The Use of Feminism in the Yellow Wallpaper “I don't like to look out of the windows even – there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did?” the woman she was seeing behind the wallpaper was herself. She was the one “stooping and creeping.” The Yellow Wallpaper was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the story, three characters are introduced, Jane (the narrator), John, and Jennie. The Yellow Wallpaper is story from the mind and emotions of a woman suffering from a mental illness.
Kamara Bellis Buckner English 1301 25 JUN 09 The Victorian Woman’s Insane Treatment in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” During the Victorian era, woman were to be dependant and obedient of their husbands. They were not allowed to pursue careers or interests. Gilman, being a woman of this time experienced this oppression first hand. She had been diagnosed with a nervous condition and was ordered to bed rest after the birth of her child. This ill-fated treatment prescribed by her physician Weir Mitchell, whom she referenced in her story, drove her to the brink of insanity.
Such isolated atmosphere and forced solitary confinement eventually envelops the narrator in her insanity. While receiving conflicting information from the narrator herself, the reader becomes aware of the narrator's decline in mental health. In Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator’s skewed perceptions of her surroundings and mental state, along with her inconsistent narration, reflects her incomprehension of the reality of her declining mental health leaving the audience left in a similar state of confusion. The narrator and her physician husband, John, rent a mansion for the summer so she may recuperate from what is described as a nervous condition. Although the narrator does not believe that she is actually ill, John is convinced that she is suffering from a “temporary nervous depression” (Gillman 12), and prescribes rest and isolation as her treatment.
Hester Prynne’s core quest in this novel was after she had left prison and punished for the sin she had committed. SHe wanted only one thing to try to make the villagers forget about her sin and live on without having to remember about this story again. She tried everything she could try. At the end she achieved and people started forgetting about her sin and what she did. If she had got unsuccessful she may have tried to suicide herself, because she
Carol Becker Sociological Criticism 2/11/13 Transformation of a Woman The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is all about the oppression of women, how to overcome it, and become an individual with a voice. This story takes us on the journey of a young, child-like woman diagnosed with a "temporary nervous depression" who is "absolutely forbidden to work." Of course when speaking of "work", it is not the typical idea we think of today. Women during that time were to be domestic types, take care of the husband and house. Be seen, but not heard.
There was a look of poignant agony, of despair, in her face. She clasped her hands. His lips worked in an ugly, meaningless smile. He stood still a minute, grinned and went back to the police office.” (pg. 525) Katerina from eviction “... since then my daughter, Sofya Semyonovna has been forced to take yellow ticket, and owning to that she is unable to go on living with us.” (pg.
Her life seems to be quiet simple, she only had her husband, and once he dies she has nobody left in her life. She is very lonely and bitter. Doris also seems to be obsessive as she is continuously goes on about how unclean things are throughout the monologue. The monologue hosts a range of characters; Zulema the cleaner, Wilfred her husband, the Marsdens who lived across the road, a little boy who pee’s in her garden and Doris’ dead baby. We don’t see any of these characters as they are either mentioned, mimicked or played as a sound effect.
Maryamma didn’t fulfill her requests and sent her into another life, where she started out to be a baby from day one. Miss. Witherspoon thought she would be clever and find a way out of her situation, to commit suicide again. She succeeded and after went back to Bardo. Maryamma was very upset with her because she told her there are consequences to what has happened, not only did she take away her life but she damaged the lives that were attached to that baby.
The wallpaper like John is a confine in which neither woman can escape from. The many heads in the wallpaper are the activities that the narrator wants to do such as writing, seeing her Cousin Henry and Julia, and sleeping downstairs. “I don’t like to look out the window even- there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast”(434). The women creeping outside are women like the narrator who are oppressed and have to do things in secret just like the narrator secretly tried to
When they arrive, she feels that there is something “queer” about the estate. She even goes further to say that the house is haunted and wonders why it was unoccupied for so long. Her husband, John, thinks that the summer home will do her some good, because she is suffering from temporary nervous depression. John honestly does not think that anything is wrong with her and has convinced others of the same. The wife is forbidden to write or leave the house, and is confined to her bedroom most of the day.