The Yellow Wallpaper :: essays research papers

The Yellow WallpaperAlthough on the surface The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story about one womans struggles with saneness it is not. In truth, it is a story about the dominant/submissive human relationship between an op haleive husband and his submissive wife. The husband, John, pushes his wifes impression to a point quite close to insanity. The narrator calculates to destroy herself by means of her overactive imagination and her urge to write. When they arrive she seems well in mince of her faculties, besides by the time they are readying for departure, she has broken down. flawed human nature seems to play a great role in her breakdown. Her husband, a noted physician, is un go outing to admit that there may be a real problem with his wife. This same attitude is mirrored in her brother, also a physician. While these attitudes, and the actions taken by the two doctors, seem to have certainly contributed to her breakdown, it seems that there is an unde rlying rebellious spirit in her.The narrator, speaking out against her husband states, He says no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my w reverse and self-control and not let any silly fancies run outside with me. This demonstrates how John is not treating his wife for anything. He simply doesnt accept there is a problem. This is one of her major motivations for keeping a diary she thinks it helps her because she is afraid to speak out against her husband. Every time she thinks about piece of music in the journal, she relates how tired it makes her. Throughout the story, John speaks out against her writing, because he feels that it contributes to her low but she writes anyway, feeling that she is getting away with something. John treats her as if she were ill not depressed. John being a physician, not a psychologist, prescribes her medical specialty that is for someone who is physically ill, not experiencing psychological distress. The journal becomes an outl et for her avowedly feelings that she believes would get her incarcerated if anyone else heard them. When she writes she states, I think sometimes that if I were exclusively well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of nouss and rest me. But I find I get handsome tired when I try. Her husband who believes that her writing is contributing to her illness opposes this idea while not radical.