A Critical Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

A Critical Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 'The Yellow Wallpaper' written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a riveting story of a dejected woman locked away as if she were insane. Her passion is to write and by doing so we are able to follow her on a journey in which she is victimized by those closest to her. The significance of the story is tremendous as it delves into the underlying issues of 'a woman's place' and feminism in the 19th century. The story not only gave an insight into the public perception of mental illness but it later caused a famous psychiatrist, Silas Weir Mitchell to alter his treatment of neurasthema. As the story begins, the woman-whose name we never learn-tells of her depression and how it is dismissed by her husband and brother who are both medical practitioners. "You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?" We are able to see that the narrator has maintained the traditional patriarchal feelings, as many women and men did in 19th century, where women are discouraged from venturing out of their 'given sphere', due to the political makeup of the era. It becomes apparent that her mind was alluding to this point by the way she speaks about her husband, "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that." The structure of this sentence highlights the male laughing and the woman acquiescing, showed by the short sentence and the full stop - silencing any of her thoughts and opinions. An example of the dominant submissive relationship between them. He treats her as if she was a child and he was the controlling, domineering, yet loving parent. "What is it, little girl?' h... ...d self-analysis, and was symptomatic of the degeneration rife in society. This illustrates the protagonists warped head state as although yellow is associated with negativity, she craves it. This is portrayed when the protagonist claims that everything outside is 'green instead of yellow'. Her mind is so twisted that she feels everything outside of her 'sphere' is evil. The ending of the story is open to a variety of different interpretations. She feels victorious for escaping from her husbands grasp however in reality she is now trapped within herself. We feel that she may commit suicide due to her frustration, however the situation was reversed, and I was given the impression that she may have tried to murder her husband, in an attempt to free herself. However what ultimately happens we are never able to learn.