the yellow wallpaper mental health essay

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The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte perkins gilman.

Reading the series of diary entries that make up the story, the reader is in a privileged position to witness the narrator’s evolving and accelerating descent into madness, foreshadowed by her mounting paranoia and obsession with the mysterious figure behind the pattern of the yellow wallpaper.

As the portrayal of a woman’s gradual mental breakdown, The Yellow Wallpaper offers the reader a window into the perception and treatment of mental illness in the late nineteenth century. In the style of a Gothic horror story, the tale follows the gradual deterioration of its narrator’s mental state, but it also explores the ways that her husband John’s attempted treatment aggravates this decline. In one sense, then, the story is a propaganda piece criticizing a specific way of ‘curing’ mental illness. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author of the story, suffered from post-partum depression and, in circumstances very similar to those of the story’s narrator, was prescribed a ‘rest cure’ by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, who is mentioned by name in her tale. She underwent a mental breakdown as a result of this enforced idleness, which forbade any form of writing or work outside of the domestic sphere. The forced confinement of the story’s narrator, and her husband’s injunctions against writing or other activity, mirror this ‘rest cure’ in the author’s life.

John, the narrator’s husband, serves also as her de facto doctor. As such, he is a model of traditional attitudes toward mental illness. He is driven purely by practicalities, prescribing self-control above all else, and warning against anything that he sees as indulging his wife’s dangerous imagination or hysteria. His refusal to acknowledge his wife’s concerns about her own mental state as legitimate, or to listen to her various requests – about their choice of room, receiving visitors, leaving the house, her writing or, of course, the wallpaper – ultimately contributes to her breakdown, as she finds herself trapped, alone, and unable to make her inner struggles understood. This feeling of powerlessness, of an inability to communicate, is portrayed with special horror to inspire empathy in a progressive reader, who may have been moved to reconsider methods such as the rest cure of Weir Mitchell.

Mental Illness and its Treatment ThemeTracker

Mental Illness and its Treatment Quotes in The Yellow Wallpaper

John is a physician, and PERHAPS—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)—PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?

He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.

I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more. He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get.

The paint and paper look as if a boys' school had used it. It is stripped off—the paper—in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and in a great place on the other side of the room low down. I never saw a worse paper in my life.

John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious. I am glad my case is not serious! But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing. John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no REASON to suffer, and that satisfies him.

There comes John's sister. Such a dear girl as she is, and so careful of me! I must not let her find me writing. She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which made me sick!

But, on the other hand, they connect diagonally, and the sprawling outlines run off in great slanting waves of optic horror, like a lot of wallowing seaweeds in full chase.

Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn't able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there; and I did not make out a very good case for myself, for I was crying before I had finished.

If we had not used it, that blessed child would have! What a fortunate escape! Why, I wouldn't have a child of mine, an impressionable little thing, live in such a room for worlds. I never thought of it before, but it is lucky that John kept me here after all, I can stand it so much easier than a baby, you see.

Of course if you were in any danger, I could and would, but you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color, your appetite is better, I feel really much easier about you.

On a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind… You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turns a back-somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream.

At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candle light, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be.

It used to disturb me at first. I thought seriously of burning the house—to reach the smell. But now I am used to it. The only thing I can think of that it is like is the COLOR of the paper! A yellow smell.

There is a very funny mark on this wall, low down, near the mopboard. A streak that runs round the room. It goes behind every piece of furniture, except the bed, a long, straight, even SMOOCH, as if it had been rubbed over and over. I wonder how it was done and who did it, and what they did it for. Round and round and round—round and round and round—it makes me dizzy!

And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern—it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads.

I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once.

I have found out another funny thing, but I shan't tell it this time! It does not do to trust people too much.

John knows I don't sleep very well at night, for all I'm so quiet! He asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind. As if I couldn't see through him!

Then I peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor. It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it! All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision!

I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try. Besides I wouldn't do it. Of course not. I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued.

I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard! It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please! I don't want to go outside. I won't, even if Jennie asks me to. For outside you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow. But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way.

"I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!

