignored the desires of the women. The women had no choice but to go along with the men’s choices. Nineteenth century women did not have much of a role in society, and it was meant to stay that way. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is classified as a feminist text because it portrays the desire for women to escape the society that has neglected them for so many years.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper

    Read More

  • A Feminist in Action in The Yellow Wallpaper

    1794 Words  | 4 Pages

    The narrator makes comments and observations that demonstrate her will to overcome the oppression of the male dominant society. The conflict between her views and those of the society can be seen in the way she interacts physically, mentally, and emotionally with the three most prominent aspects of her life: her husband, John, the yellow wallpaper in her room, and her illness, "temporary nervous depression. " In the end, her illness becomes a method of coping with the injustices forced upon her as a woman. As the reader delves into the narrative, a progression can be seen from the normality the narrator displays early in the passage, to the insanity she demonstrates near the conclusion.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    457 Words  | 1 Pages

    “There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!” The late 19th century hosted a hardship for women in our society. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman expressed a form of patriarchy within the story. Gilman never addressed the woman in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” by a name, demonstrating her deficiency of individual identity. The author crafted for the narrator to hold an insignificant role in civilization and to live by the direction of man. Representing a hierarchy between men and women in the 19th century, the wallpaper submerged the concentration of the woman and began compelling her into a more profound insanity.

    Read More

  • Feminist Perspective on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Yellow Wallpaper, Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is comprised as an assortment of journal entries written in first person, by a woman who has been confined to a room by her physician husband who he believes suffers a temporary nervous depression, when she is actually suffering from postpartum depression. He prescribes her a “rest cure”. The woman remains anonymous throughout the story. She becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in the room, and engages in some outrageous imaginations towards the wallpaper. Gilman’s story depicts women’s struggle of independence and individuality at the rise of feminism, as well as a reflection of her own life and experiences.

    Read More

  • Depression and Psychosis: A Feminist View in 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman writes “The Yellow Wallpaper,” to show how women’s mental illness is addressed in the time. Women were treated as the lesser or weaker sex. Women’s mental illness was highly misunderstood and misdiagnosed. “The Yellow Wallpaper,” illustrates a feminist approach to mental disease. Gilman uses this work to reach out to others to help them understand a woman’s treacherous descent into depression and psychosis. There are many contributing factors to the narrator’s illness and it is easy to see the effect the men have on her. Women were treated very differently and often outcast if they did not meet a certain norm. Mental illness is one of the main factors men believe

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wall Paper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    The “Yellow Wall Paper “ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a chilling study and experiment of mental disorder in nineteenth century. This is a story of a miserable wife, a young woman in anguish, stress surrounding her in the walls of her bedroom and under the control of her husband doctor, who had given her the treatment of isolation and rest. This short story vividly reflects both a woman in torment and oppression as well as a woman struggling for self expression.

    Read More

  • Feminist Oppression In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women have always struggled to gain attention from men as well as equality with them. Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's "The Yellow Wallpaper" has a theme of feminine oppression. It is a work of literature that shows many of us how women were treated because women in the era in which this story was published were treated in much the same way as the narrator was on a daily basis. Male dictatorship over women is rampant within the illness and treatment of Jane the characters in the story, and the many symbols that serve to confine the main character. A stand had to be made in order for women to achieve equality with men. Standing up to a man, however, was not permissible in nineteenth century America. This story epitomizes

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is an observation on the male oppression of women in a patriarchal society. The story itself presents an interesting look at one woman's struggle to deal with both mental and physical confinement. Through Gilman's writing the reader becomes aware of the mental and physical confinement, which the narrator endures, and the overall effect and reaction to this confinement.

    Read More

  • Feminist Expression in The Yellow Wallpaper

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    Advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men, Charlotte Perkins Gilman speaks to the “female condition” in her 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by writing about the life of a woman and what caused her to lose her sanity. The narrator goes crazy due partially to her prescribed role as a woman in 1892 being severely limited. One example is her being forbidden by her husband to “work” which includes working and writing. This restricts her from begin able to express how she truly feels. While she is forbidden to work her husband on the other hand is still able to do his job as a physician. This makes the narrator inferior to her husband and males in general. The narrator is unable to be who she wants, do what she wants, and say what she wants without her husband’s permission. This causes the narrator to feel trapped and have no way out, except through the yellow wallpaper in the bedroom.

    Read More

  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    For decades now critics have viewed, Gilman’s novella, “The Yellow Wallpaper” mainly in a feminist way, focusing on the way women acted and how they were treated in the 1800s. Although there are good points to the feminist criticism, one could go more in depth by psychoanalyzing it because feminism fit more into the 1800s when women did not have the roles they have today, by looking at the psychoanalytic effect the restrictions had on her, and observing the effects the room had on her.

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” to express her opinions about feminism and originality. Gilman does so by taking the reader through the terrors of one woman's psychological disorder, her entire mental state characterized by her encounters with the wallpaper in her room. She incorporates imagery and symbolism to show how confined the narrator is because of her gender and mental illness.

    Read More

  • Response to The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    The woman behind this work of literature portrays the role of women in the society during that period of time. "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a well written story describing a woman who suffers from insanity and how she struggles to express her own thoughts and feelings. The author uses her own experience to criticize male domination of women during the nineteenth century. Although the story was written fifty years ago, "The Yellow Wallpaper" still brings a clear message how powerless women were during that time.

    Read More

  • What Is Feminism In The Yellow Wallpaper

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gilman has stated in multiple papers that the main reason for her writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” was to shed light on her awful experience with this ‘rest cure’. However, she also managed to inject her own feminist agenda into the piece. Charlotte Perkins Gilman chose to include certain subtle, but alarming details regarding the narrator’s life as a representation of how women were treated at the time. She wants us to understand why the narrator ends up being driven to madness, or in her case, freedom. There are untold layers to this truly simple, short story just like there were many layers to Gilman

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper in 1890 about her experience in a psychiatric hospital. The doctor she had prescribed her “the rest cure” to get over her condition (Beekman). Gilman included the name of the sanitarium she stayed at in the piece as well which was named after the doctor that “treated” her. The short story was a more exaggerated version of her month long stay at Weir Mitchell and is about a woman whose name is never revealed and she slowly goes insane under the watch of her doctor husband and his sister (The Yellow Wallpaper 745). Many elements of fiction were utilized by Gilman in this piece to emphasize the theme freedom and confinement. Three of the most important elements are symbolism, setting and character.

    Read More

More about Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

Open Document