Illness In The Yellow Wallpaper

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Charlotte Perkin Gilman as a woman living in 19th century America, provides powerful insight into the mistreatment of women at the time in her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The narrative is told from the perspective of Jane whose oppressive relationship with her husband causes her to descend into madness. Jane and her husband John although married lived unequal lives. John, both a male and a doctor holds a very high position in society. All of John’s words are finals this influences Jane throughout the story. Evidently, John is shown to mistreat Jane by belittling her as if she were inferior to him. For example, John would always refer to Jane as “…my little girl…” or refer to her with “Bless her little heart.” (557). This was …show more content…

No evidence of this “illness” was shown because the only symptoms Jane ever displayed was her eventual descent to insanity, but that was due to John’s incompetence. One could argue that perhaps the “illness” is diagnosed in an attempt to further control women by restricting their minds and thoughts. By the end of the plot, Jane’s mind had taken a toll from being locked up for so long, it led to her eventually decent to insanity. The last thing she would quote was, “I’ve got out at last…so I creep over him every time.” (563). Jane’s final quote would be evidence that her willpower and individualism was the target of John’s care. In other words, she, as a woman, was not allowed to express her identity because it was not in the best interest of her husband. As a result, she became mentally unstable and insane. It is interesting to how John believe, “no one but herself can help her out” (556), despite that it was his direct orders and influence that caused his wife to decent to …show more content…

It did more harm to the patients than good and the process in which it is conducted mistreats the patients. A side effect of the resting cure is the descent of a person’s mind from sanity to instability. With nothing to do all day Jane found herself alternate loopholes to John’s treatment. This would be the gazing and curiosity surrounding yellow wallpaper that was located their bedroom. Jane obsessively talks about the wallpaper and stated, “I…watched and started at the moonlight on that wallpaper...the woman wanting to get out...” (557). In reality this attempt to find new relief for her mind in the everyday life caused her detachment from reality and it was the direct result from the treatment. The treatment’s idea is to restrict one’s imagination and individualism in order to be “rested” and it is suggested from the text that this was a normal treatment back in those days. As a result because of it being a widespread and accepted treatment, Jane could not escape from the “cure” due to her husband’s repeated enforcement. Her husband’s enforcement could be seen as a form of control on Jane, whether John was there or not, she would be subjected to whatever was required of her and the maid could be seen as an extension of John’s control. Jane’s pleas, “No one wanted to believe what an effort it is to do so

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