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The Yellow Wallpaper Mental Illness Essay

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The work was first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine and is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, due to its depiction of a woman’s descent into mental illness. The story is written from the point of view of a woman who may be suffering from depression. The narrator, whose husband is a physician, has been prescribed “rest and relaxation” by her doctor after several months at home with a difficult pregnancy and recent childbirth.

The unnamed woman’s condition had begun to deteriorate during the weeks she spent caring for her child, and this deterioration continued as the neglectful and patronizing husband began shutting her away in different rooms (upstairs, downstairs, etc. ) and obsessively redecorating those rooms. The story mentions that he used to shut her up because he could not stand hearing about women’s rights. The only time the woman is allowed out of the bedroom where she is being kept is when she sees John, an unusually cheerful man whom her doctor has hired to cheer her up.

The doctor is certain that John’s visits will lift the woman’s spirits, though she finds his presence disturbing and his stories of Africa upsetting. The story implies that this mysterious “treatment” was recommended by the narrator’s doctor because he fears for her sanity. The woman in The Yellow Wallpaper begins to identify herself with the wallpaper she sees around her. The narrator describes how looking at the yellow wallpaper makes her feel as though there are crawling creatures all over her body, choking her until she can’t breathe, which is why she doesn’t try to get out of bed anymore.

As time goes on, the woman sees less and less of John but feels increasingly trapped by the pattern of the wallpaper, which is moving and constricting around her. The woman becomes obsessed with the pattern of the wallpaper and all that it represents (patterns and conformity). The narrator eventually begins to believe that there are women creeping on all sides of her, under the floor and behind the walls – she sees them as ghastly giants who only want to torture her. The woman’s mental state continues to degrade until she can no longer think straight; at this point she sees a man creeping out of the pattern on the wall…

The story ends with John coming back into town for a brief visit. The narrator feels hope again, feeling loved by him instead of despised like everyone else in her life. The woman goes downstairs for dinner with John; however, she is having a difficult time seeing him through the haze of her illness. The woman feels as though there are all sorts of creatures crawling on her skin and sees one crawling out from under the door. The woman begins to feel hunted by whatever it is she saw, so she locks herself in the bathroom.

The narrator loses track of time while sitting in the locked room, eventually becoming tired and falling asleep after a long while. When she wakes up, John is still with her! The story ends on a hopeful note: The woman has escaped whatever “creature” was coming after her while she slept. The next day John leaves again for his home country while The Yellow Wallpaper’s protagonist reflects on how much better she feels now that he is gone. The woman has made connections between her own life and the wallpaper, which she describes as having “taken possession of me,” making it impossible for her to escape.

The story ends with her resolving to tear down the hateful yellow paper immediately. The ending gives the reader some satisfaction because John leaves for Africa or who knows where, but also keeps The Yellow Wallpaper open-ended enough that readers are free to wonder what exactly happened next. Some readers argue that The Yellow Wallpaper should end with The Woman tearing down the walls herself after being locked in a room by John; others believe that this ending is too harsh given how much The Woman has deteriorated already.

It might have been better if The Woman had escaped whatever was following her, or if The Woman had taken the necessary steps to tear down the walls herself after regaining lucidity. It is not clear what The Woman’s final destination was in The Yellow Wallpaper, making it a very open-ended story about women’s rights and mental health. The original ending of The Yellow Wallpaper has been argued over for years: did the woman escape whatever was hunting her? Or did she succumb to it and go insane? The ambiguity of The Yellow Wallpaper allows readers to pick their own ending.

Readers might argue that John should have stayed with his wife because he would realize that he loves her more than Africa; others argue that The Man in The Yellow Wallpaper represents everything The Woman fears (her husband, the patriarchal society they live in), and The Woman destroys him by tearing down The Wallpaper. The original ending is open to interpretation – does The Woman escape whatever was hunting her? Or does The Woman succumb to it and go insane? The ambiguity of The Yellow Wallpaper allows readers to pick their own ending.

Mental health deserves as much attention as physical health; people with mental illness deserve as much compassion as those with physical illnesses or disabilities. The protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper suffers from some sort of nervous disorder: John explicitly writes that she needs new air and sunshine, which suggests that her condition has something to do with poor ventilation (or a lack of sunshine). All we know about the woman’s mental state at the beginning of The Yellow Wallpaper comes from The Man and The Woman: The Man tells the reader that The Woman has “certain ideas” and The Woman thinks of herself as a prisoner.

