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A Woman’s Escape from Imprisonment
“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is mainly based on oppressive patriarchal society where women are confined by strong masculine power and set in the lower class of hierarchy. The narrator portrays rebellious women conflicting with the society ruling them. The central conflict in the story focuses on the conflict between the narrator and her husband, John. The relationship between the narrator and her husband gives evidence of the conflict in the society between old patriarchal ways and the pressures that resulted against them. These pressures and conflicts in this story are evident through the old-fashioned methods used by John, and the mental anguish expressed by the narrator throughout her struggle.
The husband uses his masculine power as a doctor to control her. The husband can be seen as a father figure who overprotects her and makes decisions for her. This is very characteristic of men in the late nineteenth-century due to their lack of psychological knowledge and views of women as inferior. John states, “called me a blessed little goose” (989). Although the woman suffers from depression and is prescribed a rest cure. John’s views as a doctor forbid any type of activity, even writing, for he feels it will only worsen her already fragile condition. The narrator believes she would feel better if she could write, “Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.” The woman never had any freedom because John was always there to supervise. An example of this treatment can be seen in the following quote: “I tried to have a real earnest talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wished he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there”. He just imposes his ways on her and expects her to go along with it. As narrator is confined by John’s oppressive treatments, she...