126 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts, Topics & Thesis Ideas

Looking for The Yellow Wallpaper essay topics? The most famous short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in definitely worth writing about!

In your essay on The Yellow Wallpaper, you might want to make a character or theme analysis. The key themes of the story are freedom of expression, gender roles and feminism, and mental illness. Another idea is to write an argumentative essay on the story’s historical context.

Find here all you might need to write a paper on Gilman’s short story. The Yellow Wallpaper essay prompts, titles, writing tips, and Yellow Wallpaper essay examples.

🔝 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Topics — Best Selection

1. The Yellow Wallpaper
2. Feminist Perspective on “The Yellow Wallpaper”
3. Unreliable Narrator in Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
4. Comparing ‘The Story of an Hour’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ Essay
5. Gender Roles in the 19th Century Society: Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
6. Symbolism in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
7. Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’: Point of View
8. Psychology in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
9. Symbols in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by C. P. Gilman
10. A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper: Compare & Contrast

🟡 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Questions

1. Is the Narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper reliable?
   The narrator of the story has mental health issues. Her slide into madness happens in the middle of the story and speed up at the end. Examine her reliability in the very beginning of the story.
2. Why doesn’t the main character have a name?
   Through the anonymity, the author might have wanted to show the readers that this is not an isolated event. Anyone who lived in the Victorian era could be the narrator and her husband.
3. How is the Victorian-era medicine represented in The Yellow Wallpaper?
   To answer this question, you should research how patients were treated in the Victorian era. As it was already mentioned above, anyone could be in the narrator and her husband’s place.
4. How does The Yellow Wallpaper promote self-expression?
   Being unable to do the things you love is a frustrating thing. The narrator states a few times how much she enjoys writing but isn’t allowed to do that. Inability to express herself led to her isolation and her madness. In your essay, examine why is self-expression is vital to everyone. You can also investigate whether the narrator uses the wallpaper as a “paper” to write on. Can it be some self-expression? Think about it when you will write your thesis statement.
5. How are gender roles represented in The Yellow Wallpaper?
   You can find a lot of examples to support The Yellow Wallpaper essay thesis on subordination. Here are some of them: the narrator stays in the room with the yellow wallpaper, although, she doesn’t want to stay there. Her husband does not allow her to stay in one of the others. He sets plenty of rules she must follow.
6. How do madness and creativity influence each other? You can use the idea that the inability to realize creative needs will lead to madness. You can compare and contrast the lives of many famous artists and writers’ destiny whose lives ended tragically when they were unable to express their ideas through creativity. Are all genius people mad?

💡 The Yellow Wallpaper Thesis Ideas

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” offers some great ideas for college and high school students to work with. Here are examples of thesis statements you can use as the foundation for your paper on this literary work.

Feminist Critique of The Yellow Wallpaper: Thesis Statement

Your paper on this subject can review Gilman’s short work as a commentary on the state of women in the late 1800s and the author’s struggle to live in a patriarchal society.

Here’s a thesis example you can use:

Jane’s physical and mental isolation mirrors women’s imprisonment and subjugation by men. This essay will showcase how “The Yellow Wallpaper” reveals 19th-century norms and their influence on women’s mental health.

The Yellow Wallpaper Thesis on Historical Context

“The Yellow Wallpaper” describes the circumstances in which women lived at the time the novel was composed. Many of its elements came from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s personal life, making the work semiautobiographical. You can delve into this topic, and here’s a thesis statement to use as a starting point:

This paper will evaluate the main character’s encounter with enforced bed rest, which was greatly inspired by the author’s personal experience.

Symbolism Thesis Statement for The Yellow Wallpaper

Gilman employs symbolism to depict the role of women in the societal hierarchy and how men fail to acknowledge their mental state and possible illnesses. The yellow wallpaper and the patterns Jane sees also embody her growing insanity. If you wish to focus on this topic, consider using a thesis like this:

This essay dives deep into the short story’s symbols and how Gilman employed them to draw attention to the state of women in the 19th century.

Psychological Analysis Thesis for The Yellow Wallpaper

Gilman’s work is rich in psychological themes. Isolation, psychosis, and hallucinations keep the chained Jane in a disrupted state of mind her husband seems oblivious to. In your essay, you can review this story from a psychoanalytic criticism theory. Here’s an illustrative thesis statement:

This paper will interpret Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” from the lens of psychoanalysis to demonstrate how the author used the story as an outlet for her own experience.

