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Character analysis and theme essay on the yellow wallpaper
Aspects of "the yellow wallpaper
Yellow wallpaper narrator character analysis
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In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins, the main character, who is the narrator, is taken to a summerhouse by her husband John. John is not only her husband but he is also a physician. Her husband John diagnoses his wife as being mentally unwell. John’s prescription for healing her state of mental instability is bed rest. While on bed rest, the narrator is left alone in her house by herself for most of the day. Her husband John forces her to stay in the room that she despises, in a house she does not want to be in. The narrator wanted freedom and her internal yearning for freedom causes conflict in many areas of her life. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows the mental breakdown of the main character through the …show more content…
The conflict in her environment showed her internal conflict with her husband. A critique of “The Yellow Wallpaper” says, “[The narrator] even challenges John’s treatment of her. Yet, while one part of her may believe John wrong, another part that has internalized the negative definitions of womanhood believes that since he is the man, the doctor, and therefore the authority, then he may be right” (Magill). This internal conflict between wanting to believe herself while still living in agreement with her husband causes the narrator to doubt every move that she makes and overanalyze every detail of her life. The narrator says, “He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get” (1). The narrator’s idea that she must do everything her husband tells her forces her to doubt herself and her ability to make proper judgments for …show more content…
The narrator has conflict with her environment and John, but she refuses to stand up for herself because of her lack of self worth. She says, “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him. Of course it is only nervousness. It does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!” (Gilman 2). In this insight into the narrator’s mind one can see how she bases her self worth in what her husband thinks of her and since she believes that all she is to him is a burden, then she has no validation of her self worth through anyone but him.
Restate Thesis- In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the use of the Narrator’s conflict throughout the story causes her to have a mental breakdown brought upon by the narrator’s conflict with the environment she is in, the conflict with her husband, and the conflict within herself. The narrator’s conflict with her environment, her husband, and within herself brings upon her mental breakdown. If people would look past their own desires and opinions of others then people might be able to truly help others, instead of harming them by confining them to the box people put them
The narrator is trying to get better from her illness but her husband “He laughs at me so about this wallpaper” (515). He puts her down and her insecurities do not make it any better. She is treated like a child. John says to his wife “What is it little girl” (518)? Since he is taking care of her she must obey him “There comes John, and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word”. The narrator thinks John is the reason why she cannot get better because he wants her to stay in a room instead of communicating with the world and working outside the house.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story about an anonymous female narrator and her husband John who is a physician who has rented a colonial manner in the summer. Living in that house, the narrator felt odd living there. Her husband, john who is a physician and also a doctor to his wife felt that the narrator is under nervous depression. He further mentions that when a person is under depression, every feeling is an odd feeling. Therefore, the narrator was not given permission by John to work but just to take medication and get well fast. This made the narrator to become so fixated with the yellow wallpaper in the former nursery in which she located. She was depressed for a long time and became even more depressed. This ha...
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.
It is clear that in their marriage, her husband makes her decisions on her behalf and she is expected to simply follow blindly. Their relationship parallels the roles that men and women play in marriage when the story was written. The narrator’s feelings of powerlessness and submissive attitudes toward her husband are revealing of the negative effects of gender roles. John’s decision to treat the narrator with rest cure leads to the narrator experiencing an intense feeling of isolation, and this isolation caused her mental decline. Her descent into madness is at its peak when she grows tears the wallpaper and is convinced that “[she’s] got out at last, in spite of [John] and Jennie… and [they] can’t put her back!”
The character of the husband, John, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is introduced as a respected physician and a caring husband who strives to improve the mental health of his wife, the narrator, who is diagnosed with temporary nervous condition. John tries throughout the story to apply professional treatment methods and medications in his approach to helping his wife gain strength. However, his patient, his wife, seems to disregard John’s professional opinions and act as if she is following his advices only during his awakening presence with her. The narrator seems to be in need of John’s positive opinion about the status of her mental condition in order to avoid the criticism even though she disagrees with his treatment methodology. John, without doubt, cares for his wife and her wellbeing, but he does not realize how his treatment method negatively impacts their relationship his wife’s progress towards gaining strength. Although John was portrayed as a caring and a loving physician and husband to the narrator through out most of the story, he was also suggested as being intrusive and directive to a provoking level in the mind of the narrator.
