“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Critical Analysis

Introduction: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in 1892 in the New England Magazine, was later included in a collection of Gilman’s works called In This Our World in 1893. The story features a narrator who is struggling with what her husband believes is a nervous disorder, and he has taken her to a rented summer home where she is forbidden from working or stimulating herself in any way. The narrator becomes increasingly obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room, which she despises, and begins to see a woman trapped inside its pattern. The story is a powerful critique of the patriarchal medical profession and the oppression of women during the late 19th century. Its features include a first-person narrative, symbolism, and a sense of claustrophobia and desperation that builds towards a tragic conclusion.

Main Events in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Literary Devices in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Literary Device	Example	Explanation
Allusion	“kindly wink the knobs”	Implies familiarity and warmth.
Anaphora	“round and round”	Highlights repetitive, dizzying motion.
Apostrophe	“Dear John!”	Direct address to absent person.
Assonance	“repeated, breadths”	Repetition of vowel sounds.
Consonance	“stooping, creeping”	Similar consonant sounds.
Epiphany	“I’ve got a rope”	Sudden realization of agency.
Foreshadowing	“something more to expect”	Hints at future events.
Hyperbole	“send me to Weir Mitchell”	Exaggerated threat for effect.
Imagery	“old foul, bad yellow things”	Vivid, negative visual description.
Irony	“send me to Weir Mitchell”	Contradiction between intention and outcome.
Metaphor	“like a woman stooping”	Comparison to convey hidden struggle.
Onomatopoeia	“thrown the key down”	Word imitates sound of action.
Paradox	“got out… can’t put me back”	Contradictory yet true statement.
Personification	“woman behind shakes it”	Human traits attributed to wallpaper figure.
Repetition	“see how it is”	Emphasizes uncertainty and apprehension.
Symbolism	“woman behind shakes it”	Wallpaper symbolizes repression, movement signifies liberation.
Synecdoche	“take phosphates or phosphites”	Part represents broader treatment.
Tone	“don’t like our room”	Conveys frustration and longing.
Understatement	“mere ordinary people”	Downplays significance for effect.

Characterization in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Major Characters

• The Narrator: An unnamed woman with a rich inner life and intellectual curiosity. She suffers from what her physician husband John diagnoses as “temporary nervous depression” or “a slight hysterical tendency.” John dismisses her concerns about her mental health and the unsettling effect of the yellow wallpaper, which she feels is contributing to her condition. Confined to the upstairs nursery for a supposed “rest cure,” the narrator becomes increasingly frustrated and isolated. With limited outlets for her thoughts and feelings, the yellow wallpaper becomes an all-consuming obsession.
• John: The narrator’s husband and a physician. John dismisses his wife’s concerns about her health and the unsettling effect of the wallpaper. He believes he is taking the best course of action by enforcing “rest” and disregarding her anxieties. John’s controlling and dismissive behavior contributes to the narrator’s mental decline.

Minor Characters

• John’s Brother: Another physician who readily agrees with John’s diagnosis of the narrator’s condition, demonstrating the limitations of the medical field at the time.
• Mary: The baby’s caretaker. The narrator seems to find comfort and trust in Mary’s kindness and competence.
• Baby: The narrator and John’s child. The narrator expresses relief that the baby does not have to occupy the room with the yellow wallpaper.
• Mother & Nellie: John’s mother and sister who visit the narrator for a week. Their presence likely restricts the narrator’s freedom and reinforces John’s control.
• Jennie: The maid who helps take care of the narrator. The narrator becomes suspicious of Jennie’s behavior in relation to the wallpaper, hinting at the narrator’s growing paranoia.
• Cousin Henry & Julia: The narrator’s relatives whom she expresses a desire to visit. John discourages this visit, further isolating the narrator and suggesting his desire to maintain complete control over her.

