Crazy and Crazier

In every small town in America, there’s that one person who is crazy, but is completely harmless, but then once in a blue moon America gets a glimpse of a maniac, who no one suspects or probably never even noticed. When reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the reader gets a glimpse through the eyes both these types of crazy people. They both have a similar struggle, but the outcome is very different. These characters are both clearly not right in the head, but who exactly is crazier?
The woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” has possibly suffered a mental break down. It was after the birth of her child, and it took a greater toll on her mind than it did on her body. Whatever the reason, this woman finds herself in an insane asylum which she thinks is a “summer home”, and she thinks she is staying in the “nursery”. She is to stay there until she is well again, but the longer she stays the more she feels trapped not only by the room but by her husband. The wall paper torments her, and although she doesn’t notice it she begins to hallucinate. She sees a woman creeping behind the wall paper. Over a short period of time, the woman begins to see more of not only the other woman, but women. She says they creep in the shadows, and shake the wall paper. In the end, she rips a good deal of wallpaper off the wall to “free” the woman. Looking deeper, one can see that the woman behind the wallpaper is not another woman, but id actually a part of the character. When she rips the wallpaper off, the woman is actually freeing herself.
The man from “The Tell-Tale Heart” is another ball game. He admits to being mad, but says that it “sharpened his senses not dulled them”. He feels trapped just like the woman, but he is trapped by ...

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... characteristics as his character so that might be why the man is calm and collected. Based on Gilman’s biography, there are several connections that one could make between Gilman and her character. They both suffered from a form of a nervous breakdown, and since they are both women they have a good understanding of the role of a mother and wife.
Being crazy isn’t easy nor does it seem like fun, but two authors did an incredible job of enabling us see through the eyes of people who aren’t exactly in their right mind. It’s safe to say that Poe’s character is slightly crazier that Gilman’s character just based on the fact he stood in the old man’s room and proceeded to cut him up. Gilman does rival him in the way her character bites the bed, and rips wallpaper off walls. In the end, both characters achieve their goals, so does it really make them all that different?