The Yellow Wallpaper Misogyny Analysis

How the Wallpaper Peeled: The Consequences of Misogyny in The Yellow Wall Paper
Motherhood is something that the narrator does not experience throughout her story although while looking on the surface she seems to follow the typical bildungsroman or typical familial triangle. What distorts this triangle and forces her to reject motherhood appears to be her evident postpartum depression, but in reality, she does not experience motherhood properly due to the deep-rooted problem of her not being able to love her child. Her incapability of loving her child stems from poor, misogynistic relationship with her husband and his treatment towards her. In order for her to love her child and accept motherhood, she would have to accept John as her husband, and therefore part of her familial triangle. Before, it was an incredibly distorted triangle, although appearing much more normal and even. Currently she is the only one existing within her triangle by having her husband be away most of the time, and having her child be with the nanny. In order for her to accept motherhood she would have to bring her husband back into the previously mentioned triangle. She would not only have to accept him physically, but also sexually and emotionally. He would essentially be emotionally married to her

again, and she obviously cannot accept that due to a combination of their current relationship.
In order to accurately present the argument that the narrator’s rejection of motherhood stems from her self-awareness and intelligence, which causes her to resent her husband, and therefore their child, there will be two sections and a counter argument.

The first section will prove that the narrator is aware of the inherent misogyny that she faces daily in her household. Then, the first section will prove how said intelligence and self-awareness prevents her from having a proper relationship with her husband. The second section will tie together the idea that because of how self aware the narrator is, she can no longer have a relationship with her husband, and therefore her

child.
It is no secret that the narrator’s husband, John, repeatedly mistreats and misdiagnoses the narrator due to his misogynistic views and opinions. This repeated treatment perpetuates her feelings towards her husband, forcing a rift between the two. Starting with the treatment towards the narrator, his opinions on her mental illness and writing are what initiate the rift between the two. When she describes John’s opinions of her mental health, she claims that “John laughs at me,…and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (Gilman 131). She also claims “he does not believe I am sick!” (Gilman 131). Although her husband is a professional medical doctor, it is obvious he does not take mental health seriously. Due to her sarcastic and almost exasperated tone, it is evident that the narrator is angered by her husband’s opinions, especially when it is inhibiting her progress and health.
In addition to his poor opinions on her mental health, he does not believe the narrator should write, which adds to her resentment towards him. Her furthered resentment towards him continues to distort the familial triangle, and will continue to distort it until the triangle becomes broken, a failed bildungsroman. She is “absolutely forbidden to ‘work’”, to which she thoroughly disagrees with, and believes “that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman 131). This evidently upsets her, but she realizes that there is not much she can do to oppose her husband (Gilman 132).
While the narrator cannot do her work, the husband gets to go out and work, which is only the tip of the misogynistic iceberg, as he also has a mistress. She claims that “John is away all day, and even some nights” and “does not know how much I really suffer” (Gilman 134). This proves that the husband is not as doting as he claims to be, and yet continues to still ignore her mental illness while only focusing on his sexual desires. This act of sexism and misogyny initiated by her husband further distances the husband and wife, therefore further distancing the narrator from her child.
A counterargument could be made that the narrator did not choose motherhood at all, and was forced into the role, and forced out when she was no longer needed, so she was essentially rejected from the role, not the other way around. This can be seen by how the husband prevents the narrator from being with the baby, as her only job was to give birth to the baby: “Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him” (Gilman 134). In addition, as previously proven, the husband leaves the wife at home all of the time, while he is permitted to leave and to work, and see his mistress. Due to the husband’s behavior towards the narrator, it is clear that she is no longer necessary, hence why he rejects her from the role of motherhood.
This objection is invalid because the narrator technically had a choice. Although not an easy choice, she ultimately chose to reject motherhood. She says the reason she cannot be with the baby is because “it makes me so nervous” (Gilman 134). She refers to the baby as an “it”, which is quite odd considering it is her baby after all. She is essentially removing herself from the situation, while making excuses to disassociate herself from the baby. By distancing herself from the baby, it makes it easier for her to reject motherhood. In addition, her comment about her child and how it is a “dear baby” further distances the narrator from her child. The child being a dear baby is something that a complete, uninvolved stranger would say about the child, not its own mother.
Due the strained and inherently misogynistic relationship with her husband, she becomes incapable of being a proper mother to her child. Her child is essentially the product of the toxic relationship that exists between her and her husband, as well as a product of the husband himself. Although it has previously been proved that the narrator chose to reject motherhood, it was never decided what kind of choice that was, and how much of that decision was truly hers. As shown in the previous two paragraphs, the narrator could not love her child; she distanced herself from the baby, and chose to not be around it (Gilman 134). Her obvious disdain towards her husband stems from her clear intelligence and self-awareness, while his opinions add on to the increasing resentment that she feels towards him Each additional thing that he does, such as having his sister spy on the narrator for him, wanting to sleep in a separate bed than her, not actually treating her mental illness are each an additional reason concerning why she cannot lover her husband, and therefore her child (Gilman 136,131,132).
Furthermore, the triangle in which she would forced to be a part of if she chose to accept motherhood, would include her husband, as the typical triangle includes a husband, wife, and child. On an emotional level, the narrator has no desire to have that form of a relationship with her husband, as proven by her remarks and opinions on his medical diagnoses. Moreover, when referring to the husband’s mistress and his sexual promiscuity, the author goes to say that “he is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious. I am glad my case is not serious!” (Gilman 134). This proves she also has no sexual interest in her husband which further adds to the idea that no triangle can exist where both her, her husband, and her child can coexist.
One may say that she does not need to accept her husband to a accept motherhood, but in actuality she does. Mary takes care of the baby, assuming she is a nanny employed by the husband, as the narrator cannot work (Gilman 134,131). The husband also has complete control of where the narrator goes, due to the fact that he put her in the house and has his sister spy on her (Gilman 131, 136). As these are just a few possible scenarios, overall, there is no possible way where the author could accept motherhood while continuing to reject her husband. And she cannot accept both due to the failed relationship between the narrator and her husband.
All of these inconsistencies within society, and particularly her household are slowly building throughout the short story, which in turn, are adding to the overall resentment to her husband, and therefore her child. As previously stated, she would have to love her husband to be able to embrace motherhood and properly love her child, but frankly, she cannot and never will. She is too smart, too self aware, to be blindly pushed into it all, and still lay there as a docile wife who embraces motherhood while ignoring her husband’s obvious affairs. In reality, these affairs would have occurred regardless because the only thing he required from her was an heir. In order for her to embrace motherhood, she would have to choose it. And she never did. She simply could not. She was thrust into that triangle by society and social expectations. Hence, her only option was rejecting motherhood entirely.
Her decision to reject motherhood entirely was one that had grave consequences; consequences that are still not entirely clear at this point. Whether or not this was the right decision is also undetermined at this point. Her immediate rejection of motherhood led to a severe mental break, which affected both her and her husband. If she had chosen to attempt motherhood, it is assumed that a mental break would have occurred regardless, but an analysis could be performed to theorize to the possible consequences of having the narrator attempt motherhood. The consequences of having the narrator take care of the baby could be severe due to her post partum depression, which would still go untreated because of the husband’s ignorance towards mental illness or lack of care towards his wife (so we must pick our poison).