Depression in Marriage

Marriage sometimes refers to the happiest time for each couple. However, marriage can lead women to having depression. In the story “The yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, published in 1892, the author is giving out a point of view that women often get depression from their spouses. Gilman is a famous feminist, who believes that women should receive the same privileges as men. In the story, the woman was being controlled by her husband John. John was a doctor and he was educated enough to tell his wife what she needed to do for her sickness; however, she could not argue with her husband because she was not smart enough to reject his decision. Since the sickness has made this woman become a weak person, she also couldn’t fight against her husband in physical ways. The time period of this story was nearly 1800, so the woman in the story must have the idea of male domination. This traditional idea has made this woman afraid to stand up for herself. At the end of the story, the depression has made this woman become mentally insane and respect is one major theme of this story.
Different levels of education in a marriage will give women a lot of pressures. In Gilman’s story, John controls his wife just by being a doctor. “If a physician of high standing and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression [...]” (154). Since her husband is a professional doctor, she cannot fight back with John about her illness. She believes that John’s higher education is putting more pressure on her as his wife. This shows that one higher education can be a pressure of others in a family. The levels of education make marriage become an oppressive re...

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...and Economics, a theoretical treatise which argued, among other things, that women are subjugated by men, that motherhood should not preclude a woman from working outside the home, and that housekeeping, cooking, and child care, would be professionalized”. This quote shows Gilman’s mighty idea of how women should be feeling better about themselves. Many women have an idea that it would be an insult to work as a housekeeper or a child care. In my personal opinion, I agree with Gilman’s term because I believe that there are no differences between different jobs. The purpose of a job is only to earn money. It doesn’t matter how much you make; the only thing that matters is to feel confidence of doing your own job as a worker. Therefore, women should not feel depressed about themselves because they can do the same thing as men do.

Works Cited

“The yellow Wallpaper”