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Daisy Ramirez
Shirley Kahlert
Essay #1
February 28, 2012
Insane or Alone
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Doll’s House” by Henrik
Ibsen were both written in the nineteenth century. The nameless narrator of The Yellow
Wallpaper and Nora are common nineteenth century woman married to men who
oppressed, controlled, and prohibited them to write because they belonged to a feminist
society. This emotionally affected these women in different ways because their life styles
were different so had distinct problems. Both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s
House” depict women who search for their identity and freedom while struggling with
emotional issues because they are oppressed by society as well as their husbands.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the nameless narrator, wife, struggles emotionally
while being confined to an attic nursery by her husband. She tells us that she is forbidden
to write but does so anyways to let us know how her emotional situation worsens by the
day. According to the story, the narrator becomes obsessed with the room’s wallpaper,
which she finds unpleasant at first but later pays too much attention to it. Since she has
nothing else to do, paying so much attention to the wallpaper makes her see an
imprisoned woman trying to get out of the wallpaper therefore she attempts to liberate the
woman by peeling off the wallpaper from the room’s wall. She failed at liberating the
women from the wall but she was able to free herself by becoming insane. This caused
her to feel happier and be free like she wanted to, so it helped her emotionally.
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Susan S. Lanser, a literary critic, argues “this brilliant tale of a white, middle-class
wife driven mad by a patriarchy controlling her ‘for her own good’ has become an
American feminist classic.” This is precise because if it weren’t for her husband, John,
who controlled her, she would have not gotten emotionally chaotic. Her husband thought
he was doing his wife a favor by locking her in a room after giving birth but what he did
not know was that he was causing her emotional distress. She was not emotionally able to
enjoy her baby and therefore she focused too much on the wallpaper that got her
emotionally distressed. Another point Lanser argues is “the canonization of the ‘The
Yellow Wallpaper’ is an obvious sign of the degree to which contemporary feminism has
transformed the study of literature.” From what Lanser pointed out we can understand
how the story is part of feminist literature. The story transformed literature because it
shows a distinct view of feminism and how women were emotionally affected by it.
Similar to the nameless narrator, Nora Helmer in “A Doll’s House” is a wife
looking for an identity in a patriarchal society. To find this “person” she is seeking, she
has to fight against emotional issues as well. Joan Templeton argues, “Nora’s exit from
her dollhouse has long been the principal international symbol for women’s emotional
issues.” Nora once secretly borrowed a large amount of money so her husband, Torvald,
could pay for an illness that he had. The problem is that she never told him of the money
therefore she had to pay back by saving from her household allowance. Her husband
thinks she is careless and childlike so he calls her his doll. Torvald then becomes bank
director so he has to fire a man who forged his signature on a document. This man, Nils
Krogstad, is the man Nora asked for money to pay for her husband’s illness. We learn
that Nora forged her father’s signature in order to get the money so Nils threatens Nora to
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tell the truth so that he does not get fired. Nora tries to convince her husband not to fire
Nils but he just thinks Nora is a child who does not understand the value of money. So at
the end Torvald disclaims her because he discovers what Nora had done to get the money
and does not care that she had done it for him. After everything is solved, Nora notices
that her husband is not worth her love so she leaves him.
For example in the first part of the play Nora is talking with Mrs. Linde about her
husband Torvald, Nora says “I feel so relieved and so happy…” because she knows she
does not have to worry about money. In part two of the play we can see how Nora turns
from being happy to being worried and afraid because she tells Krogstad “I am not
speaking of what I owe you. Tell me what sum you are asking my husband for, and I will
get the money.” She then gains courage to confront Krogstad by letting him know that “I
have courage enough for it now” which means she will pay back the money without her
husbands help. Finally in the third part of the play, we see Nora as a woman who feels
strong, willing, and ready to be on her own. We also see how Nora frees herself from
Torvald even though he insists on her staying and pretend they are brother and sister.
Torvald tells Nora that she is still his wife even if she leaves but then Nora responds
I have heard that when a wife deserts her husband's house,
as I am doing now, he is legally freed from all obligations
towards her. In any case, I set you free from all your
obligations. You are not to feel yourself bound in the
slightest way, any more than I shall. There must be perfect
freedom on both sides. See, here is your ring back. Give me
mine.
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Here we see how Nora is leaving Torvald but before she does, she makes sure to free
herself from him. By giving back the ring, Nora is untying any ties she had with her
husband because she feels that a secure way to do it. At the end, Nora walks away from
Torvald, which is when Nora’s freedom starts and she leaves behind all the emotions she
went through behind as well.
Both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s House” belong to the same time
period and contain feminist characteristics because they are from the nineteenth century
and were oppressed. Both women were prohibited to write; therefore they had to write in
secret because writing helped control their emotional issues. They were emotionally
incarcerated in their on body and home because they were not able to make their own
decisions therefore they were not free. At the end of both stories, they found their identity
and freedom so they were happy in a sense. Another thing they have in common is that
both women feel imprisoned by their husbands which makes them emotionally upset and
unhappy about their way of living and that is what causes them to find a way out of their
imprisonment. Most importantly is that they were part of a feminism society that caused
them to find freedom one way or another.
Although they can be compared, the “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s
House” can also be contrasted. For example, the nameless narrator got her freedom but in
order to get that freedom she had to give up her sanity but kept her husband. On the other
hand, Nora got her freedom without giving up anything besides her husband. We can
infer this because one can imagine how life is when you are insane and when you get
divorced. It also seems like the nameless narrator lost more freedom than Nora since she
is insane she will be stuck in a room while Nora will be able to go out. The nameless
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narrator seems to have more mental freedom than Nora because she does not have to
stress out about society since she is insane she can no longer think properly while Nora
has to worry about the feminist society that surrounds her.
We all search for an identity or freedom at some time throughout our lives which
is hard so imagine how much harder it was for women to do this while living in a
nineteenth century patriarchal home. For example the narrator of “The Yellow
Wallpaper” and Nora from “A Doll’s House” are both women, who were not able to have
an identity. Therefore, their only choices in life were to get married or remain single and
face the economic consequences, which caused emotional issues for women who wanted
the freedom to express themselves but could not because they did not have that option.
Although these women gave up their families, they got what they wanted. Women can be
free if we know how to control our emotional issues to work in our favor instead of
letting them control us.
Bibliography
Feminist Criticism, "The Yellow Wallpaper," and the Politics of Color in America
Susan S. Lanser
Feminist Studies , Vol. 15, No. 3, Feminist Reinterpretations/Reinterpretations of
Feminism (Autumn, 1989), pp. 415-441
Published by: Feminist Studies, Inc.
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Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3177938
Gilman, Charlotte P. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 1899
Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House”. February 10, 2012.
http://www.fullbooks.com/A-Doll-s-House.html
The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen
Joan Templeton
PMLA , Vol. 104, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 28-40
Published by: Modern Language Association
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/462329