The Yellow Wallpaper Thesis on Narrative Style

Since Gilman’s work tells the story from the position of a mentally unstable person, the narration becomes hard to follow. The narrator gets unreliable, and it’s impossible to understand which events happened and which were a mere figment of Jane’s imagination.

Check out a thesis example for your essay on this theme:

This paper determines whether the audience of “The Yellow Wallpaper” can rely on the narrator’s words or if she’s totally lost in delusion.

🏆 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Examples & Titles

1. Marriage in The Yellow Wallpaper
   She has failed to recognize that she is the driver of her own life, and blame should not be put on man. Therefore, she is not able to work her creativity and ends up drawing […]
2. Mental Illness as a Theme of The Yellow Wallpaper
   As it appears from the novel, the reason why the narrator and her husband John decided to spend their summer vacation in a secluded mansion is that this proved beneficial to the narrator’s mental condition.
3. “The Yellow Wallpaper” Short Story by Gilman
   In Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the unnamed female protagonist is instructed to rest in isolation and stillness in the large upper room of a remote country house that has bars on the windows […]
4. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Gothic Horror Tale
   She does not, however, trust her own judgment, since, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter…what is one to do?
5. Narrator’s Changing Character in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
   The story thus portrays the transformative reading potential in that had the narrator failed to realize that the reading has the potential to transform her. The yellow paper helped to transform the narrator in that […]
6. Loneliness in The Yellow Wallpaper
   She is beginning to personify the wallpaper in her musings. To nearly the end, she is lucid about people’s roles in her life.
7. ”The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin & ”The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman: Comparing
   The characters of Louise Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” and the storyteller for “The Yellow Wallpaper” are representative of what the authors want to express about themselves and their current situation.
8. “The Yellow Wallpaper” a Novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
   Thus, the imagery, particularly the woman behind the wallpaper, is a metonymic representation of social boundaries that most women had to face at the time, and a very powerful one at that Gilman clearly knew […]
9. Women’s Role in The Yellow Wallpaper, The Awakening, & The Revolt of Mother
   Sarah then decides to drop the matter because she knows that it is not her place to go against the wishes of her husband.
10. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
    The value of the composition lies in the progressive moral it brought to the world of literature as well as social views, redirecting the social mind from the old patriarchal foundations to the recognition of […]
11. Bradbury’s The Veldt & Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
    At the beginning of the story we immediately know that something is wrong with the nursery, and we find out about the African Veldt and how it seems to be stuck in a rather wild […]
12. Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper & Trifles
    The two texts; the short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins and the play ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell strategically illustrate this claim since they both aim at attracting the reader’s attention to the poor […]
13. Self-Expression in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman
    The core of the problem related to the protagonist’s health is undefined in the short story. Thus, as the protagonist decides to free the woman in the wallpaper at the end of the story, she […]
14. Literary Criticism of The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman
    When she is isolated in the room, she notices a shadow emerging from the wallpaper and creeping over the walls and floor.
15. Psychological Analysis of Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
    The article explores the impact of mental illness from the perspective of postpartum/ nervous depression in the woman. 1 7, Web.
16. Chekhov’s “The Lady With the Little Dog” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
    Malcolm’s magazine article named “The Kernel of Truth” supports the opinion that the explicit and intimate characters’ life description is the most interesting and significant part of the story.
17. Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
    The main feature of this style is a sense of doom and often exaggeration to show the problems of ordinary people.
18. Madness in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Story by Gilman
    The source of the conflict and the main cause of the woman’s unfortunate fate is not so much the mental illness itself but, rather, the refusal to recognize it as such.
19. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Story Analysis
    The magic of the story arises from the innovative transfer of the experience of insanity in the first-person storytelling, showing the evolution of the image of the wallpaper and indicating their symbolic significance and ending, […]
20. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman and “My Last Duchess” by Browning
    The narrator soon found herself observing the patterns of the yellow wallpaper of the room she stayed in. Eventually, the narrator began to perform the same behavior she observed from the women in the wallpaper.
21. Narrator’s Experience: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman
    The narrator is devastated by the fact that she is not allowed to write, as she is sure it would “relieve the press of ideas and rest” her.
22. Interpreting “The Yellow Wallpaper”
    The theme and problem of woman’s rights looming over the society of that day is demonstrated as the main issue at the core of the story.
23. “Yellow Wallpaper” – A Creepy Shade of Yellow
    A simultaneously heavy and light-hearted style of the writing is a significant part of the narrative, which demonstrates the sharp contrast between the perception of the main heroine and the rest of the characters.
24. Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and Walker’s “Everyday Use”
    It is remarkable that the language of The Story of An Hour speaks for the feelings of protagonist and the plot uncovering.