Major Themes in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1. The Suffocating Effects of Patriarchy: The story critiques the limitations placed on women in 19th-century society. The narrator’s unnamed state reflects her lack of agency. John, her husband and physician, dismisses her concerns about her health and confines her to a room with the justification of a “rest cure,” a common but harmful treatment for women’s “nervous conditions” at the time. This enforced idleness fuels her descent into madness, highlighting the societal expectation for women to be passive and submissive.
2. Confinement and the Loss of Self: The yellow wallpaper becomes a symbol of the narrator’s entrapment. Initially, she describes it as “gross, uneven paper” with “odor of stale dead wood” (emphasis added). As her mental state deteriorates, the wallpaper takes on a life of its own, with its “repellent” yellow color and strange pattern seeming to crawl and pulsate. The narrator’s obsession with peeling back the layers of the wallpaper reflects her desperate attempt to break free from her confined existence.
3. The Power of Imagination and Perception: The story explores the blurring lines between reality and perception. John dismisses the narrator’s anxieties about the wallpaper as mere “fancy,” but the reader experiences the story through her increasingly unreliable narration. As the lines between reality and delusion blur, the wallpaper transforms into a monstrous entity that the narrator feels compelled to liberate. This raises questions about the validity of female experience and the power of a stifled imagination to manifest as madness.
4. The Thin Line Between Sanity and Madness: The story explores the descent into madness through the narrator’s journal entries. Initially, she expresses frustration with her situation and a longing for intellectual stimulation. Over time, her entries become fragmented and cryptic, reflecting her deteriorating mental state. The ending, where the narrator believes she has freed a woman trapped behind the wallpaper, leaves the reader questioning whether she has achieved liberation or succumbed entirely to madness.

Writing Style in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Introspective Narrative Voice:
• Example: “I am sitting here at the window now, up in this atrocious nursery, and there is nothing to hinder my writing as much as I please, save lack of strength.”
• Fragmented Prose Reflecting Mental State:
• Example: “The front pattern does move, and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!”
• Vivid and Descriptive Language:
• Example: “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.”
• Symbolism and Allegory:
• Example: The wallpaper itself symbolizes the oppressive societal constraints placed upon women during the 19th century, while the protagonist’s obsession with it serves as an allegory for her own mental imprisonment.
• Exploration of Gender Roles:
• Example: The protagonist’s confinement to the nursery and her husband’s dismissal of her desires to write reflect the restrictive gender roles of the time, highlighting the lack of autonomy afforded to women.
• Representation of Mental Illness:
• Example: The protagonist’s gradual descent into psychosis, as evidenced by her fixation on the wallpaper and eventual hallucinations, provides a poignant portrayal of mental illness and its impact on individuals.
• Engagement with Themes of Autonomy:
• Example: The protagonist’s struggle to assert her own agency and autonomy in the face of her husband’s control and societal expectations underscores the theme of personal liberation.

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Literary Theory	Interpretation	Example from the story
Feminist Theory	The story is a critique of patriarchal society and the oppression of women. The narrator is trapped in a room with yellow wallpaper that symbolizes her confinement and lack of agency.	“He said I was sick, and that I must go in to the room to rest. But I said I could not rest in a room with such a paper on the wall. He said it was a mere trifle, and that I fussed about nothing” (Gilman 2).
Psychoanalytic Theory	The story is an exploration of the narrator’s psyche and her descent into madness. The yellow wallpaper represents her inner turmoil and the struggle to repress her desires and emotions.	“I did write for a while in spite of them; but it DOES exhaust me a good deal—having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (Gilman 2).
Marxist Theory	The story is a critique of the capitalist system and the exploitation of the working class. The narrator is trapped in a room with yellow wallpaper that symbolizes her confinement and lack of agency, reflecting the oppression of the working class.	“John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (Gilman 1).

Topics, Questions, and Thesis Statements about “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Topics, Questions, and Thesis Statements

1. The Symbolism of the Wallpaper

– How does the wallpaper symbolize the protagonist’s mental state and societal constraints?

– Thesis: The wallpaper in “The Yellow Wallpaper” serves as a multifaceted symbol, representing both the protagonist’s deteriorating mental health and the oppressive gender norms of the time.

2. Feminist Themes and Gender Roles

– How does the story challenge traditional gender roles and expectations?

– Thesis: Through the portrayal of the protagonist’s confinement and subsequent rebellion, “The Yellow Wallpaper” offers a critique of patriarchal society and the limited agency afforded to women in the 19th century.

3. Psychological Realism and Mental Illness

– How does the story use psychological realism to depict mental illness?

– Thesis: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” employs elements of psychological realism to provide a nuanced portrayal of the protagonist’s descent into psychosis, shedding light on the intersection of gender, mental health, and societal expectations.

