In the “The Yellow Wallpaper” a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman published in 1892, Gilman uses symbolism to show that the woman in the wallpaper represents all the women who were limited by the rules imposed on them by a patriarchal society.
Gilman’s story could not have come at a more relevant time. The late 1800s marked a pivotal period in the fight for woman’s rights in the United States. This fight became known as suffrage. Suffrage was the women's movement to gain the right to equal pay, the right to vote, the right to work and the right to be treated equally. Women began to open their eyes to possibilities for themselves in their society.
In the 1800s women had little to no power. Everything was controlled by the men in their
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Her husband and brother, both physicians prescribe to her a “rest cure” which consist of her lying in bed for most of the day and refraining from doing any meaningful work. The narrator disagrees with their treatment and challenges it by writing and questions its effect, but every time she tries to express her opinions on the treatment her husband shuts her down, reminding her “I am a doctor, dear, and I know” (Gilman) and she believes that he knows best. Her husband, John represents the typical male and medical community. As her husband, he treats his wife as if she were a child calling her a “blessed little goose” and “little girl ”. As her physician, he ignores her pleas and puts his wants over her needs because he believes that he knows best. Although she knows that his treatment is only making her worse she continues with it and even felt guilty for doubting his treatment. She has been programmed to believe that the men are always right and the unbalanced power positions have left her without the courage and self-esteem to speak up for herself. As time goes by, due to the lack any meaningful activity, purpose, or social stimulation, she becomes fascinated with the shadows in the wallpaper. But her curiosity slowly turns into obsession and she believes that there are secrets within the wall and she must figure it out. …show more content…
The yellow wallpaper symbolizes the rule set by society that traps women into a domestic life and prevents them from living an equal life. She sees the women behind the bars and now she has become one of them saying, “I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did?”(Gilman). The women in the wall represent the women who are aware of the inequality in their lives but are unable to change it. She has seen the oppression and now she is fighting to come out from under
According to the narrator, she needs nothing more than a change of pace and scenery. Sadly, since her husband is a physician of high standing, her opinion and feelings are not even considered. He always seems to talk down to her, treating her like a child in this particular instance, calling her “little girl”. In spite of this, she sees this as an opportunity to talk to let him know her concerns, informing him that she is not getting better as he so adamantly believes.
Gilman is an author whose writing is based on individuals making up America's collective identity. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is from the vantage points of being a woman, at a time when women were not supposed to have individual thoughts and personalities. At this time in history, the social roles of women were very well-defined: mothers and caretakers of the family, prim and proper creatures that were pleasant to look at, seen but not heard, and irrational and emotional. The identity of women were presupposed on them by men. At the time this story was written, social criticisms were on the rise and writers had more of an outlet to express themselves. Women's suffrage provided by many female writers, such as Gilman, the means to air the wrongs against women.
The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” knows she is sick, but the men in her life do not think she is seriously ill. Her husband, John, and her brother are both physicians of high standing, so she does not know what to do when they diagnose her as being perfectly healthy. Even though she does not agree with their remedies, she has no say over them. She admits with discomfort, “So I take phosphates or phosphites-whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and airs, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again”(Gilman 956). Although she would know if she was sick and what would make her feel better than anyone else, she is forced to go along with her husband’s elaborate plan for her path to recovery.
To initiate on the theme of control I will proceed to speak about the narrators husband, who has complete control over her. Her husband John has told her time and time again that she is sick; this can be viewed as control for she cannot tell him otherwise for he is a physician and he knows better, as does the narrator’s brother who is also a physician. At the beginning of the story she can be viewed as an obedient child taking orders from a professor, and whatever these male doctors say is true. The narrator goes on to say, “personally, I disagree with their ideas” (557), that goes without saying that she is not very accepting of their diagnosis yet has no option to overturn her “treatment” the bed rest and isolation. Another example of her husband’s control would be the choice in room in which she must stay in. Her opinion is about the room she stays in is of no value. She is forced to stay in a room she feels uneasy about, but John has trapped her in this particular room, where the windows have bars and the bed is bolted to the floor, and of course the dreadful wall paper, “I never worse paper in my life.” (558) she says. Although she wishes to switch rooms and be in one of the downstairs rooms one that, “opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window. ...” (558). However, she knows that, “John would not hear of it.”(558) to change the rooms.
At the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” she was considered a prominent feminist writer. This piece of background information allows the readers to see Gilman’s views on women’s rights and roles in the 18th century; “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggests that women in the 18th century were suppressed into society’s marital gender roles. Gilman uses the setting and figurative language, such as symbolism, imagery, and metaphors to convey the theme across.
