The Inner Struggles in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Essay

Introduction

This novel written by Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman portrays a steady decline of the protagonist into the deeper realms of insanity and morbid thinking, arising from prolonged solitary imprisonment and a loss of contact with the outside world. The main element of the story is the gradual lowering of the protagonist into virtual insanity, punctuated with bouts of desperation and desire to be free and independent. The second element is the motherhood that emerges, and the yearning to be with her children.” There’s one comfort, the baby is well and happy, and does not have to occupy this nursery with the horrid wallpaper.” (Gilman).

The pangs of a fulfilled yet separated mother are also evident in Gilman’s writings, viz., “It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby.” (Gilman).

And finally, the element of the skillful writer in her, stealing time to write her journal, unnoticed by other members of the family and perhaps, her own husband. It is the studied ease and literary dexterity with which Gilman combines the emotions of a patient, a mother and a writer that embodies the hallmark of this story.

Main text

It is the initiation into the darker and vivid realities of inner torments, desperation and anxieties, as experienced by a manic depressive patient, who is a wife and mother, and also a creative author whose writings have been stifled, but not silenced, at the instance of her physician husband who maintained that there was nothing basically wrong with her, except perhaps, “temporary nervous depression,” a euphemism for manic depression. (Gilman).

The theme of this story is that the protagonist and narrator are confined to a room for recouping her health, and are devoid of all company except a lurid wallpaper, with whom the protagonist seems to have established a special attachment.

During the course of her degenerative madness, marked by intense periods of morbidity and mood swings, she imagined that the wallpaper has come alive and is haunting her, possessing her, mercilessly and unrelentlessly, with no signs of release or abatement.

“Then I peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor. It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it! All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision!.” (Gilman).

These are visualizations and outbursts of a diseased and tormented mind, despite caring by a concerned physician husband, who feels that her condition could be improved only through her own efforts, and not by moving into the mainstream of social interactions, or using her creative abilities for self-development or even providing periods of relief through writings. She writes that she felt that “congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.” (Gilman).

At one level, it views 19^th Century treatment of women at the hands of oppression and male chauvinism. Women are no better than child bearers or servants. This period in American history has been marked with male domination over their women, so much so that they were denied rights to self expression and to seek opportunities outside the confines of their homes for earning a mainstay for themselves.

During this period, women were regarded as slaves and child-bearers of superior males, who demarcated their narrow and limited roles at home. Women were not allowed to claim their own sovereignty or independence or seek any avenue of growth apart from looking after their husband and his family. (Gilman).

At another significant level, the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” also provides an insight into the personal life of its author, Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman, whose marriage was marred with marital discord and domestic discontentment. Although she deeply loved her husband, she sought autonomy and seeks her own fortunes in her writings and efforts at self-expression.

The Yellow Wallpaper is symbolic of her tortured and gnawing mind, seeking outlets for her diseased mind through writings, between bouts of mental illness yearnings of a mother and the need to be in a natural milieu.

It depicts the pathos of being placed under solitary confinement without resources for any kind of entertainment, like books or outside on the pretext of being a patient.

The bearing of this story could also be seen from the fact that although her husband objected to her writings, she continued with the novel and completed it successfully, despite being ill and in dire need of solace and rest in order to recuperate and nurse herself back to good health.

Conclusion

The inner struggles of the protagonist, within herself and with her immediate environment are the strong elements in this story. This has been made more onerous when she has to interact with the few people who come to visit her – her husband and his sister, etc.

At one level, it deals with a patient who struggles to be sane within the insanity. At another, it embodies the yearning of a mother and wife. And finally, at the zenith, it is just the craving of a soul seeking atonement through her writings.

Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wall-Paper. 1899.