Psychological Disorders In Jane Austen's The Yellow Wallpaper

In this era, what would people do if they started to become mentally unstable? Today, people who have psychological problems can visit with doctors or therapists, obtain medication, and continue with their lives. If the medication doesn’t help them, they can try different medications or try a combination to help them with their illness, along with multiple therapy options. They are even encouraged to continue activities that they are passionate for, like painting, reading, writing, or anything that helps keep the mind active. In the late 1800’s, this wasn’t the case, especially for women. If women showed any signs of depression or anxiety, they were considered hysterical and would be sent to an asylum or put on bed rest. Bed rest or rest cure, meant that the people who suffered from a mental illness were not allowed to

exercise their mind; they couldn’t work, read, write, or anything else that required intellectual capabilities. They mainly ate bland food, slept, and did mild exercising (“The History” 3). Reading “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” shows that Jane, the main female character, suffers from a psychological illness which is made worse because she is forced to rest her mind; eventually descending into insanity.
The narration of the story is by Jane writing in her journal that she keeps hidden from her husband. Her husband, John, is also Jane’s physician who prescribes her medicine or tonics along with the rest cure to help with her mental issues. To help Jane with his belief of healing, John takes her to a rental house for three months to help her rest (Stetson 647-48). During their time at the rental property, Jane starts to exhibit worsening signs of her psychological problems; eventually leading into psychosis, by displacing herself into the wallpaper. In the beginning, while writing in her journal to help cope with what is happening, Jane writes in elegant, long passages. However, towards the end of the story, Jane’s writing becomes harder to understand with the fragmented sentences and short sections.
Within the journal, Jane talks about how John and her brother are both “a physician of high standing” and John does not believe Jane is ill. John picks the room that they use, and disregards what Jane would like. “I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangins! but John would not hear of it.” Instead, Jane sleeps in one described like this, “So we took the nursery at the top of the house. It is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore… The paint and paper look as if a boys’ school had used it. It is stripped off – the paper – in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach… I never saw a worse paper in my life” (648). While describing the room in the story, Jane notices the yellow wallpaper within and mentions how bad it is.
While the characters stay at the vacation home, Jane follows John’s imperious tendencies because she doesn’t want to displease him and she wants to feel better as well. The only thing Jane does against John’s wishes is writing in her journal. She takes the tonic or medicine and rests like she’s supposed to, but doesn’t like the idea of not doing any intellectual endeavors. Jane even mentions this, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (648). Jane wants to be able to work and do stimulating activities while being kept within the house. Since she follows most of John’s orders, her mind eventually focuses on something that her imagination can use, the hideous yellow wallpaper.
While Jane continues to cooperate with most of the rest cure requirements, John is away doing work. When John does come around, Jane attempts to explain her problems. Her husband ignores her, thinking nothing is wrong and it’s her imagination. Jane states, “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (649). Instead of trying to describe her dilemma to John, she begins to bottle it up and hide it from him. “I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time. Of course, I don’t when John is here, or anybody else, but when I am alone” (650). Being isolated most of the time from other people, begins to take a toll on Jane’s psychological mentality. She can’t express herself to her husband because he doesn’t believe she is ill; holding in her emotions, eventually making her mentality deteriorate. Not being allowed to express herself to others, she concentrates more on the wallpaper.
Throughout the story, Jane becomes more exhausted and even though writing helps with the depression, writing is becoming a task itself. Jane explains in one entry, “I don’t know why I should write this. I don’t want to. I don’t feel able… But I must say what I feel and think in some way – it is such a relief! But the effort is getting to be greater than the relief” (651). Even though writing is a reprieve from her inner turmoil and unable to express herself to others, Jane begins to suffer even more from her mental illness.
While hiding her ailments from everyone and attempting to write to ease her anguish, Jane begins to see shadowy figures behind the wallpaper.

She studies the pattern every chance she has, whether it is day or night time. Jane believes the figure trapped within the wallpaper is a woman, and writes, “By daylight she is subdued quiet. I fancy it is the pattern that keeps her so still. It is so puzzling. It keeps me quiet by the hour” (653). During this time, she’s starting to displace herself onto the yellow wallpaper. The mysterious woman-like figure Jane sees in the wallpaper is trapped, just like she is stuck in their rental house by her husband.

Towards the end of their stay, Jane begins to see the woman “creeping” during the daytime. Yet, the woman hides if other people are present. Jane writes, “I don’t blame her a bit. It must be very humiliating to be caught creeping by daylight! I always lock the door when I creep by daylight” (654). Jane compares herself to the woman “creeping” outside, when she’s “creeping” in her locked room. During this time, Jane’s hold on reality is cracking and starting to intertwine with

delusion.
On the last day of the stay, Jane takes it upon herself to remove the wallpaper to free the woman entrapped behind it. “As soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her” (655). At this point, Jane is attempting to help a hallucination; who portrays Jane’s situation. Jane has been confined to a house with no one around to help her with her mental problems. Her imagination tries to break free from being suppressed for three months, which leads to her demise of her mental stability.
At the beginning of “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” Jane writes about her psychological illness and how her husband, John, attempts to help her by putting her on the rest cure. Even though Jane goes along with the rest cure and not doing meaningful work to keep her mind active, Jane’s mental disorder worsens. Jane’s psychological issues manifest to the point she can’t control them anymore.
Throughout the story, Jane mentions the appalling wallpaper. At first, she describes the wallpaper, but doesn’t focus on it until the end; where she displaces herself within it. After her grip on reality is shattered, Jane became one with her illusion that she sees in the wallpaper. “‘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!’” (656). At the end, Jane believes she was the woman trapped within the awful wallpaper. Looking at Jane’s whole situation, she was imprisoned at a rental property by her domineering husband and forced to rest her mind of any intellectual activity. In doing so, lead to her descent into madness.