THE YELLOW WALLPAPER: ORIGINAL ESSAY (Written Spring 2012)
Insanity can be defined as a state of mental illness or madness; this implies that the mind develops this behavior. One must have a dramatic event or action in their life occur to cause this mental state of insanity, or perhaps a genetic behavior that has slowly grown into this manifested being. People may already be prone to be insane all it takes is one small detail in life to bring it forward; this could be argued as the case for the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The main character, also the narrator, takes a new leap in her life, is brought to a new house and foundation to live on with her husband, John. Although the protagonist is un-named, she slowly unravels on paper and become very dynamic and essential to the topic of insanity. As stated by critics, “As the story progresses, we witness the narrator free herself from the psychological strictures that bind her.” (Esposito) In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the prison-like house and the women’s place in society caused the nameless narrator to descend into insanity, which becomes her form of freedom.
The narrator and her husband have just moved into a new house where they plan to spend their lives, however, there is a room upstairs that is covered in hideous wallpaper. The narrator grows a strong distaste for it as she remarks, “the color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (240), and unfortunately has to deal with it since, ironically, this room becomes hers! The narrator must find a way around the hideous wallpaper and has to get used to it. She soon becomes obsesses with the wallpaper and become the focal point of her story. One critic says, “The narrator’s morbid fascination with the wallpaper is the first clue of her degenerating sanity.” (Hudock) Her husband sees no problem with the wallpaper and thinks that his wife is overreacting. John is a doctor, who treats patients with mental illnesses; John also spends most of his days and nights away from home, so the narrator doesn’t have much to do besides gaze at the house and ponder ludicrous ideas. She remarks, “there is one marked peculiarity about this paper…the woman behind it as plain as can be.” The narrator is clearly losing her mind, once she begins to see this woman behind the paper.
Once the narrator begins to see this “woman” behind the wallpaper, things turn for the worse. A critic says, “The narrator realizes that the woman in the wallpaper is trapped by the pattern of the wallpaper much in the same way as she is trapped in the attic room.” (Esposito) The narrator is trapped in her attic room and is comparing herself to being the woman trapped behind the wallpaper. John just suggests that there is no issue for his wife and tells her to lie down; it’s a shame that he was too oblivious to notice the symptoms of exactly what he treats. John and the narrator’s relationship are somewhat of a false one. The two are married and we know that they’re married, but they are distant; the love they share seems rehearsed and not shared. John treats her more of a patient than a wife and when she needs to be treated for her symptoms most, he fails to see the signs. Another critic says, “The unequal relationship between the narrator and John is a microcosm of the larger gender inequality in society.” (Hudock) This critic is stating that their relationship is a reflection of society and how separate they are. He tells her to lay down and to be on bed rest, which is the worst treatment for her condition. The societal roles in this time period was, as one critic states, “a time of strict moral control and the setting of women’s responsibilities by men in an ideology referred to as “the Cult of Womanhood…women were to be confined to the home and were to perform only domestic tasks which would serve the family and the household.” (Kerr) The 19th century society was dependent on the strict roles of women.
The house itself seems to be ominous and a reflection of neglect and fear. “…I would say a haunted house…” (238). It has a prison-like feel to it; the bed is nailed to the floor and there are bars on the windows trapping everyone who is locked in that room. This, of course, is the narrator’s room, where she writes in her book and stays the night. She begins to feel like a prisoner, hiding her writings from John, and seeing the woman trapped in the walls. “The front pattern does move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!” (248). The narrator begins to see the walls, specifically the wallpaper, moving and the woman behind it presenting herself to the narrator. The woman seems to be trapped behind the paper, but what the narrator fails to grasp is that there was no woman in the wall.
The narrator begins to call the woman in the wall “Jane” and recognizes her as a real person and not an allusion. She sees Jane everywhere she looks, “I can see her out of every one of my windows!” (248) and does not think twice about why a woman would be in her walls. The truth is, the narrator is Jane, and the reason why she is seeing this woman in the wall and outside is because she desperately wants to be free. The narrator craves freedom, from John, society, and her life; so Jane is just a vision of herself trying to get out.
The woman is most present at night, and in the moonlight, “…by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be” (246). When the moonlight shines through the windows, which have bars on them, the narrator stands in front of the window facing the wallpaper; the reflection of the woman she sees is, in fact, her own self. The narrator is the one trapped and has created this imaginary “Jane” to represent her trapped self, subconsciously. By the narrator slowly descending into insanity she has created a way to release herself, through Jane. The ripping of the wallpaper symbolizes her escape and her attempt to be rid of the prison-like state her life is in. In the end, the narrator has finished her job of getting Jane out of the walls; however, she is so far gone that not even her husband can save her. One critic reveals, “At this moment, we see the completion of her madness as she starts to believe that she is the woman freed from within the wallpaper’s pattern.” (Kerr) She recognizes that she is the one needing to escape from “the wallpaper,” yet she doesn’t even mention Jane again, because it is her all along. She recognizes, “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night…” (250). This part of the story reveals that she is the women behind the paper, struggling to be free of her prison.
