Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"

It is interesting to me, as with Charlotte Gilman, the writers who boast little or no formal education and yet possess the accolades they have received as American Literary authors. One could ponder the difference in levels of today’s educated and these who self-educated themselves.

I previously studied Charlotte Gilman and “the Yellow Wallpaper” in a humanities women’s study class last year. I found it an enticing read then and was anxious to read it again for this class. I still had some difficulty understanding all the twists and turns in the story and am not sure if my perspective of the happenings is accurate as to Gilman’s purpose. I found it interesting in the notes that John was described as both a villain and a loving husband. From my previous reading, viewed from a feministic viewpoint, John was marked as a domineering husband. After reading it again, I could see how he could be viewed as a loving husband believing in his medical training at the time. However, if I let my mind wander through the plot enough, I could come to several different conclusions.

It is hard to imagine isolation to be a treatment for a depressed state of mind. Having experienced a troubled time myself, I can only imagine where I would be today if I had not been able to continue working and having the support of my friends and family. Having been confined to a room would have only made it much worse for me. I find it hard to believe she was expected not to think of her state of mind with nothing else allowed to occupy it. I think she used this story to share her views on spousal oppression and the lack of women’s rights during this time period.

I believe the character began to display the most serious signs of insanity when she began studying the wallpaper and seeing things in it. Paranoia became a constant companion to her. I believe she was simply experiencing post partum depression, but of course that was not a diagnosis of the time. It would be curious of the number of women who experienced this same situation ending up being driven to this state of mind from a lack of knowledge of the illness. I do believe John meant well but simply did not understand the complexity of the mental state of her mind.

I have not researched any cliff notes or writings on this story and am not sure as to what actually happened to Gilman’s character. I would be interested in the views of others as to what happened at the end.