The Rest Cure

The Victorian period consisted of exhausting expectations of mannerly behavior, especially on women. Etiquette rules around this time constricted women from their attired to their acts. The most influential cultural idea during the 19th century was the inferiority of women compared to men. In comparison to today, women were expected to focus on their homes and families. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman offers insight into the Victorian time and its societal norms. Besides providing the characters’ comments and actions, Gilman also introduces the “rest cure.” Furthermore, she utilizes a literary device to appeal to the readers and justify her actions. This essay will carefully use The Rest Cure by Ellen L. Bassuk and Paula
Weir Mitchell was a physician who specialized in the nervous system disorders. He was very influenced by the Victorian cultural and societal ideas when he developed the “rest cure” (Bassuk, 245). In the nineteenth century, society thought the only women’s purpose in life was to reproduce to continue the race. Another concept, which is still present in the twenty-first century, is women are overly emotional creatures. Having those ideas in mind, Doctor Mitchell developed a nervous illness treatment, “‘which consisted of complete rest, seclusion, and excessive feeding… [and did] not permit the patient to sit up or sew or write or read, or to use the hands in any active way’” (247). Gilman depicted some of the characteristics of the “rest cure” in her fictional story. For example, Gilman stayed in bed for hours, ate a lot of food, and was not permitted to write or interact with her
Because Gilman was a feminist, she, of course, disagreed with the “rest cure” and women’s traditional roles. Gilman specifically mentions in her work that “congenial work, with excitement and change [,] would do [her] some good” (780). At the end of the story, she freed herself by peeling off the wallpaper and divorcing her ex-husband in real life. This journal appealed to the 19th-century society to make them aware what women were going through. Notably, she appealed to the Victorian women through the literary device, pathos, since she used her life experience to sympathize with other women. Many Victorian women probably understood what it was to be under control by men. Thus, the ending of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” when she peels off the wallpaper, must have had a great impact on the women readers take the lead of their lives and change their roles in society.
In conclusion, analyzing “The Yellow Wallpaper” from the Victorian cultural and historical viewpoint, readers can interpret the meaning behind the story. In the Victorian period, women needed to obey their husbands and follow the traditional domestic life. These ideas contributed to the many aspects of the “rest cure” and the men’s total control over women. Gilman refused to resign herself to that role in society. Instead, she defied society