The short novel can be interpreted as an account of the personal experience of the author. Indeed, Gilman too,
just like the protagonist of her work, experienced the feeling of oppression and male control in a family
context. The protagonist is under a “rest cure”, a treatment for her depression, which in fact makes her to reach
the point of total madness. The oppressive medical regime of the doctor (which ironically is the husband) meant
to cure her, in the end only deteriorates her mental condition, being her confined in one room, not entitled to
know nothing and do nothing, not even write. Her husband simply do not recognize his wife's creativity as
fundamental so he forces her to give up her writing, hoping that it will calm her nerves so she can assume the
conventional role of ideal wife and mother of the time.
I decided to develop my essay by taking into account the authority of the male character as a doctor and as a
husband. Indeed, he oppresses his wife in many ways: on one hand, he judges her medically by saying that she
is suffering from a nervous depression and has to rest or by saying she is improving; on the other hand, as a
husband, he makes her feel inferior and not capable of thinking or taking any decision.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is greatly influenced by the description of the prior named
“yellow wallpaper” utilizing it as a metaphor for the oppression felt by the main character. Therefore the
relationship between this object and the psychological status of the protagonist is intended by the author to
characterize her state of mind. Moreover, different points of view on the matter intend to analyse what the author
infers with the use of such an image, also what she points out employing such figures as the color yellow, the
glue, the scratching on the wall and the constant thought of the wallpaper pattern.
I want to analyze the metaphor of the setting because the majority of the story is concentrated on the house.
This kind of setting is more important because highlights the woman’s mood closed inside it and her sense of
oppression which is represented by the yellow wallpaper, by the room and the garden. This metaphor underlines
the woman lack of freedom because of her illness.
In the short story “The yellow wallpaper” the question of the correlation between the protagonist’s illness and the
setting is addressed from the beginning to the end of the text. The condition of the woman is reflected on the
setting (first and foremost in the wallpaper, but also in the garden and her room), but there is an overlapping
between what happens inside the protagonist’s mind and around her in the house. The author managed to
enhance the haunting atmosphere of the story by means of the confusion created by this possible double level of
interpretation.
The Yellow wallpaper is a short story about of a woman, affected by a mental illness, who needs treatment and
some cares; for this is reason is surrounded by a brother and a husband, both doctors, and sister in law, very
kind but a little meddle.
This analysis will focus on the type of this story, Gothic, because it seems to be, for her illness, which gives her
depression, hallucination and confined to her bed, the most relevant feature among the others.
The yellow wallpaper is a short story with a subtle psychological insight. Among the many topics in the text, it
appears the women's condition characterized by a lack of autonomy, by submission to the will of men. In the
story John looks like a sweet loving husband but actually he stifles wife's desires. For this reason her attempt to
change this hierarchy.