The narrator does not represent one woman in society, but the entire woman in society. The roles of women were a certain type in the 19th century, and Jane/the narrator, were a real-life depiction of the inner being and emotions of a woman trying to escape that lifestyle. The narrator recognizes this in the end and gives the reader an interesting question to ponder, “…there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did!” (250) Most of the women in society suffered the same emotions and wishes that can be read in the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The narrator just happened to get her own form of freedom by tragically and inevitably spiraling downward into insanity.
The narrator and her husband have just moved into a new house where they plan to spend their lives, however, there is a room upstairs that is covered in hideous wallpaper. The narrator grows a strong distaste for it as she remarks, “the color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (240), and unfortunately has to deal with it since, ironically, this room becomes hers! The narrator must find a way around the hideous wallpaper and has to get used to it. She soon becomes obsesses with the wallpaper and become the focal point of her story. One critic says, “The narrator’s morbid fascination with the wallpaper is the first clue of her degenerating sanity.” (Hudock) Her husband sees no problem with the wallpaper and thinks that his wife is overreacting. John is a doctor, who treats patients with mental illnesses; John also spends most of his days and nights away from home, so the narrator doesn’t have much to do besides gaze at the house and ponder ludicrous ideas. She remarks, “there is one marked peculiarity about this paper…the woman behind it as plain as can be.” The narrator is clearly losing her mind, once she begins to see this woman behind the paper.
Once the narrator begins to see this “woman” behind the wallpaper, things turn for the worse. A critic says, “The narrator realizes that the woman in the wallpaper is trapped by the pattern of the wallpaper much in the same way as she is trapped in the attic room.” (Esposito) The narrator is trapped in her attic room and is comparing herself to being the woman trapped behind the wallpaper. John just suggests that there is no issue for his wife and tells her to lie down; it’s a shame that he was too oblivious to notice the symptoms of exactly what he treats. John and the narrator’s relationship are somewhat of a false one. The two are married and we know that they’re married, but they are distant; the love they share seems rehearsed and not shared. John treats her more of a patient than a wife and when she needs to be treated for her symptoms most, he fails to see the signs. Another critic says, “The unequal relationship between the narrator and John is a microcosm of the larger gender inequality in society.” (Hudock) This critic is stating that their relationship is a reflection of society and how separate they are. He tells her to lay down and to be on bed rest, which is the worst treatment for her condition. The societal roles in this time period was, as one critic states, “a time of strict moral control and the setting of women’s responsibilities by men in an ideology referred to as “the Cult of Womanhood…women were to be confined to the home and were to perform only domestic tasks which would serve the family and the household.” (Kerr) The 19th century society was dependent on the strict roles of women.
The house itself seems to be ominous and a reflection of neglect and fear. “…I would say a haunted house…” (238). It has a prison-like feel to it; the bed is nailed to the floor and there are bars on the windows trapping everyone who is locked in that room. This, of course, is the narrator’s room, where she writes in her book and stays the night. She begins to feel like a prisoner, hiding her writings from John, and seeing the woman trapped in the walls. “The front pattern does move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!” (248). The narrator begins to see the walls, specifically the wallpaper, moving and the woman behind it presenting herself to the narrator. The woman seems to be trapped behind the paper, but what the narrator fails to grasp is that there was no woman in the wall.
The narrator begins to call the woman in the wall “Jane” and recognizes her as a real person and not an allusion. She sees Jane everywhere she looks, “I can see her out of every one of my windows!” (248) and does not think twice about why a woman would be in her walls. The truth is, the narrator is Jane, and the reason why she is seeing this woman in the wall and outside is because she desperately wants to be free. The narrator craves freedom, from John, society, and her life; so Jane is just a vision of herself trying to get out.
The woman is most present at night, and in the moonlight, “…by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be” (246). When the moonlight shines through the windows, which have bars on them, the narrator stands in front of the window facing the wallpaper; the reflection of the woman she sees is, in fact, her own self. The narrator is the one trapped and has created this imaginary “Jane” to represent her trapped self, subconsciously. By the narrator slowly descending into insanity she has created a way to release herself, through Jane. The ripping of the wallpaper symbolizes her escape and her attempt to be rid of the prison-like state her life is in. In the end, the narrator has finished her job of getting Jane out of the walls; however, she is so far gone that not even her husband can save her. One critic reveals, “At this moment, we see the completion of her madness as she starts to believe that she is the woman freed from within the wallpaper’s pattern.” (Kerr) She recognizes that she is the one needing to escape from “the wallpaper,” yet she doesn’t even mention Jane again, because it is her all along. She recognizes, “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night…” (250). This part of the story reveals that she is the women behind the paper, struggling to be free of her prison.
The narrator does not represent one woman in society, but the entire woman in society. The roles of women were a certain type in the 19th century, and Jane/the narrator, were a real-life depiction of the inner being and emotions of a woman trying to escape that lifestyle. The narrator recognizes this in the end and gives the reader an interesting question to ponder, “…there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did!” (250) Most of the women in society suffered the same emotions and wishes that can be read in the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The narrator just happened to get her own form of freedom by tragically and inevitably spiraling downward into insanity.