The Yellow Wallpaper
“The Yellow Wallpaper” A feminist break though and interpretation of the symbolism At the time of its publication in 1892, “The Yellow Wallpaper” was regarded primarily as a supernatural tale of horror and insanity in the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe. Charlotte Perkins Gilman based the story on her own experience with a “rest cure” for mental illness. The “rest cure” inspired her to wright a critique of the medical treatment prescribed to women suffering from a condition then known as “neurasthenia” (Golden 145).
Gilman’s work was praised by many. Elaine R. Hedges, author of the afterword to the 1973 version, praised the work as “one of the rare pieces of literature we have by a nineteenth-century woman who directly confronts the sexual politics of the male-female, husband-wife relationship.” Since that time, Gilman 's story has been discussed by literary critics from a wide range of perspectives, including biographical, historical, psychological, feminist, semiotic, and sociocultural. Nearly all of these critics acknowledge the story as a feminist text written in protest of the negligent treatment of women by a patriarchal society.
I argue that the question of whether Gilman provides a feminist solution to the patriarchal oppression that is exposed in the story is evident. The yellow wallpaper is symbolic in the sense that it represents constraints women are held to, like the home and family. In the case of Charlotte Gilman, women were constricted to the set parameters that were determined by men. Women were expected to accept these boundaries and remain in place. In todays society most of these constraints are shared by both parties and women have every opportunity a man has. Than women were cast as emotional servants whose lives were dedicated to the welfare of home and family in the perseverance of social stability (Crewe 10). Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in the “Yellow Wallpaper,” depicted Gilman’s struggle to throw off the constraints of
Gilman’s work was praised by many. Elaine R. Hedges, author of the afterword to the 1973 version, praised the work as “one of the rare pieces of literature we have by a nineteenth-century woman who directly confronts the sexual politics of the male-female, husband-wife relationship.” Since that time, Gilman 's story has been discussed by literary critics from a wide range of perspectives, including biographical, historical, psychological, feminist, semiotic, and sociocultural. Nearly all of these critics acknowledge the story as a feminist text written in protest of the negligent treatment of women by a patriarchal society.
I argue that the question of whether Gilman provides a feminist solution to the patriarchal oppression that is exposed in the story is evident. The yellow wallpaper is symbolic in the sense that it represents constraints women are held to, like the home and family. In the case of Charlotte Gilman, women were constricted to the set parameters that were determined by men. Women were expected to accept these boundaries and remain in place. In todays society most of these constraints are shared by both parties and women have every opportunity a man has. Than women were cast as emotional servants whose lives were dedicated to the welfare of home and family in the perseverance of social stability (Crewe 10). Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in the “Yellow Wallpaper,” depicted Gilman’s struggle to throw off the constraints of
Cited: Crewe, Jonathan. “Queering ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’? Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Politics of Form.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 14 (Fall 1995): 273-293. Golden, Catherine. “ ‘Overwriting’ the Rest Cure: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Literary Escape from S. Weir Mitchell’s Fictionalization of Women.” Critical Essays on Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Ed. Joanne P. Karpinski. New York: G.K. Hall, 1992. 144-158. Hume, Beverly A. “Gilman’s ‘Interminable Grotesque’: The Narrator of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’” Studies in Short Fiction 28 (Fall 1991): 477-484.