The Yellow Wallpaper Hysteria

“The Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a short story that follows a female narrator suffering from hysteria. This short story opens with the narrator speaking of the summer home she is vacationing at with her husband, John (a physician). The narrator speaks of being sick, however she does not feel that her husband and her brother (who is also a physician) take her illness seriously. The narrator is diagnosed with hysteria and her treatment is being regulated to a bedroom and being put on bedrest. In the bedroom, the narrator fixates on the yellow wallpaper lining the bedroom that she absolutely hates. As the narrator fixates on the wallpaper, she begins to see designs and later a woman in the wallpaper. As time goes on the woman in the wallpaper multiplies. The narrator locks her husband out of the bedroom and begins to tear down the wallpaper. When John is finally able to gain access to the bedroom, he sees the room torn apart and his wife creeping around the room. This causes him to pass out and his wife creeps over him. According to the National Institute of Mental
The narrator mentions that she gets, “unreasonably angry with John sometimes. [She’s] sure [she] never used to be so sensitive,” (Gilman 308). The narrator also mentions, “I cry at northing, and cry most of the time,” (Gilman 312). Within these two pieces of text, the narrator expresses her feelings of unexplained anger and random bouts of crying. The National Institute of Mental Health explains that, “experiencing anger or rage,” and, “crying more often than usual or for no apparent reason,” are common symptoms of postpartum depression (“Postpartum Depression Facts”). Since the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is experiencing changes in her mood such as unexplained anger and crying, she is showing signs of postpartum