...chniques that Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses in "The Yellow Wallpaper" to suggest that a type of loneliness (in women) caused by imprisoning oppression can lead to the deadliest form of insanity. By using setting, Gilman shows how the barred windows intensifies the young woman's imprisoning oppression, the isolated summer home represents the loneliness the young woman feels, and her hallucinations of the wallpaper pattern indicates her transition to insanity. Wallpaper symbolism is used throughout the story the pattern representing the strangling nature of the imprisoning oppression, the fading yellow color showing the fading away of the young woman, and the hovering smell representing the deadly insanity to which she succumbs. Like the darkness that quickly consumes, the imprisoning loneliness of oppression swallows its victim down into the abyss of insanity.
In a female oppressive story about a woman driven from postpartum depression to insanity, Charlotte Gilman uses great elements of literature in her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Her use of feminism and realism demonstrates how woman's thoughts and opinions were considered in the early 1900?s.
Advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men, Charlotte Perkins Gilman speaks to the “female condition” in her 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by writing about the life of a woman and what caused her to lose her sanity. The narrator goes crazy due partially to her prescribed role as a woman in 1892 being severely limited. One example is her being forbidden by her husband to “work” which includes working and writing. This restricts her from begin able to express how she truly feels. While she is forbidden to work her husband on the other hand is still able to do his job as a physician. This makes the narrator inferior to her husband and males in general. The narrator is unable to be who she wants, do what she wants, and say what she wants without her husband’s permission. This causes the narrator to feel trapped and have no way out, except through the yellow wallpaper in the bedroom.
To begin with, the narrator husband name is John, who shows male dominance early in the story as he picked the house they stayed in and the room he kept his wife in, even though his wife felt uneasy about the house. He is also her doctor and orders her to do nothing but rest; thinking she is just fine. John is the antagonist because he is trying to control her without letting her input in and endangers her psychological state. It is written in a formal style, while using feign words.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman explores the oppression of women in the nineteenth century and the constant limitation of their freedom, which many times led to their confinement. The short story illustrates male superiority and the restriction of a woman’s choice regarding her own life. The author’s diction created a horrific and creepy tone to illustrate the supernatural elements that serve as metaphors to disguise the true meaning of the story. Through the use of imagery, the reader can see that the narrator is living within a social class, so even though the author is trying to create a universal voice for all women that have been similar situations, it is not possible. This is not possible because there are many
In the 19th century society was from different from what it is today. Women were not in the workforce, could not vote, or even have a say in anything. Women were not permitted to give evidence in court, nor, did they have the right to speak in public before an audience. When a woman married, her husband legally owned all she had (including her earnings, her clothes and jewelry, and her children). If he died, she was entitled to only a third of her husband’s estate. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wanted to change this. She wanted people to understand the plight of women in the 19th century. In her short story The Yellow Wallpaper she tries to convey this to the reader not just on a literal level, but through various symbols in the story. In The Yellow Wallpaper the author uses symbols to show restrictions on women, lack of public interaction, the struggle for equality, and the possibilities of the female sex during the 1800s.
“The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a gothic short story that tells the tale of female oppression. Written in the first person and taking the form of a personal diary, Gilman uses the “The Yellow Wallpaper” and its many symbols to shed light on the physical and mental oppression women faced by living in a male-dominated society, and their inability to have authority over their own lives in any facet. During the 1800’s when this story was written women were often expected to adhere to societies images of what a woman should be. In most cases, that meant being able to complete the duties of wifehood and motherhood. In many circumstances, women
The title itself, The Yellow Wallpaper, is symbolizing the role men play in a patriarchal society, where men are the more dominant sex, and how women are 'trapped'; in a life of male control. For instance, At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all moonlight, it becomes bars!';(Gilman 211) This shows how the narrator feels trapped by the paper. Another symbol that refers to the role women play is, 'And she is all the time trying to climb through that pattern, it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads.';(Gilman 213) This is meaning that if a women tried to play a role in society she was just not taken seriously, or felt like trying to play a role was getting nowhere.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" has been viewed as a narrative study of Gilman’s own depression and nervousness. The narrator of the story and Gilman are very similar as they both reached for medical help. The Yellow Wallpaper was written in a time of great change. During the early to mid-nineteenth century domestic ideology positioned woman as the sacred and principled leaders of their home. Gilman would advocate other roles for women which Gilman thought should be much more equal economically, socially and politically with men. She argued that women should have the same rights and also be financially independent from men, which Gilman showed by promoting this. The Yellow Wallpaper is more than just a story of
The women’s suffrage movement was the struggle for the right of women to vote, run for office, and is part of the overall women’s rights movement. In the 19th century, women in several countries most recognizably the U.S. and england formed organizations to fight for suffrage. Beginning in the mid 19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and participated in civil strike to achieve what many Americans considered a revolutionary change in the Constitution.