What Is The Feminist Criticism Of The Yellow Wallpaper

Although Gilman herself doesn’t class herself as a feminist, there are clear representations of the feminist ideology throughout The Yellow Wallpaper. Gilman may have denied this relation due to similar reasons as the Bronte sisters when they used male pseudonyms to publish their work - as the feminist movement didn’t gain momentum until the 1960’s whilst the Yellow Wallpaper was published in 1891. The main feminist theories in The Yellow Wallpaper this essay focuses on are; male characters relations with women, the blinding effects of ideology, cultural stereotypes in literature and the idea of all women being ‘essentially helpless’. One particular feminist critic whose work can be applied to The Yellow Wallpaper is Millett who argues ‘most
We can see this event has occurred in The Yellow Wallpaper in the line ‘it is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby’ (page 6) this tells us her baby has been taken away from her for someone else to look after and we can presume this is due to her mental state. Another short story this happens in is The Giant Wistaria however as this is also by Gilman some critics may argue that this is just her subjective view against the treatment of women. Another cultural stereotype of women at the time was that any mental illness they developed was deemed ‘female hysteria’ examples of this in the text are ‘there is really nothing a matter with one but temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency’ (page 3) and ‘John says if I don’t pick up fast he shall send me to Weir Mitchell [an American physician] in the fall’ (page 8). Weir Mitchell was Gilman‘s doctor and when she developed a mental health problem he provided her with the rest cure and told her to ‘live as domestic as life as possible’ (Appendix B). This allows the reader to make a clear link from the short story to cultural stereotypes at the
During The Yellow Wallpaper the narrator says ‘I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel’ (page 10). The freedom of speech has been a human right that predates modern international human rights and allows everyone to have opinions; feminist critics would argue that in The Yellow Wallpaper and other texts written at the time this right is taken away from women. This can be linked to the blinding effects of ideology and male characters relations with women. Overall it is clear that feminist criticism plays a key role in opening up meanings throughout The Yellow Wallpaper. Although Gilman’s main objective with the short story was to ‘save people from being driven crazy [due to the same illness she suffered from]’ (Appendix B) in the modern day it can be used as an outlook on how women were treated and viewed in the 19th century. It also helps support the feminist theory and backs up many theories as it is taken from Gilman’s personal predicament - ‘For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown’ (Appendix