Jane's Postpartum Depression in "The Yellow Wallpaper"
In the "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman describes her postpartum depression through the character of Jane. Jane was locked up for bed rest and was not able to go outside to help alleviate her nervous condition. Jane develops an attachment to the wallpaper and discovers a woman in the wallpaper. This shows that her physical treatment is only leading her to madness. The background of postpartum depression can be summarized by the symptoms of postpartum depression, the current treatment, and its prevention. Many people ask themselves what happens if postpartum depression gets really bad or what increases their chances. Jane's treatment can show what can happen if it is not treated correctly. If Jane would have had different treatment, then she would not have gone insane.
Gilman wrote this story to describe her experience with her own postpartum depression and the experiences with Dr. Mitchell. In 1886, Dr. Mitchell was "the nation's foremost specialist in the women's `nervous disorders'" (Seymor-Smith 979). After the birth of her daughter, Katherine Beecher Stetson, Gilman was weighed down with an upsetting depression. Gilman started treatment with Dr. Mitchell (979). "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written to criticize Dr. Mitchell's cure for women's depression. After
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Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper," she submitted her essay to Dr. Mitchell. He changed his treatment after reading the story (footnote in Gilman 431). "The Yellow
Wallpaper" was inspired by Gilman's own experiences with the depression (Seymor-Smith 979).
Knowing the symptoms of postpartum depression is critical for a young mother's discovering that she may have the depress...
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...s like not being able to write or going outside. There are known factors that add to the risk of having long-term depression. They are having poor support from close ones, additional stress, and a first time pregnancy (Healthwise- What Increases Your Risks). These known factors contribute to Jane's depression especially with the attachment with the wallpaper.
Jane's treatment leads her to insanity. When this story was written, there was neither the medicine nor the treatment methods that we have today. If Jane was in today's
time, then she possibly would not have gotten as bad as she did. Readers may become sympathetic for Jane because they know that there is more help today than there was
then. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a compassionate story about a new mother that goes through postpartum depression, and the results of not having it treated correctly.
While on vacation for the summer, the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is, at the most, depressed at the beginning of their visit to a colonial mansion. Her husband John, however, thinks there is nothing wrong with her except temporary nervous depression (pg 391) and has her confined to a bedroom upstairs. I believe John loves her very much and is trying to help her get well, but he won’t believe there is an illness unless he can read about it or see something physical with his own eyes. "He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures." (pg 391) During the time of this writing it was the norm that men dominated women. Women were to be seen but not heard. They were not to argue with men, so she was forced to do as he said. Her husband has forbidden her to "work" until she is well again. (pg 392) She is held prisoner in her bedroom and has nothing to do to keep her mind active except stare at the wallpaper, although she did sneak in writing in her journal when possible.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is a fictionalized account of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's own postpartum depression. Gilman was a social critic and feminist who wrote prolifically about the necessity of social and sexual equality, particularly about women's need for economic independence. According to critic Valarie Gill,
Gilman tries to show that according to her husband, the narrator continually brings her great depression upon herself. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman also attempts to show that the lack of social exposure, physical repression, and ugly wallpaper cause the treatment to be extremely ineffective and detrimental. The disorder which is being treated is actually strengthened to the point of a serious mental illness. Similarly in today’s society, medical and psychological advice may have the same effect. Medical technology and practice have progressed considerably since the time of the “Yellow Wallpaper.” This is not to say that today’s physicians are infallible. Perhaps some of today’s treatments are the “Yellow Wallpaper” of the future .
The Yellow-Wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It narrates the story of an unnamed woman that is subjected to the famous “rest cure” in order to cure her from her mental illness. This story shows
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," is the disheartening tale of a woman suffering from postpartum depression. Set during the late 1890s, the story shows the mental and emotional results of the typical "rest cure" prescribed during that era and the narrator’s reaction to this course of treatment. It would appear that Gilman was writing about her own anguish as she herself underwent such a treatment with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1887, just two years after the birth of her daughter Katherine. The rest cure that the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" describes is very close to what Gilman herself experienced; therefore, the story can be read as reflecting the feelings of women like herself who suffered through such treatments. Because of her experience with the rest cure, it can even be said that Gilman based the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" loosely on herself. But I believe that expressing her negative feelings about the popular rest cure is only half of the message that Gilman wanted to send. Within the subtext of this story lies the theme of oppression: the oppression of the rights of women especially inside of marriage. Gilman was using the woman/women behind the wallpaper to express her personal views on this issue.
It is assumed in “The Yellow Wallpaper” that the main character may be suffering from postpartum depression. This site gives information on postpartum in the early 1900’s by referencing a similar story of Rachel Calof.
