The Woman Behind Her Husband’s Bars

In Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, readers are exposed to the horrific unraveling of the narrator’s psychosis as she becomes obsessive over her engagements with the wallpaper in her room. Although this protagonist greatly desires to endow her role as the archetypal loving wife and mother, she is limited from successfully expressing her own beliefs and creativity. This confinement is a direct result of John, who is both her husband and physician. Contrary to the subservient and domestic standard that women were held to during the 19th century, the narrator rebels against her husband, John, by engaging in creative activities during her treatment. Conflicting with the societal model of the all-knowing male counter-part, the narrator’s insanity is due to her imprisonment, which is ironically direct result of her husband.
The narrator and her husband, John, are renting an estate house for the summer. According to her husband, his wife suffers from a type “temporary nervous depression—a hysterical tendency” (489). As the story unravels, readers are exposed to the fact that her illness has placed her in a powerless position against her overbearing husband. As part of her cure, John has prescribed his wife absolute rest; she cannot work, travel, or even look after her new baby. “So I take phosphates of phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again…Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change would do me good. But what is one to do” (489)? Furthermore, readers see that the narrator is helpless, and she speaks as though her personal opinions are meaningless throughout the entire story. She says, “I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful to value it more” (490). Clearly, the protagonist is uneasy from the start of the story due to her lack of free-will. On the other