The room she stays in has yellow wallpaper that will later contribute to her psychological downfall along with the oppression felt from her environment. In both pieces of literature, the authors use a technique of gradually progressing the characters deterioration of their mental capacity. Through dramatic irony and other literary devices, the reader is permitted to see the depth of the characters illness. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, stays in a bedroom that was an old nursery which has an unattractive yellow wallpaper on the walls. To the narrator, the wallpaper is a nuisance and the pattern makes no sense to her.
The narrator describes the wallpaper as such, “The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing” (351). The yellow wallpaper itself signifies women being suppressed by the men in their lives and the inability to break their dominance. She also eventually sees a figure behind the wallpaper in the form of a creeping woman. The woman actually portrays the narrator herself. After staring at the wallpaper long enough, she finds that the pattern moves because of the woman behind it trying to get out.
These narrations are looking for a faithful way to uncertainty in these stories. Charlotte Perkins Gilman story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is narrated by a woman who is mentally unstable. The story evolves as the narrator slips into madness. Her husband a physician is concerned about his wives insanity and well-being he forbids her from using her imagination and writing. This only worsens her condition causing her to become obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room.
Gilman uses symbols to explain the how women are trapped in domestic life. The symbol that Gilman uses the yellow wallpaper in the room she is confined in. At first, the wallpaper is just awful as she says “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow.” She is disgusted by it and understands why children, who have been in this room, would want to tear it down. Then, the wallpaper becomes a point of curiosity as she wants to discover the organization of the pattern. She said, “...and I determine for the thousandth time that I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion,” as if the wallpaper was made with symmetry in mind.
Zoey Crain Comp 1302 Prof. Dodge February 9, 2012 The Yellow Wallpaper The psychological thriller, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story about a woman with postpartum depression. The narrator’s husband and brother concluded it was a nervous depression. Her husband and she move out to a rather suspicious house, so she can better herself. She isn’t aloud to do any kind of work and is given strict instructions to get air and relax her self.
In Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the 19th century female narrator experiences societal restrictions but does not yet have the confidence within herself to break free and fulfill her ambitions, giving the world all she has to offer. Through the use of the symbols, the wallpaper and the nursery she is confined in, the restrictions on this woman’s ambition are exemplified. Especially in the 19th century before the feminist movement, society restricted many types of people from satisfying their dreams; consequently, these oppressed groups were forced to submit to this dominating force. Gilman writes, “Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard.” describing the sub pattern, a woman, of the wallpaper. While this woman depicted in the wallpaper is in the light, the view of society, she doesn’t move or rebel; equally, when the woman is in the dark, alone, she resents society and the “bars” it places in front of her.
Bradstreet also shows her insecurity when she says, “Nor can I, like that fluent sweet tongued Greek” (129). Lee Oser believes that she lingered over the Greek’s traditions on natural beauty (194). Although Bradstreet has great dreams, she knows her limits as a woman and is left only to dream. Bradstreet soon becomes depressed and grows angry at her state in society, because of envy and her continuous dreaming. John Winthrop says, “God Almighty hath so disposed of the condition of mankind” (107).
The wallpaper is used characterically to reflect the marriage the narrator finds herself ambushed inside. At the start of the short story, the wallpaper is merely seen as an aberrant bore, but as the narrative progresses, the wallpaper becomes much more baleful and frightening. As a site of symbolism, the symbol has three functions in Charlotte Perkins Gilman s ’, “The Yellow Wallpaper”: it reveals the wallpaper including the imagery, imprisonment and symbolism. The imagery of the wallpaper in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” transitions as the short story is developed in order to emulate the increasing realization of the monopoly the narrator’s marriage has upon herself. The very first descriptions illustrate her initial animus by describing it as “one of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” (Perkins 41-42).
So Victor does just that, but after it awakes, he is filled with disgust and hates his creation because in his eyes it is ugly. “But now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Page 56) A true mother doesn’t care what their child looks like, they love it anyways. Next, the major theme of this novel is the women’s role in families. During Victor’s dream, he sees Elizabeth turn into the corps of his mother. This reinforces the idea that women are frail and weak.
The wife from “The Yellow Wallpaper” is obviously mentally ill. She might suffer from depression, schizophrenia, or a personality disorder, but we are never for sure. Throughout this literary work, the wife is shuffled around and not given much freedom. Her husband, a doctor, advises her of what to do and what not to do. For the majority of the piece, the wife is stuck in a room consisting of few objects and horrendously disturbing yellow wallpaper. Not only does her husband manipulate her into staying in bed and thinking she is completely helpless and ill, but the yellow wallpaper also manipulates her into having strange thoughts.