Because her husband was a physician, he decided to treat her with the common “rest cure” and she was unable to write like she loved to do. In secret, the narrator kept a journal where she was able to spend time to herself and relax which at times made her feel better. What was ironic about this treatment was that it had the reverse effect on patients which was the point Gilman was trying to make to her audience. According to critic Rena Korb, “Gilman claimed a purpose for everything she wrote. "The Yellow Wallpaper" pointed out the dangers of the medical treatment imposed by Mitchell and other doctors like him” (Korb 2003). Suffering from postpartum depression herself, Gilman felt it was necessary to depict the management of her own mental illness and how she was treated by others and how it was ineffective. Korb also stated, “At that time, the medical profession had not yet distinguished between diseases of the mind and
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s tantalizing short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” tells the horrifying tale of a nineteenth century woman whose husband condemns her to a rest cure, a popular approach during the era to treat post-partum depression. Although John, the unnamed narrator’s husband, does not truly believe his wife is ill, he ultimately condemns her to mental insanity through his treatment. The story somewhat resembles Gilman’s shocking personal biography, namely the rest cure she underwent under the watchful eye of Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1887, two years after the birth of her daughter, Katherine. Superficially, the rest cure the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" endures loosely replicates Gilman’s personal anguish as she underwent such a treatment. More complexly, however, the story both accentuates and indirectly criticizes the oppression women faced in both marriage and motherhood.
She published “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892. This story was like her life. She was able to grasp what had happened to her and put it in a story. Mrs. Gilman followed the tradition of her family and married a man named Walter Stetson. She was afraid that by getting married, her hopes of having a career would end. She then later on had a kid which motherhood consumed her entire time. This caused her to go into depression. Mrs. Gilman went into a treatment called rest cure. Little by little she came to understand her role as a mother. She got a divorce with her husband and remarried another man. This man she married gave her everything and had best of both worlds. Then it turned out to be she had breast cancer and she committed suicide. Yet, she came to have many great stories
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" has been viewed as either a work of supernatural horror or as a feminist treatise regarding the role of women in society. A close analysis of Gilman's use of symbols reveals "The Yellow Wallpaper" as her response to the male view of hysteria from ancient times through the nineteenth century. " In "The Yellow Wallpaper" Gilman questions the validity of Hippocrates's theory of the wandering uterus and Weir Mitchell's "rest cure". As she wrote in her essay "Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper?", "[the story] was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy…" (107). By her own account, Gilman's purpose in writing "The Yellow Wallpaper" was to educate and inform the public of the misinterpretation of hysterical symptoms.
In literature, women are often depicted as weak, compliant, and inferior to men. The nineteenth century was a time period where women were repressed and controlled by their husband and other male figures. Charlotte Gilman, wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper," showing her disagreement with the limitations that society placed on women during the nineteenth century. According to Edsitement, the story is based on an event in Gilman’s life. Gilman suffered from depression, and she went to see a physician name, Silas Weir Mitchell. He prescribed the rest cure, which then drove her into insanity. She then rebelled against his advice, and moved to California to continue writing. She then wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper,” which is inflated version of her experience. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the main character is going through depression and she is being oppressed by her husband and she represents the oppression that many women in society face. Gilman illustrates this effect through the use of symbols such as the yellow wallpaper, the nursery room, and the barred windows.
Charlotte Gilman was a renowned feminist author who published most of her work in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Her works, of which "The Yellow Wallpaper" is most famous, reflect her feminist views. Gilman used her writings as a way of expressing these views to the public. At the time "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written, the attitude in colonial America towards feminists was not one of tolerance or acceptance. In the mid-1880s, Gilman suffered a nervous breakdown and eventually was referred to a specialist in neurological disorders. The doctor's diagnosis was such: Gilman was perfectly healthy. The doctor ordered Gilman to domesticate her life and to immediately stop her writings. Gilman went by the doctor's orders, and nearly went mad. Now although "Yellow Wallpaper" is a fictional story, it becomes clear that the story was significantly influenced by Gilman's life experiences. Gilman seems to be exploring the depths of mental illness through her writing.
The Yellow Wallpaper was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1982. The time period it was written in contributes to the overall theme of the short story as it is a socio-political metaphor on the treatment of women during the late 19th century. The main character as well as narrator is a young upper middle class woman who is presumably named Jane (her name is never outwardly mentioned). She is suffering from what today might be diagnosed as some form of depression or other (some sources have speculated that she is suffering from postpartum depression since she has a new child she longs to care for). However, during the time period, women suffering from mental illness were often cast off as hysterical or simply nervous, as her husband,
"The Yellow Wallpaper" became significant not only in literature, but also socially, it was a current issue that Gilman was relating to at the time. Gilman sought medical help from the famous neurologist S. W. Mitchell for her slight depression. Mitchell, who prescribed his famous "rest cure", that restricted women from doing anything that labored and taxed their minds, and for Gilman, her writing. More than just a psychological study of postpartum depression, Gilman's "The Yellow...
Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper in 1890 about her experience in a psychiatric hospital. The doctor she had prescribed her “the rest cure” to get over her condition (Beekman). Gilman included the name of the sanitarium she stayed at in the piece as well which was named after the doctor that “treated” her. The short story was a more exaggerated version of her month long stay at Weir Mitchell and is about a woman whose name is never revealed and she slowly goes insane under the watch of her doctor husband and his sister (The Yellow Wallpaper 745). Many elements of fiction were utilized by Gilman in this piece to emphasize the theme freedom and confinement. Three of the most important elements are symbolism, setting and character.