An Analysis of Oppression, Insanity and Women's Rights Issues in Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

In her story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Gilman utilizes intricate elements of fiction to uncover and convey subliminal societal themes through her writing. With a focus on a desperate, mentally-stricken unnamed wife who has been taken by her husband, John, to rest in a house for several months, Gilman ties crucial symbolism with unique characters to explore the hidden aspects of gender roles and the inferior position of women in society. A first-person point of view from the woman's mind offers readers a priceless glimpse into a sequence of oppression. With the reader serving as a witness to the woman's thoughts, Gilman effectively uses tone and voice to express a noticeable trend of deteriorating insanity.

Gilman implemented numerous symbols and motifs to convey her idea of the mental imprisonment and reduction of women to mere domestic entities. The "revolting, smouldering," and "sickly sulphur" colored wallpaper that encompasses the walls of the room in which the woman dwells quickly becomes the focus of the story, which means that this entity must bear significance beyond its literal meaning (Gilman 37). This neutral aesthetic aspect of the room tortures the woman at first, proceeding to weaken her physically and destroy her mentally. As time passes, the narrator discovers certain details about the wallpaper, eventually concluding with a vision of her own crouched figure behind the bars of a cage, adorned with "so many of those creeping women" (Gilman 246). The paper, in fact, symbolizes the Cult of Domesticity, a popular movement of thought in Western nations during the 18^th and 19^th centuries which set women's roles in society as child-bearers and keepers of the family and hearth. Discouraged from obtaining an education and expressing their imagination, creativity, and ideas in the public realm, women like the narrator became prisoners in their own homes, bound into a social depression by four walls and an overbearing male figure. The fact that he woman's condition surfaced a short time after experiencing childbirth also hints at her socially-expected familial role The Cult's ideas weakened women into a minority, transforming them into silent observers in the world around them, with as much power in the public domain as the imprisoned mentally ill.

Furthermore, the deteriorating condition of the woman's "temporary nervous depression" correlates directly to the state of the wallpaper, interpreted as the Cult of Domesticity. Like a social immune response, the woman's worsening condition symbolizes a raging, revolutionary feminine reaction to the disease in her life, her social imprisonment. With the advancing stages of her illness, the woman's diary-writing increases drastically and the tone of her words intensifies into near aggression. Such behavior results directly from the yellow wallpaper's role in her life and the oppression it has brought. The disease expresses itself through writing, a symbol of individuality and creativity; when such activities are denied to the narrator, the woman resorts to writing in secret, reminding readers of revolutionary movements in history in which secret messages and communication in private bore the mark of radical change. The woman fears her husband's reaction if he reads her diary, but continues to write because of the salvation it offers for her troubled, oppressed soul.

The narrator's behavior changes consistently with the celestial cycles of the sun and moon, hinting at a motif that relates to the woman's daily life. With the sun's rays in the home, the woman often falls under the direction of her husband, who prepares a schedule of medication and restful activities for his wife. During the expected "tiresome and perplexing" daytime for housewives, the woman refrains from writing in her diary and instead chooses to sleep, remaining mentally dormant (Gilman 172). This behavioral pattern hints at the fact that sunlight symbolizes the time of oppression, a time when society's domineering men work and assume their higher position on the social scale. It seems that when the "sun [comes], that awful pattern beg[ins] to laugh at [the narrator]," because of her inability to escape the dreaded cycle of her daily life (Gilman 223). However, "as soon as it was moonlight," the woman was once again able to "crawl and shake the pattern," rejecting it with all of her might (Gilman 220). Her consciousness, which remained dormant in sleep during the daytime, bursts with activity that is expressed through writing by moonlight. Thus, the moonlight may represent a time of relief and equality between the sexes, when the feminine subconscious experiences an influx of new strength.

In addition, "The Yellow Wallpaper's" thematic idea of the oppression of women and their inferior position in a patriarchal society unfolds through Gilman's characterization techniques and the roles of each main character. Although he is not a direct antagonist, John's character comes through as an domineering and controlling oppressor. The woman's husband "hardly lets [her] stir without special direction," often "tak[ing] all care from [her]" (Gilman 30). Such behavior cannot be driven purely out of love, since a successful marriage works to preserve the individuality and freedom of both partners while maintaining their unity. Here, the narrator recognizes herself as a mere "comparative burden," and not an equal partner. Gilman uses verbal irony to convey her ideas concerning John, since the husband "laughs at [his wife]" in a way "one expects in marriage" (Gilman 5). However, as expected with irony, the opposite is true since a strong marriage does not involve the degrading of a partner. John assumes a fatherly, omniscient role over his "little girl" like many men of his time. Rather than researching his wife's illness, he simply "assures friends and relatives tat there is really nothing the matter," even though his wife is on the verge of madness in her room (Gilman 10). John represents the man who has fallen victim to the Cult of Domesticity, since such attitudes prevailed in the 19^th century into the beginning of the 20^th century.