⚖️ The Yellow Wallpaper Argumentative Essay Topics

Get inspired by the following excellent ideas for your argumentative essay about “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

1. Argue About the Efficiency and Ethics of the Rest Cure Treatment in the Novel.
2. Examine the Critique of Women’s Confinement in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
3. The Symbolism of the Wallpaper as a Depiction of the Protagonist’s Mental State.
4. Discuss the Use of Unreliable Narration in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
5. Argue How Much Gilman’s Life Inspired “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
6. Analyze Jane’s Use of Writing as a Means of Escape and Self-Expression.
7. Explore the Roles of Female Characters in the Story.
8. The Themes of Oppression and Resistance in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
9. Explain How Jane’s Character Evolves Throughout the Plot.
10. Establish How “The Yellow Wallpaper” Describes the Effects of Patriarchy.

📒 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts

1. Analysis of the Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper”
   From the way she describes and interacts with the room, one can notice that she has a dislike and immense hatred towards the room she is confined in.
2. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
   The way she describes the wallpaper is symbolic of the evolution of her psychological problem: she gets to see herself through the wallpaper.
3. Conflict in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by C. Perkins Gilman
   The topic chosen from the story for analyzing is ‘To what extent is the protagonist of the story you have chosen responsible for the conflict or predicament he or she faces’.
4. Family Relationships in Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
   Being the brain and the intellectual reason of the family, the husband wisely guides the ship of his matrimonial unit through all the possible mishaps and traps and takes the necessary precautions in order to […]
5. Depression in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gillman
   The paper provides a discussion of the short story and analyses the theme of emotion and depression that the main character Stetson Gilman undergoes and her advent into insanity caused by the wrong treatment given […]
6. Gender and Illness in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
   Additionally, the main form of psychological imprisonment was the character’s obedience to her husband who did not believe in her sickness and did not allow her to think that it was something more than a […]
7. Female Mental Health in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
   The main role of a 19th-century woman was a loving nurturer, serving the needs of her family and obedient to her husband/father.
8. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and The Laugh of the Medusa
   The topic of a woman’s voice being silenced by society and becoming heard in writing appears to be among the similar themes of the critical essay “The Laugh of the Medusa” by Cixous and the […]
9. Postpartum Depression Analysis in “Yellow Wallpaper”
   In reality, postpartum depression is the disease that has to be treated with the help of specific medications and therapies that are appropriate for a patient.
10. Stetson’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Criticism
    Since the woman who narrates is alienated from the community and not allowed to work or be engaged in any other activity, she describes her inner thoughts and feelings, and that makes the whole story […]
11. “The Yellow Wallpaper” a Story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
    She tries to convince her husband John and one of her minders Jennie, to see the patterns she notices in the wallpaper of her upstairs room, which they, of course, cannot see: the narrator has […]
12. “The Yellow Wallpaper” Story by Charlotte Gilman
    Temporary nervous depression, as termed by the husband, is a factor that makes the husband prohibits her from roaming in the rest of the house but only upstairs.
13. Male Chauvinism in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
    As it appears from the novel, the reason why the narrator and her husband John decided to spend their summer vacation in a secluded mansion is that this was assumed to prove beneficial to the […]
14. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Literature Analysis
    The same way as the woman behind the wall comes out, she also comes out of her slavery, and this shows that women can obtain freedom from social oppression they are undergoing as depicted in […]
15. Woman’s Mental Breakdown: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
    I tried to explain her that she got tired with her own thoughts and her melancholic mood is not a disease, but one of the peculiarities of her temperament and worldview.
16. Prosperity and Social Justice
    The short story was also the subject of debate when it was first written because it failed to fit in any particular genre at the time.”The Yellow Wallpaper” was mostly considered a horror story when […]
17. Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper: Themes & Symbols
    The fact that the patient is the physician’s wife ought to portray a picture of mutual agreements and understandings rather than subjecting one’s decision to the other with a reason for care and protection.
18. The Need for Change in Ragged Dick and The Yellow Wallpaper
    However, the two authors articulate the importance of such changes that are vital for the development of the personality and the entire society.
19. Depression due to Repression in The Yellow Wallpaper
    By the end of the same century, the patriarchal view of women as ‘natural born housewives’ and the objects of men’s sexual desire, had lost the remains of its former validity.
20. Feminism in The Yellow Wallpaper
    In an attempt to free her, she rips apart the wallpaper and locks herself in the bedroom. The husband locks her wife in a room because of his beliefs that she needed a rest break.
21. Women Struggling From Their Fate
    She gets upset by the sad news of the death of a loved one but when she comes out of the room she seem to have already accepted the situation and adapting to the new […]
22. Feminist Criticism in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
    This is because she is the only one who knew the suffering she was undergoing in that marriage and that she did not always love her husband.
23. Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily
    She is an embodiment of a great breakthrough in the fact that she rediscovers her new energy and point of view.
24. Role of Women in Society: Charlotte P. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
    From the very beginning, it becomes evident that the protagonist of the short story is oppressed and the oppression is depicted symbolically.

