The Yellow Wallpaper The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells the story of a woman's descent into complete madness as a result of the rest and cure treatment. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the author presents a tragic story of a woman that suffers from what we can now have medically diagnosed as postpartum depression after the birth of her child and how she tries to regain her sanity from her husband John who truly had good intentions to make her well but instead it that eventually drives her to suicide. Gilman's personal story is a resemblance to that of the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” with the exception that she did heal herself by not buying into Mr. Mitchell's rest cure treatment, which he later altered his methods only after reading this story. Perhaps the suicide ending in this story would have been an alternate ending for Gilman if she had followed the rest cure treatment. Perhaps in her struggle to free the woman behind the wallpaper, the woman in the story frees herself from her husband's demands and isolated treatment that drove her over the edge. The character in this story suffers from what her husband can only describe as a “temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 70) and has been “forbidden to work” (Gilman 71). In attempt to resolve and cure this “temporary nervous depression,” her husband takes her to a secluded colonial mansion, a hereditary estate that has been empty for year however it is private and sets away from the road and three miles away from the nearest village. In his best efforts to help her, he decided that it would be best to keep her isolated on the second floor in a room that was in the past considered a nursery, although it had several indications that the room was set up for a person that may have suffered from a mental illness, “for the windows are barred” and “rings and things in the walls” (Gilman 72). Although she disagreed with his ideas and believed that “congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman 71), there was not much she could say to him to make change his mind. John, her husband, a physician of “high standing” believed in facts and things he can touch and see. He “assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing wrong” (Gilman 70) and manipulates the situation by making it seem that she is the one that is control. When she talks about the house, she describes it as “the most beautiful place” (Gilman 71) although she unhappy with her room. She elaborates about the wallpaper, which later becomes another character in the story, possibly this is the uncovering of her split personality. She describes the wallpaper as “one of those sprawling, flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” (Gilman 72) making it appears unattractive for a beautiful mansion and letting us know that she is in her right state of mind and not insane at this point of the story. She continues on and mentions that “it is dull enough to confuse the eye,” “constantly to irritate and provoke study” (Gilman 72) implying one could not help to look at it and question why would someone have picked such a color or pattern for a nursery. Although she would have preferred the room downstairs “that opened into the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it” (Gilman 71), creating the effect that John is the one making all of the decisions regardless of what she wants. At this point in the story, it is apparent that John is treating her more like a patient than his wife. We learn that he forbids her to write when she says about how writing made her tiresome “having to be so sly about it, or else met with heavy opposition”(Gilman 71), indicating that she hides her writings from her husband. He laughs at her about the wallpaper, disregards her ideas of renovating and refuses to make any changes she would like to make to her room more comfortable, because it would be allowing her to make decisions and feels she is in no position to make decisions. John does not allow her to care for the baby which is the main reason for her illness and we know that this is affecting her when she states “Mary is so good with the baby.” and “And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous” (Gilman 73), symbolizing that she is being kept away from her baby and she not allowed to be responsible for his care. John controls all of her care such as, her diet, prescriptions, and makes her take “cod liver oil and lots of tonics and things” (Gilman 76), instructs her when to sleep, when to exercise, and isolates her from family and friends. John even goes to extremes with little pet names by referring to her as a “blessed little goose” (Gilman 73) and “little girl” (Gilman 77), treating her like a fragile child and incompetent to make any decisions on her own. We can without a doubt see when the woman in the story loses her sanity when she starts to describing the wallpaper pattern in more human terms, by giving it human characteristics such as “they suddenly commit suicide - plunge off at outrageous angles, destroying themselves in unheard-of-contradictions” (Gilman 72), and “broken necks,” and “bulbous eyes” (Gilman 74). It’s obvious she even becomes delusional, when she describes the “unblinking eyes” all over the pattern of wallpaper. How they stare at her without blinking, perhaps she feels this way since she is constantly being watched and controlled by John. She begins to obsess about the wallpaper more at night due to insomnia. She notices different layers of the wallpaper and labels them front and back and sees a woman in the sub-pattern, possibly a referring to herself and how she perceives herself at this time. She discovers that the front pattern is the one that moves because “The woman behind shakes it” (Gilman 80) possibly reflecting on her shaking the bars on the windows in her room. Seeing the woman in different place during the day “I see her in that long shaded lane, creeping up and down” and “I see her in those dark grape arbors, creeping all around the garden” (Gilman 81) insinuates that she day dream about being out of that room, outside with fresh air and enjoying the summer instead of being ordered to take medication and naps. There were clear signs of that her illness was only getting worse and they were either unfortunately overlooked by her caregivers or possible they just didn’t know how to handle her crazy behaviors such as, the bedstead being gnawed on and the streak on the wall, “a long, straight, even smooch, as if it had been rubbed over and over,” (Gilman 80) she was obviously crawling around on the floor with her shoulder against the wall, over and over. When she states “But nobody could climb through that pattern - it strangles so; (Gilman 80) and “They get through and then the pattern strangles them off and turns them upside down and makes their eyes white!”(Gilman 80), as well as “To jump out the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong to even try” (Gilman 82). These are all clear indicating that she is now thinking of committing suicide to escape. It’s clearly apparent that only if her husband the physician would have allowed her to either express her feeling freely to him as a married couple and not patient or write which is what she enjoyed to do without hiding it and he could have read what she was writing which was obviously a individual crying out for help and the help she was receiving was not being effective. Instead he continuously tried to convince her she was getting better and that rest and fewer distractions would be the best for her. There are many elements in this story that can be analyzed to reveal that the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” crosses from sanity to insanity because of her husband's theory and treatment for her “temporary nervous breakdown” which ultimately leads to her death.

Work Cited Perkins Gilman, Charlotte. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Literature A Portable Anthology. Eds. Janet E. Gardner, Beverly Lawn, Jack Ridl, and Peter Schakel. 2nd ed. Boston New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2009. 70-83.