On the other hand, the unnamed woman is represented as a vulnerable, powerless protagonist that skulks in the shadow of her husband's name, without her own identity to cherish. In her relations with John, the narrator expresses only obedience and fear. For example, in one instance the narrator attempts to voice her concern over her welfare, the woman fails to react when John instructs her to "never for one instant let that idea enter [her] mind" (Gilman 142). Instead of retaliating against the imprisonment of her individuality and creativity, the narrator simply records in her journal that she "is getting a little afraid of John" (Gilman 160). Despite her acknowledgement of the troubles in her relationship with her husband, the narrator repeats to herself that her husband "very careful and loving," displaying a psychological technique known as rationalization to rationally justify a wrong-doing or improper action (Gilman 29). All along, the woman knows that "congenial work, with excitement and change" would improve her condition, but rejects her ideas because of the negative reaction she expects from John. Because of her inability to enjoy a healthy life cycle, the woman sinks into insanity and concentrates on the only thing she has power over, the yellow wallpaper, which makes her life "very much more exciting now than it used to be" (Gilman 167). With her observation that the "streak [on the wallpaper] that runs round the room. . . had been rubbed over and over," the woman fits into the role of the domesticated housewife that was expected to obey her husband in accordance with the Cult of Domesticity, since the repeated pattern indicates that other women had gone down the same path in the past (Gilman 185). Her being "just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so [she] cannot lose [her] way" and stray from the accepted norm (Gilman 253).

Gilman further forges her theme of imprisonment through her style of prose, which parallels the narrator's insanity as the story progresses. The story, presented as a collection of journal entries by the narrating woman, opens with a "dreadfully depress[ed]" and naïve tone about her conditions. When exploring the wallpaper for the first time, the woman notes that its "flamboyant patterns commit[ed] every artistic sin," expressing strong disapproval with the room's aesthetics (Gilman 34). Forced to live in such an environment, the woman rejects the setting as "a kind of 'debased Romanesque' with delirium tremens," an alcohol withdrawal condition associated with tremors and physical instability (Gilman 99). Personification of the wall and the fact that the author attributed a complex human condition to its form indicates solid mental reasoning skills that have not been consumed by her condition yet. In her writing, as she uses complex sentences, with exclamation points of anger and excitement absent from its punctuation. Also, the author's tone toward other characters seems to be normal. For example, the woman believes that John's sister, Jennie, who is taking care of the household, is "such a dear girl" who is "so careful of [the narrator]," indicating a level of trust (Gilman 76). The woman's voice is stable, as she is aware of her limitations and fears voicing her wishes.

However, with the final onset of the disease and the resulting drastic deterioration of the woman's condition, the journal entries presented to the reader seem to be affected as well. Far from being depressed or naïve, the narrator seems to have adopted an insane excitement that guides her writing and daily life. When observing the yellow wallpaper she had once despised and criticized for its lack of artistic thought, she is now "determined that nobody shall find [the pattern] but [herself]" (Gilman 166). Focusing on the patterns in the same manner she did in earlier entries, the woman now sees that the "pattern does move-and no wonder!" (Gilman 189). The woman's journal is drenched with insanity, as the reader now recognizes that the narrator's writing includes hallucinations.

The woman has also adopted exclamation points and hyphens into her writing. The exclamation points indicate excitement and anger, while her hyphenated sentences convey a mixture of emotions where a second thought interrupts the initial one. Throughout the last few journal entries, the sentences become staccato and choppy, with paragraphs devoted to simple statements like "I don't want to," (Gilman 105) or "I don't feel able" (Gilman 106). In relation to other characters, the author's tone has also mutated accordingly to suit her state of mind. Although she respected Jennie only several journal entries before and noted her appreciation, the author's paranoid conscience now avoids "the sly thing" and believes that her actions "cultivat[e] deceit" (Gilman 219). While the woman's initial entries seemed to hold back emotion and expression of thought, the narrator now floods her paper with her true subconscious.

Gilman's brilliant yet subtle symbolism, combined with intricate characterization under a roof of dynamic prose has won "The Yellow Wallpaper" its literary merit. Gilman's ideas about the imprisonment of women in relationships and the public sphere parallel those of other authors. Most notably, Gilman's piece parallels the issues in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," in which an oppressed woman dies of joy when told that her husband had died. Both authors lived through the late 19^th century and became first-hand witnesses of the role of women. Such themes still relate today in the 21^st century, where women are still fighting in areas like the work sector to be treated equally.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper." Literature Collections IV.