Short Questions/Answers about/on “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Who is the real prisoner in the story, and why?
• While the narrator is physically confined to the upstairs room, the story argues that John, her husband, is the one truly imprisoned. John clings to outdated medical practices and societal expectations, limiting his own intellectual and emotional growth. The narrator, on the other hand, embraces a more fluid and imaginative reality at the story’s end, even if it appears to be madness.
• (Reference: John enforces the “rest cure” despite the narrator’s objections. The narrator, by the end, seems to find a strange liberation in her delusion.)
• Does the yellow wallpaper actually have a hidden pattern, or is it a figment of the narrator’s imagination?
• The story cleverly leaves this ambiguous. The narrator initially describes the wallpaper as having a “tortuous effect on the eye” but later becomes fixated on a hidden pattern that seems to creep and crawl. John dismisses it as her imagination. The lack of a definitive answer allows the reader to explore themes of perception, sanity, and the limitations of relying solely on a patriarchal viewpoint.
• (Reference: The narrator describes the wallpaper as “un-patterned” but later becomes convinced of a hidden pattern.)
• Is the ending a victory or a descent into madness?
• The narrator’s triumphant declaration of finally freeing a woman trapped behind the wallpaper can be interpreted in two ways. On one hand, it suggests a complete break from reality. However, it can also be seen as a symbolic victory. The narrator, by embracing her unconventional perspective, finds a way to challenge the oppressive forces represented by the yellow wallpaper and John’s controlling behavior.
• (Reference: The ending has the narrator creeping around the room, believing she has freed a woman trapped behind the wallpaper.)

Literary Works Similar to “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

1. “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe – Like “The Yellow Wallpaper,” this short story delves into the psyche of its unreliable narrator, exploring themes of madness and obsession.
2. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson – While not directly addressing mental health, “The Lottery” similarly examines the oppressive nature of societal norms and the consequences of blindly adhering to tradition.
3. “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka – This novella, like “The Yellow Wallpaper,” explores themes of alienation and the individual’s struggle against oppressive forces, albeit through a different lens of existentialism.
4. “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner – Faulkner’s story, much like Gilman’s, delves into the psychological complexities of its protagonist, exploring themes of isolation, decay, and the impact of societal expectations.
5. “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne – This short story, while focusing more on science and the pursuit of perfection, shares themes of obsession and the consequences of trying to control nature, similar to the themes found in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

Suggested Readings about/on “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Books

• Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings. Edited by Catherine Golden, Broadview Press, 2007.
• Showalter, Elaine. The Yellow Wallpaper: Women, Madness, and the Gothic. Cornell University Press, 1981.

Articles

• Herndl, Diane Price. “The Writing Cure: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Anna O., and ‘Hysterical’ Writing.” NWSA Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 1988, pp. 52–74. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4315866. Accessed 1 May 2024.

Weblink

• Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. The Victorian Web. [electronic text] https://crea.ujaen.es/bitstream/10953.1/10476/1/Garca_Jaenes_Mara_Jos_TFG_Estudios_Ingleses.pdf

Representative Quotations from “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Quotation	Context	Theoretical Perspective
“It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.”	The narrator describes the summer home she and her husband have rented.	Marxist Theory: highlights the class dynamics of the narrator and her husband, who are able to afford a summer home.
“John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.”	The narrator describes her husband’s dismissive attitude towards her.	Feminist Theory: highlights the power dynamics in the marriage and the ways in which the husband dismisses the narrator’s concerns.
“Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.”	The narrator expresses her disagreement with her husband and brother’s medical advice.	Psychoanalytic Theory: highlights the narrator’s desire for autonomy and self-expression, which is suppressed by her husband and brother.
“I did write for a while in spite of them; but it DOES exhaust me a good deal–having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition.”	The narrator describes her secret writing and the exhaustion it causes her.	Psychoanalytic Theory: highlights the narrator’s desire for self-expression and the ways in which it is suppressed by her husband and brother.
“There is a DELICIOUS garden! I never saw such a garden–large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them.”	The narrator describes the garden of the summer home.	Marxist Theory: highlights the beauty and luxury of the garden, which is only accessible to the wealthy.
“I sometimes fancy that my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus–but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.”	The narrator expresses her desire for social interaction and stimulation, but is discouraged by her husband.	Psychoanalytic Theory: highlights the narrator’s desire for autonomy and self-expression, which is suppressed by her husband.
“The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.”	The narrator describes the yellow wallpaper in the nursery.	Psychoanalytic Theory: highlights the narrator’s growing obsession with the wallpaper and its symbolism of her confinement and oppression.
“I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! but John would not hear of it.”	The narrator describes her dislike of the nursery and her desire for a different room.	Feminist Theory: highlights the narrator’s lack of agency and autonomy in her living arrangements.