The woman’s mental state becomes more apparent as the story progresses – she sees “creatures” on her skin and begins to feel hunted, eventually locking herself in a room. The protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper suffers from some sort of mental disorder, which is never named specifically but is implied to be nervousness brought on by John’s absence. Mental illnesses deserve as much attention as physical illnesses; people with mental illness deserve as much compassion as those with physical disabilities or chronic diseases.

The woman’s mental state deteriorates throughout the story, suggesting that this poor woman should have been allowed to receive help for her mental illness instead of being sent off by her husband and subsequently locked in a room. The protagonist sees “creatures” on her skin (most likely imaginary) and feels that she is being hunted, which suggests that The Woman suffers from hallucinations brought on by stress or some other condition. The woman becomes convinced that The Wallpaper has claimed her; when The Man returns, The Woman is utterly deranged and psychologically damaged.

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Mental Health and Self-Agency: Themes In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story about a woman’s descent into madness because her doctor husband downplays her mental illness. The story is also an ideal illustration of the 19th century society’s view of mental illness, and clear criticism of the rest cure that was often administered to patients with mental illness.

From a feminist literature perspective, Gilman shows how the lack of self-agency that characterized a woman’s life during the Victorian era was harmful. This literary analysis essay explores mental health and agency as the main themes in Charlotte Perkins’ The Yellow paper and how they intersect to create an ending that can be viewed as mental breakdown and mental freedom at the same time. 

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ Plot Summary

The Yellow Wallpaper is narrated in the form of diary entries. The narrator and main character, a woman, gives readers a glimpse into a three-months stay at an ancestral home for the summer, including her declining mental health. She’s staying here with her husband John, her young baby, her husband’s sister Jane, and Mary the help.

First, she gives a description of the house and its peculiarities, which her husband laughs at and often dismisses. In fact, he does not believe that she’s sick. He believes that she’s suffering from a mere “temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency.” The narrator is not allowed to carry out any form of work, including writing, which is her favorite pastime activity. She disagrees with this advice but there’s nothing she can do besides write when no one can see her. 

The narrator then continues to describe the house, including the upper nursery room in which they’ll be staying. She wants to stay in the room downstairs which opens up to a piazza , but John insists that the open air upstairs will do her good. The floor is “scratched and gouged and splintered,” with only one old bed that’s nailed to the floor and looks like it has “been through the wars.” The room also has an ugly and eerie yellow wallpaper that the narrator takes an obsessive interest in. Sometimes she can see a “strange, provoking, formless sort of figure” lurking behind the front design of the wallpaper that looks like bars. 

 Time passes. The narrator and her husband have hosted their family for the fourth of July celebrations and the two have stayed here for a while now but she doesn’t seem to be getting  better. She’s been feeling exhausted despite the enforced naps, and the yellow wallpaper doesn’t make things any better. She has also determined that the strange formless figure behind the wallpaper design is “like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.”  She wants to leave and go back home but her husband won’t let her. He insists that she’s getting better and after all, their lease expires after three weeks only. 

So in the remaining weeks, the narrator becomes increasingly obsessed with the yellow wallpaper and is even getting better because of it. She’s now certain that the dim sub-pattern behind the front design is a woman (sometimes women) who creeps and crawls behind the pattern, making it seem like she’s shaking the bars. Determined to free the woman behind the pattern, the narrator waits until her husband is out on the last day, locks herself in the nursery, and begins to tear off the wallpaper. When John comes into the room and finds the narrator creeping, he’s so shocked that he faints but the woman continues crawling and creeping over her husband’s body. 

Literary Analysis: Themes In Charlotte Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’

Gilman explores several themes in her short story The Yellow Wallpaper but two of them stand out more than the rest: mental health and the importance of self-expression or self-agency.  

Mental Health as a Theme in ‘ The Yellow Wallpaper’

The narrator suffers from a mental condition, though her husband refers to it as a mere hysterical tendency. Since she has an infant, it’s safe to allude that she’s suffering from postpartum depression. The Yellow Wallpaper sheds light on society’s perception of mental health at that time, remedies, and the general view of patients, especially women. 