🔬 The Yellow Wallpaper: Literary Analysis Essay Topics

1. Irony and Imagery in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
2. The Significance of First-Person Narration in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
3. The Window as a Symbol of “The Yellow Wallpaper”
4. Color Symbolism in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
5. Would “The Yellow Wallpaper” Be Different if Told from John’s Point of View?
6. What Are the Meanings Behind the Color of the Wallpaper?
7. Imagery and Allegory in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
8. What Are the Examples of Irony in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
9. Gothic Elements in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
10. “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Metaphor Analysis
11. Setting Symbolism of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
12. What Is the Style of “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
13. What Instruments Does the Author Use to Create an Atmosphere of Suspense & Horror in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
14. What Does the Mysterious Figure Symbolize in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
15. Why Does the Description of the Wallpaper Change over Time?

🎭 The Yellow Wallpaper: Character Analysis Essay Topics

1. What Is The Narrator’s Inner Conflict in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
2. Is John the Villain in “The Yellow Wallpaper”? Why or Why Not?
3. Who Is to Blame for the Narrator’s Descent into Madness? Why?
4. What Is the Significance of the Minor Female Characters in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
5. What Happens to the Narrator after the Story Ends?
6. Who Is the Protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
7. John in “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Character Analysis
8. Why Does the Narrator Remain Unnamed in the Story? What Does This Symbolize?
9. What Is the Connection between the Narrator & the Woman behind the Wallpaper?
10. How Does John Treat His Wife in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
11. Is the Narrator Reliable in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
12. Why Does John Faint at the End of “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
13. Jane’s Depression in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
14. What Does the Woman behind the Wallpaper Represent in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?

🌻 The Yellow Wallpaper: Themes Essay Topics

1. “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Insanity as a Theme
2. Postpartum Depression in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
3. “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Women & Mental Illness
4. Does “The Yellow Wallpaper” Have a Happy or Sad Ending?
5. “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Feminist Critique
6. “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Perception vs. Reality
7. Freedom of Expression in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
8. “The Yellow Wallpaper”: The Three Stages Towards Feminine Freedom
9. “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Feminist Story
10. Creativity vs. Madness in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
11. Marriage & Family as a Theme in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
12. How Does “The Yellow Wallpaper” Present the Conflict Between Rationality & Creativity?
13. Feminist Theory in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
14. Feminist Criticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
15. Main Questions in “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Analysis Essay
16. Social Surroundings and Interactions in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
17. In What Ways Does the Wallpaper Embody the Theme of the Story?
18. The Historical Context In Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
19. Victorian Gender Roles in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
20. “The Yellow Wallpaper” as an Autobiography
21. Describe the Time Period When “The Yellow Wallpaper” Was Written
22. What Was Gilman’s Intention When She Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
23. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” & Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Mood Comparison