The Role Of Women In The Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Women were not always equal to men, and in some ways women are still not equal to men. When “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was released in the New England Magazine , the year was 1892, and during this time, women were almost considered to be a different species. They did not have the same rights as men in any way and were treated as if they were incapable of being anything but housewives. For example, women were not allowed to vote, work, own property, write or even imagine. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman, describes this role of women in society in an interesting and intriguing way. Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. Her life was not a desirable

One symbol that plays a huge part in the meaning of the story is John. John is hugely important because he symbolizes the average man in society who contradicts and disregards what women say and believes he knows what is best for another human being. Gilman says, “John is practical in the extreme. 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” (Gilman 792). This description of John specifically relates to the way most men thought at that time. At one point in the story, the narrator begs John to take her away from the dreadful house, but John instead says, “...I cannot possibly leave town just now… You really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know” (Gilman 798). John is saying that it does not matter what the narrator feels or sees about herself because he is a male doctor, and he knows what he is saying is correct. This is another example of how the character John symbolizes and represents the typical man in society. As the superior man in society, John is micromanaging the narrator’s life and keeping her in the daily pattern of life that he feels is best for her. The pattern in the wallpaper could symbolize this pattern of living that the narrator is stuck

That goal was to destroy the incorrect display of a woman’s role in society and the idea that this role involved women being inferior to men. She delivered her message in the story through her strategic use of motifs, imagery, and symbolism. Although John constantly disregarded the narrator as men do to women and insisted his knowledge was the best, the narrator did not allow that to stop her from writing and imagining, and eventually, she breaks free from the pattern of society. When John caughts her shedding the wallpaper, he actually faints and falls to the floor, and even though he has passed out, the narrator exclaims, “I had to creep over him every time” (Gilman 803). This final line explains how even when it seems like men have stepped down and are not looking superciliously upon women, they are still in the