Due to limited scientific studies and resources, mental illnesses were not well studied or understood during the Victorian era. People with mental health conditions, ranging from mild depression to serious manic episodes were viewed as an inconvenience to society . A slight behavioral or emotional deviation from the norm was enough to be declared insane, especially for women. Physicians who treated these conditions were referred to as alienists because of the nature of their work. What’s termed as depression today was known as melancholia in this era. The symptoms included, insomnia, lack of appetite, suicidal thoughts, a need to isolate oneself, fear, gloom, and quietness. Medical practitioners later began categorizing melancholy based on the symptoms, which made treatment easier, but were still unclear on what caused the condition. 

Treatments for mental health illnesses were still in development and unfortunately, they were tested on patients. They included heavy medication dosages, such as morphine and arsenic, as well as being committed to mad houses and asylums. Other popular remedies included surgeries, taking alcohol with every meal, oppressive shower baths, and Weir Mitchell’s rest cure , which was mostly administered on women. Unfortunately, these remedies were not effective and only served to numb the symptoms. Some even made the conditions worse as are the allegations in the case of King George III’s insanity . 

In The Yellow Wallpaper, the young woman suffers from a mental condition that’s likely postpartum depression. Her husband, who’s ironically a doctor, worsens her condition by ignoring her symptoms and terming them as mere hysterical tendencies. Due to the patriarchal nature of society back then, medical misogyny was a commonplace and was often harmful to women’s health. In this story, a husband and the woman’s brother (who are all doctors) do not believe she’s sick, despite her feeling and saying otherwise. 

“You see, he does not believe I am sick! …Personally, I disagree with their ideas.

Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?”  

Her feelings of helplessness and lack of self-agency on what to do about her health is  influenced by the lack of freedom and self-expression that characterized women’s lives during this time.   

The woman in the story is on prescribed rest cure. The main characteristics of rest cure for women in the Victorian era involved seclusion, enforced bed rest, overfeeding, and staying away from stimulating activities such as writing or one’s profession. Interestingly, Weir Mitchell had a different regimen for men’s rest cure to treat nervousness, which involved trips to the West wilderness, physical activities, creative endeavors, hunting, and male bonding. As expected, female patients continued to get worse while male patients came back healed, well rested, and more empowered. 

The woman’s mental condition in The Yellow Wallpaper continues to worsen despite the prescribed rest. Her illness gets so much worse that by the end of the story, she has become one with her condition. Writing down in her diary seems to calm her nervousness but even then she has to do it hiding lest her husband or sister in law discovers and takes it away from her. The story’s ending can be interpreted as liberation from society, John’s rules, and the woman’s mind. But what’s clear is the effects of stifled self-expression especially on women during the Victorian era.

The Yellow Wallpaper and Charlotte Gilman’s Mental Illness

Gilman suffered postpartum depression in real life and underwent a rest cure as prescribed by Weir Mitchell. She claims that the treatment only made her worse because she was in mental agony throughout the period. Most readers, therefore, view The Yellow Wallpaper as a form of fictional criticism for the rest cure approach. Gilman improved after she started reading and writing about her condition.

Do you have any literary analysis questions for your essay writing or just loved reading ‘ The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins and wanna start a conversation? Let me know in the comment section below! 🙂

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Yellow Wallpaper — The Yellow Wallpaper: A Literary Exploration of Mental Health

The Yellow Wallpaper: a Literary Exploration of Mental Health

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Published: Dec 3, 2020

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Women Have Nothing to Lose but Their Chains: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman approaches attitudes regarding gender and mental health in her 1892 short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Through her diary entries, Gilman illustrates the life of a woman who we assume to be named Jane, who has traveled to a colonial mansion with her physician husband, John, in order to alleviate her illness. Jane’s self-perception of her health is slowly shattered by John’s arrogant and neglectful reactions. Jane’s mental state deteriorates as she becomes infatuated with the wallpaper in her room which permeates every facet of her mind. Jane is powerless in obtaining the mental and emotional support she needs due to the unquestioned patriarchal order that is sustained throughout the story. Gilman’s portrayal of Jane critiques this patriarchal order that was omnipresent in the late 19 th century and serves as a message to women that they need to resist those who perpetuate gender inequality.

