Hidden Terror

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Recommended: Critical interpretation of the yellow wallpaper

Ghosts and unseen forces cause nervous glances over the shoulder, the heartbeat to quicken, and provoke one to hide under a blanket, but what if the unseen forces were not the cause of the terror, can the mind create so much fear that we see things and create demons that truly terrify? “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman puts this scenario on display for her audience as the wallpaper haunts the unnamed narrator. As her mind slowly plays tricks on her, she starts to see things, impossible things within the paper. Suffering from an unknown ailment, possibly postpartum depression, the disease and the time she spends alone contribute to her descent into insanity. When she and her husband move into a rental home, she reveals an instant aversion to the wallpaper in her bedroom, and throughout the story her loathing of the wallpaper slowly becomes an obsession. “I’m getting really fond of the room in spite of the wall-paper. Perhaps BECAUSE of the wall-paper. It dwells in my mind so” (Gilman)! Trapped in her own home and mind, she is haunted by something other than ghosts and demons, and that, is more terrifying than could even be imagined.

Watching the narrator lose her sanity can be more terrifying for the readers than simply looking for an otherworldly being or a logical explanation. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” she is aware of her revulsion to the wallpaper, and yet, is unaware of the haunting consequence it has on her mind. “He thought I was asleep first, but I wasn’t, and lay there for hours trying to decide whether that front pattern and the back pattern really did move together or separately” (Gilman). Most stories try to terrify in a predictable, more traditional manner, “The Red Room” by H.G. Wells is terrifying i...

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...nternal struggle, is supremely unaware of the total effects the wallpaper has on her. Fear is the first ingredient in any horror story, but when mixed in with a demented mind, as was the narrators, terror truly takes on an entirely new meaning. The paranormal, ghosts, spirits and demons are intangible to anyone but the narrator, but as she dives headfirst into her own reality she takes the reader deeper into the world she resides, where she is allowed to creep, and the only thing left to do is to watch the terror unfold.

Works Cited

Perkins Gilman, Charlotte. The Yellow Wallpaper Nov 1, 1999. Gutenberg.org, ebook.

Rao, K. V. Rama. "The Yellow Wallpaper -- A Dynamic Symbol: A Study Of Charlotte Perkins

Gilman's Story." Poetcrit 19.1 (2006): 38-44. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web.

Wells, H.G. The Red Room. Oct 27, 2007. Gutenberg.org, ebook.

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