In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman presents a story of a woman who slowly succumbs to her mental disorder while being dismissed and infantilized by her husband and relatives. The protagonist is a bright woman who has recently had a child and is now struggling with her lack of energy. At the same time, she wishes to write but is forbidden by her husband, a respectable physician. Not being able to express herself through writing openly pushes the woman’s mental health to its limits, highlighting the importance of authority over one’s actions for well-being.
The core of the problem related to the protagonist’s health is undefined in the short story. As the reader does not know the particular problem the woman has, one cannot determine the type of help she should get. Nevertheless, from the first page, it becomes clear that the protagonist’s husband has diagnosed her with “temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 1). Thus, he has prescribed her to rest and avoid any mental activity. The protagonist states, “so I take phosphates or phosphites – whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again” (Gilman 1). The pressure from other people affects her daily living as she conforms to the behavior people expect from her.
The main character’s artistic nature can be seen throughout the story. First, her description of the house is adorned with many details. For example, she writes that there is a “delicious garden” that is “full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors” (Gilman 2). The woman’s rich language and her passion for writing are visible. The narrator notes that she “used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of blank walls and plain furniture than most children could find in a toy-store” (Gilman 5). This recollection implies that the protagonist has always been imaginative and yearned for self-expression through art and storytelling.
The central struggle of the narrator lies in this restriction – she desperately wants to write and express herself through creative thinking. She says, “I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind” (Gilman 1). In this quote, one can see that she sees a way to get better mentally or improve her mood but is not allowed to do so. To overcome this issue within her limits, the narrator begins to write in secret, hiding her artistic tendencies and developing two different lifestyles – one where she is among other people and another where she is alone.
The reader often sees the woman hiding her journal or changing her attitude drastically when somebody comes into the house. She writes, “there comes John, and I must put this away, – he hates to have me write a word” when referring to her journal (Gilman 3). One can also observe how she consciously behaves differently, as the woman “[takes] pains to control [herself] before him, at least” (Gilman 2). The need to constantly hide her true wishes and interests makes her tired and worsens her condition. As she recalls, “it does exhaust me a good deal-having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (Gilman 1). It is apparent to the narrator that the restricted self-expression tires her, but she is powerless against her husband’s will. This double life is detrimental to the protagonist’s outcome at the end of the story.
As the woman’s hatred of the wallpaper progresses, so do her interpretations of the patterns and their influence on her self-perception. The narrator first despises the color and the drawings on the walls, but then she starts identifying with the woman she sees in the wall. This particular image is the representation of the protagonist’s life – a woman that only comes out and can be free when nobody sees her. When talking about the pattern, the narrator states that “at night in any kind of light… it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be” (Gilman 9). The woman in the wall is trapped, similar to how the narrator’s house serves as her prison, where she must get better without any real help or support.
Thus, as the protagonist decides to free the woman in the wallpaper at the end of the story, she also wants to separate herself from the limitations placed on her by others. One can see the desperation with which the narrator wishes for the woman – and herself – to be free. She writes, “as soon as it was moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shake the pattern, I got up and ran to help her” (Gilman 13). Her attempts to tear down the wallpaper mirror her wishes to strip the expectations of her being a “help … a real rest and comfort” to her husband (Gilman 3). As the woman in the wall must be freed, so the narrator should be able to make her own decisions and express herself in the way she wants.
A major narrative in the story is established in the first pages, and it continues to develop throughout, leading to a significant decline in the protagonist’s sanity. Sahoo writes that this struggle was common for women during the time the author wrote the short story (201). Gilman herself experienced the same problem of being advised to avoid mental work in favor of resting and getting fresh air (Saha 25). At the same time, the inability to share their creative insight puts additional pressure on women’s psychological well-being and stifles their spirit. However, women find a way to express themselves through writing despite opposition or other means. Saha connects this common issue to the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” arguing that “through her hysterics she achieves a psychological space” that is unreachable by her husband (27). Here, the woman finds a place where she can express her thoughts, although the acts related to this place in real life make her seem unwell.
To conclude, the theme of self-expression and how women were denied the right to it is present in the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The narrative represents the author’s own beliefs about women’s ability to pursue artistic passions and the outcomes such limitations may have on their well-being. The protagonist of the story wishes to write and knows it would help her mood, but her husband and other loved ones dismiss her interests and deem them hurtful. As a result, the woman is left without any devices to express herself, which causes her to distance herself from others and create a separate personality for them. The additional stress from trying to conform to the assigned role and the dismissal of herself leads to the woman losing her sanity but entering a new space in which she can feel free.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. The New England Magazine, 1892. eBook, Web.
Saha, Oly. “Mad Monster(ress): Hysteria in Women in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Hedda Gabler.” Literary Herald, vol. 4, no. 5, 2019, pp. 24-31.
Sahoo, Anwesha. “Interpreting ‘Madwomen’: A Study of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Pratibha Ray’s ‘The Eyes.’” Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, vol. 44, no. 1, 2021, pp. 196-203.