Throughout the story, it is obvious that John has little respect or care for his wife’s emotional wellbeing. Because he is a physician and a man, he believes that his opinion is worth more than his wife’s. From the beginning of the story, Jane is cognizant of her husband’s apathetic tendencies, yet is even more aware of her lack of power in her situation. She states, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?” (pg. 2). Jane’s recognition of this power inequality combined with her demoralized reaction is evidence that the patriarchal standards were never to be challenged. Jane repeats the phrase, “what is one to do?” a few lines later when she writes, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?” (pg. 2). In a situation where she is desperate to be heard, the oppressive patriarchy silences her. Her question will never be answered so long as those who uphold gender norms dictate society.

John is excellent at using his position of authority to discard any and all of Jane’s self-perception. While Jane’s mental state is becoming increasingly unstable as she becomes infatuated with the yellow wallpaper, John manipulates her and exacerbates her mental crisis. He attempts to comfort Jane despite ignoring every objection of hers by stating, “I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color, your appetite is better. I feel really much easier about you” (pg. 8). John and his proclaimed expertise contradict the very real and destructive deterioration of Jane’s mental health. His assertion of “I know” takes a toll on Jane as she is led to question what it is that she truly knows about herself. In a last attempt to protest that she is mentally unwell, she is instantly cut off by John who proclaims, “There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It is a false and foolish fancy. Can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so?” (pg. 9). This attitude of condescension is the breaking point for Jane. At this moment, any hope for Jane to receive the help that is necessary for her rehabilitation is shattered, as her mental state descends into a downward spiral.

As Jane’s fixation on the wallpaper becomes ever more acute, she begins to imagine that there are women trapped behind its surface. She ponders, “Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over” (pg. 11). The women that are locked in the wallpaper are those that have been oppressed by the severe inequality perpetuated by the patriarchy. Jane is present among these women and she knows that she must break out of the chains of oppression that have enslaved her. Jane compares the wallpaper to a prison cell when she writes, “in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard” (pg. 11). Gilman’s decision to portray the wallpaper as a prison cell expresses her feelings of confinement regarding society’s perception of women and their mental health.

The story concludes with the violent finale when Jane theatrically shreds the yellow wallpaper. At this moment, Jane is at the peak of her mental disarray, and when she has finally decided that she must break free from the chains that John has subjugated upon her. She yells at John, “I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” Gilman uses this act of violence and resistance to highlight the only solution that was left to Jane. After exhausting all of her resources, John left no choice for Jane but for her to violently shred through the wallpaper, freeing herself from the strangle of the patriarchy.

Through “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman is making a fervent and direct assertion: the patriarchy will never yield to the demands of women. Gilman uses Jane and her futile attempts to persuade John to listen to her in order to reach this assertion. The solution to this is present in the violent conclusion, where Jane rips through the yellow wallpaper in an attempt to free women from the oppressive patriarchy. Gilman is signaling to her readers that the structures in society that continue to oppress women must collapse. To achieve this, women must resist the patriarchy, even if violence is necessary. In essence, Gilman is proclaiming that women have nothing to lose but their chains.

Works Cited:

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Project Gutenberg , 1 Nov. 1999, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1952?msg=welcome_stranger. 

“Millions around the World Take to the Streets for International Women’s Day.” YouTube , uploaded by Democracy Now!, 9 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ISyOgJuqg&t=132s.

“Sad Piano – Struggle.” YouTube , uploaded by Lucas King, 31 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs9dbZMkKJg.

“The Yellow Wallpaper.” YouTube , uploaded by Joshua Cantrell, 10 Oct. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhcLaM-Ig84.

“Women of the World Unite.” Feminist Current , 27 June 2016, www.feministcurrent.com/2016/03/21/are-we-there-yet/130614_5e69z_rci-statusquo-karencho_sn6351/.

“Women’s Suffrage.” Brittanica , www.britannica.com/topic/woman-suffrage.

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Macallister, Greer. “The Lesser Known Life Behind’The Yellow Wallpaper.’” Literary Hub , 21 Mar. 2019, lithub.com/the-lesser-known-life-behindthe-yellow-wallpaper/.