"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” tells the story of a woman who is trapped in a room covered in yellow wallpaper. The story is one that is perplexing in that the narrator is arguably both the protagonist as well as the antagonist. In the story, the woman, who is the main character, struggles with herself indirectly which results in her descent into madness. The main conflicts transpires between the narrator and her husband John who uses his power as a highly recognize male physician to control his wife by placing limitations on her, forcing her to behave as a sick woman. Hence he forced himself as the superior in their marriage and relationship being the sole decision make. Therefore it can be said what occurred externally resulted in the central conflict of” “The Yellow Wallpaper being internal. The narrator uses the wallpaper as a symbol of authenticy. Hence she internalizes her frustrations rather then openly discussing them.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a self-told story about a woman who approaches insanity. The story examines the change in the protagonist's character over three months of her seclusion in a room with yellow wallpaper and examines how she deals with her "disease." Since the story is written from a feminist perspective, it becomes evident that the story focuses on the effect of the society's structure on women and how society's values destruct women's individuality. In "Yellow Wallpaper," heroine's attempt to free her own individuality leads to mental breakdown.
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.
The narrator is suffering from a mild depression that her physician husband has prescribed complete bed rest in order for her to recover. During their summer vacation, she is confined to a room at the top of the house where she can see the world passing her by day in and day out. Her brother who is also a physician concurs with her husband's prescription leaving her with no option but to succumb to the torment of being left alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper.
In Charlotte Bronte’s’, The Yellow Wallpaper the narrator is healthy until her husband, John moves her into a new house where she is confined and is in solitude. The Yellow Wallpaper makes Charlotte Bronte go mad, mentally and physically. Charlotte’s husband, John believes since she is sickly he should confine her in an attic with a cure called The Rest Cure which means the patient can not do anything but sit around their room all day. I chose this story because of the intense amount of detail in the room as well as with Bronte’s rapidly changing personality.
Although, the climax of the story happens when she peels the wallpaper from the wall, therefore releasing her from imprisonment; the problem isn’t resolved because she is insane now and didn’t get better. The external conflict is man versus society, the internal conflict is man versus himself, and the central conflict is man versus man. The external conflict is man versus society because of how society viewed women at that time as they were seen to be beneath man, and it showed in how they were treated. The internal conflict is man versus himself because the narrator had to deal with depression and the treatment, which made it worse for her. The central conflict is man versus man because the narrator has to deal with the way her husband is treating her as a human and as a patient.
Her tense mind is then further pushed towards insanity by her husband, John. As one of the few characters in the story, John plays a pivotal role in the regression of the narrator’s mind. Again, the narrator uses the wallpaper to convey her emotions. Just as the shapes in the wallpaper become clearer to the narrator, in her mind, she is having the epiphany that John is in control of her.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator becomes more depressed throughout the story because of the recommendation of isolation that was made to her. In this short story the narrator is detained in a lonesome, drab room in an attempt to free herself of a nervous disorder. The narrator’s husband, a physician, adheres to this belief and forces his wife into a treatment of solitude. Rather than heal the narrator of her psychological disorder, the treatment only contributes to its effects, driving her into a severe depression. Under the orders of her husband, the narrator is moved to a house far from society in the country, where in she is locked into an upstairs room.
The Yellow Wallpaper is a popular book when discussing psychology in the late nineteenth century. The author, Charlotte Gilman, wrote her experience of mental illness through her narrator. Gilman suffered with depression after giving birth and she never fully recovered from it. (Gilman 95). The narrator is depicted as a woman who has been diagnosed with what was called a nervous disorder. Her husband, a psychologist, gave her several different tonics and other substances that are supposed to make her better. She was also put on bed rest meaning that she was not able to work or do anything that would tire her out. She is told to go and rest several times during the story and it is evident that her ‘psychosis’ gets worse when she is forced to stay in her room and rest for the majority of her days and all night. She begins to see women in the pattern of her wallpaper and she becomes obsessed with it. The narrator becomes very protective of her wallpaper and gets almost jealous when she sees her sister-in-law looking at it and touching it. She even says “no person touches this pa...