The yellow wallpaper is a 6000 word short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892. Gilman was inspired to write the story while under treatment for depression by Dr. Weir Mitchell, a famous psychologist. To treat the creeping depression, Dri Mitchell prescribed a ‘rest cure’ in which the patient is obligated to do nothing all day so as to prevent himself/herself from exerting himself/herself too much This treatment practice backfired and brought Charlotte to the brink of madness. The story, which is also a semi—biographical account of the author, is meant as a second opinion of the seemingly controversial practices of doctors. Later in the 20‘“ century, the piece has also served as a symbol of feminism and women resistance against rnale dominance (Poetsforumtcom). Summary of the Story follows an unnamed female as she slowly begins to lose her mind.
Her husband, John and her husband’s sister, Jennie, take care of her at a large mansion outside the hustle bustle of the city. John is a physician and he uses various ways to cure and minimize the nervous condition of his wife(eNotes). These ways include the seclusion of the wife to a quiet and removed room and complete abstinence from all sorts of writing and other physical activity. As time passes, the protagonist is drawn to a wall paper in the rest room where she begins to see and formulate different interpretations of the texture of the wallpaper(Shmoop). As time passes, she begins to see a woman in the wallpaper (perhaps, an allegory to herself) who is kept against her willt She seeks to free the woman secretly and plunges into irreversible mental destruction at the end of the story.
The theme of submissive women is an important symbol of the story the protagonist is seen to be mindful and submissive of her husband to the point that she is prevented from acting against her will(Teeninkicom). While this is in the name of helping her, it actually causes more harm to her than good. As a result, the patient escapes to a fantasy which causes her to slowly lose her mind irreversibly. This can be considered to be an allegory to the dominant nature of men in marriages. The author was a proclaimed women’s rights activist and feminist and uses her work to impress upon the reader that such a controlling attitude only causes more harm to the woman(Sustana).
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The woman must be allowed to exercise her free will in all matters. This will not only help her realize her aspirations but also develop her mentally. Another important motif of the story is the fight against the ‘resting cure’i Being a firsthand victim of the disastrous consequences of the resting cure, Gilman sought to fight against this controversial medical practice Treating the woman as a child and preventing her from doing anything meaningful accelerates the descents into madness. This story seeks to criticize this practice as well as any other medical practice that sidelines the patient and treats him or her as a passive object Dri Weir Mitchell was sent a copy of the story by the author who abandoned his ‘resting cure’ technique after witnessing the backlash against it. Such a theme then extends to the subordination of women which is the main, if not the most important, pan of the story.
The third and perhaps the most symbol of the story is the wallpaper itself. In the beginning, the protagonist seeks to solve and interpret the seemingly random texture of the wallpaper She is fascinated by the intricacy of the wallpaper despite its shabby and dirty nature, With time, she begins to see a woman trapped in the wallpaper and then several women. These images reflect the internal struggle and the view point of the writer She considers herself to be trapped by the treatment and the limits imposed upon her by her family. Her actions in helping the woman in the wallpaper escape relate to her internal longing to escape her captivity by any means necessary(The Sitting Bee). The author brilliantly uses the wallpaper to convey the dread, the internal conflict of the protagonist and the main theme of the story.
Conclusion is Initially written by the author as a semi-biographical account of her ordeal, the story transformed into a symbol of resistance for women against domination and submissiveness and against controversial medical practices It was initially considered to be a form of horror but gradually, the audience began to see the real message behind the motifs, While the story is a bit ambiguous in its ending, the ending for the author is a bit different Gilman did leave her life behind and remarried but eventually committed suicide by consuming chloroform at the age of 75 after being diagnosed with cancer Gilman’s work provided a significant impetus to the feminist movement that followed her time. Of all her works, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper‘ remains the author’s most accomplished and most famous piece of writing.