A Summary and Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, an 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, has the structure and style of a diary. This is in keeping with what the female narrator tells us: that she can only write down her experiences when her husband John is not around, since he has forbidden her to write until she is well again, believing it will overexcite her.

Through a series of short instalments, we learn more about the narrator’s situation, and her treatment at the hands of her doctor husband and her sister-in-law.

To summarise the story, then: the narrator and her husband John, a doctor, have come to stay at a large country house. As the story develops, we realise that the woman’s husband has brought her to the house in order to try to cure her of her mental illness (he has told her that repairs are being carried out on their home, which is why they have had to relocate to a mansion).

His solution, or treatment, is effectively to lock her away from everyone – including her own family, except for him – and to forbid her anything that might excite her, such as writing. (She writes her account of what happens to her, and the effect it has on her, in secret, hiding her pen and paper when her husband or his sister come into the room.)

John’s suggested treatment for his wife also extends to relieving her of maternal duties: their baby is taken out of her hands and looked after by John’s sister, Jennie. Jennie also does all of the cooking and housework.

It becomes clear, as the story develops, that depriving the female narrator of anything to occupy her mind is making her mental illness worse, not better.

The narrator confides that she cannot even cry in her husband’s company, or when anyone else is present, because that will be interpreted as a sign that her condition is worsening – and her husband has promised (threatened?) to send her to another doctor, Weir Mitchell, if her condition doesn’t show signs of improving. And according to a female friend who has been treated by him, Weir Mitchell is like her husband and brother ‘only more so’ (i.e. stricter).

The narrator then outlines in detail how she sometimes sits for hours on end in her room, tracing the patterns in the yellow wallpaper. She then tells us she thinks she can see a woman ‘stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.’ At this point, she changes her mind, and goes from being fond of the pattern in the yellow wallpaper to wishing she could go away from the place.

She tells John that she isn’t getting any better in this house and that she would like to leave, but he tells her she is looking healthier and that they cannot return home for another three weeks, until their lease is up and the ‘repairs’ at home have been completed.

Despondent, the narrator tells us how she is becoming more obsessed by the yellow wallpaper, especially at night when she is unable to sleep and so lies awake watching the pattern in the wallpaper, which she says resembles a fungus.

She starts to fear her husband. She becomes paranoid that her husband and sister-in-law, Jennie, are trying to decipher the pattern in the yellow wallpaper, and she becomes determined to beat them to it. (Jennie was actually checking the wallpaper because the thought it was staining their clothes; this is the reason she gives to the narrator when asked about it, anyway. However, the more likely reason is that she and John have noticed the narrator’s obsession with looking at the wallpaper, and are becoming concerned.)

Next, the narrator tells us she has noticed the strange smell of the wallpaper, and tells us she seriously considered burning down the house to try to solve the mystery of what she smell was. She concludes that it is simply ‘a yellow smell!’ We now realise that the narrator is losing her mind rather badly.

She becomes convinced that the ‘woman behind’ the yellow wallpaper is shaking it, thus moving the front pattern of the paper. She says she has seen this woman creeping about the grounds of the house during the day; she returns to behind the wallpaper at night.

The narrator then tells us that she believes John and Jennie have become ‘affected’ by the wallpaper – that they are losing their minds from being exposed to it. So the narrator begins stripping the yellow wallpaper from the walls, much to the consternation of Jennie. John has all of his wife’s things moved out of the room, ready for them to leave the house. While John is out, the narrator locks herself inside the now bare room and throws the key out the window, so she cannot be disturbed.

She has become convinced that there are many creeping women roaming the grounds of the house, all of them originating from behind the yellow wallpaper, and that she is one of them. The story ends with her husband banging on the door to be let in, fetching the key when she tells him it’s down by the front door mat, and bursting into the room – whereupon he faints, at the sight of his wife creeping around the room.

That concludes a summary of the ‘plot’ of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. But what does it all mean?

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ begins by dangling the idea that what we are about to read is a haunted house story, a Gothic tale, a piece of horror. Why else, wonders the story’s female narrator, would the house be available so cheaply unless it was haunted? And why had it remained unoccupied for so long? This is how many haunted house tales begin.

