How Is Irony Used In The Yellow Wallpaper

Through the use of irony, forbidden knowledge, and madness, Gilman, author of the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, reflects her helplessness and inability of being understood by her dominant husband thus expressing the overshadowing of men's power upon women’s rights.

In Gilman’s short story a Gothic literary motif applied to emphasize the fact that the narrator is suffering from her naive husband, John, is irony. Three types of irony are used in this short story, but the irony mostly used is verbal. An example of verbal irony is when the narrator states, “So I take phosphates or phosphites,whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.” (Perkins 648). This shows that the narrator is hiding her actions of examining the wallpaper from her husband because she knows that her husband will .

Madness is portrayed numerous times in The Yellow Wallpaper. For example, “ I’ve got out at last, said I, in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back” (Perkins 1161). At this time of the story, the narrator is very mentally ill. The fantasy character that she creates mirrors herself, and when she tears off the yellow wallpaper, this symbolizes that they are both free. Another example of madness is when the narrator’s husband, John, opens the door and faints. John faints because of the transformation he sees from the narrator turning mentally ill to insane. After this happens the narrator states, “ I had to creep over him every time” (Perkins 1161). From what can be interpreted from the narrator's quote, it evidently supports that she is mad, because a normal person would have helped or went around a fainted person, but the narrator doesn’t do anything except creep over