A Struggle for Power

A Struggle for Power

Women in Western society have been expected to

do what men and their husbands ask of them with no

questioning of authority; popular twentieth-century

depictions of the “nuclear family” show the bread-winning

husband governing what his submissive wife does and does

not do. A conflict over marital authority is found in Charlotte

Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” where the narrator is

battles the pressures of several authorities which eventually

lead to her breakdown. If there is no balance in a marriage and

one partner has total authority, then that marriage becomes

nothing more than an institution within which the obedient

partner is a prisoner. An analysis of “The Yellow Wallpaper” in

the context of Phillip K. Zimbardo’s prison experiment shows

the tremendous power that ideologies of obedience and

authority have over people, specifically the authority that a

man has over his wife, who becomes his prisoner.

Many forces control the narrator in “ The Yellow

Wallpaper”—the most obvious being her husband, John. In

the beginning of the story, she goes along with everything

her husband tells her—even if she does not agree with

it. Because he is a physician, she does not go against his

authority. While she may, in fact, feel perfectly fine after

writing, she tells herself that she is weary because John has

forced the idea into her head. She says, “I sometimes fancy

that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society

and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is

to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes

me feel bad” (Gilman 577). She respects his authority and

complies with his demands.

These actions are similar to those of the students in

Zimbardo’s prison experiment who were given the roles of

prisoners and guards in order that scientists could more fully

examine obedience and authority in prisons. Zimbardo tells

the reader, “Act not, want not, feel not and you will not get

into trouble in prison-like situations” (371). The narrator’s

compliance with her husband’s demands illustrates how she

is similar to a prisoner. Zimbardo says, “The prisoners were

forced to obtain permission from the guard for routine and

simple activities such as writing letters, smoking a cigarette

or even going to the toilet; this elicited from them a childlike

dependency” (366). Like these prisoners, Gilman’s narrator

feels controlled by her husband and is frustrated by her

dependency. She says, “I get unreasonably angry with John

sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive…But John

says if I feel so [angry], I shall neglect proper self-control; so

I take pains to control myself—before him, at least” (Gilman