And this will turn out to be true, in many ways – the story is often included in anthologies of horror fiction, and there is a ‘haunting’ of a kind going on in the story – but as ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ develops we realise we’re reading something far more unsettling than a run-of-the-mill haunted house story, because the real ghosts and demons are either inside the narrator’s troubled mind or else her own husband and her sister-in-law.

Of course, these two things are linked. Because one of the ‘morals’ of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ – if ‘moral’ is not too strong a word to use of such a story – is that the husband’s treatment of his wife’s mental illness only succeeds in making her worse , rather than better, until her condition reaches the point where she is completely mad, suffering from hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. So ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is a haunted house story … but the only ghosts are inside the narrator’s head.

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ borrows familiar tropes from a Gothic horror story – it ends with the husband taking an axe to the bedroom door where his cowering wife is imprisoned – but the twist is that, by the end of the story, she has imprisoned herself in her deluded belief that she is protecting her husband from the ‘creeping women’ from behind the wallpaper, and he is prepared to beat down the door with an axe out of genuine concern for his sick wife, rather than to butcher her, in the style of Bluebeard or Jack Torrance.

Narrative Style

As we mentioned at the beginning of this analysis, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ has the structure and style of a diary. This is in keeping with what the female narrator tells us: that she can only write down her experiences when her husband John is not around. But it also has the effect of shifting the narrative tense: from the usual past tense to the more unusual present tense.

Only one year separates ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ from George Egerton’s first volume of short stories , which made similarly pioneering use of present-tense narration in order to depict female consciousness.

The literary critic Ruth Robbins has made the argument that the past tense (or ‘perfect tense’) is unsuited to some modes of fiction because it offers the ‘perspective that leads to judgment’: because events have already occurred, we feel in a position to judge the characters involved.

Present-tense narration deters us from doing this so readily, for two reasons. First, we are thrown in amongst the events, experiencing them as they happen almost, so we feel complicit in them. Second, because things are still unfolding seemingly before our very eyes, we feel that to attempt to pass judgment on what’s happening would be too rash and premature: we don’t know for sure how things are going to play out yet.

Given that Gilman is writing about a mentally unstable woman being mistreated by her male husband (and therefore, given his profession, by the medical world too), her decision to plunge us headlong into the events of the story encourages us to listen to what the narrator is telling us before we attempt to pronounce on what’s going on.

The fact that ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is narrated in the first person, from the woman’s own perspective and in her own voice, is also a factor: the only access we have to her treatment (or mistreatment) and to her husband’s behaviour and personality is through her: what she tells us and how she tells it to us.

But there is another narrative advantage to this present-tense diary structure: we as readers are forced to appraise everything we are told by the narrator, and scrutinise it carefully, deciding whether we are being told the whole story or whether the narrator, in her nervous and unstable state, may not be seeing things as they really are.

A good example of this is when, having told us at length how she follows the patterns on the yellow wallpaper on the walls of her room, sometimes for hours on end, the narrator then tells us she is glad her baby doesn’t have to live in the same room, because someone as ‘impressionable’ as her child wouldn’t do well in such a room.

The dramatic irony which the narrator cannot see but which we, tragically, can, is that she is every bit as impressionable as a small child, and the yellow wallpaper – and, more broadly, her effective incarceration – is clearly having a deleterious effect on her mental health. (The story isn’t perfect: Gilman telegraphs the irony a little too strongly when, in the next breath, she has her narrator tell us, with misplaced confidence, ‘I can stand it so much easier than a baby, you see.’)

In the last analysis, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is so unsettling because it plays with established Gothic horror conventions and then subverts them in order to expose the misguided medical practices used in an attempt to ‘treat’ or ‘cure’ women who are suffering from mental or nervous disorders. It has become a popular feminist text about the male mistreatment of women partly because the ‘villain’, the narrator’s husband John, is acting out of a genuine (if hubristic) belief that he knows what’s best for her.

The whole field of nineteenth-century patriarchal society and the way it treats women thus comes under scrutiny, in a story that is all the more powerful for refusing to preach, even while it lets one such mistreated woman speak for herself.

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10 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”

I absolutely loved this story. read it a few times in a row when I first crossed paths with it a few years ago –

“The Yellow Wallpaper” remains one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read. Excellent analysis!

Fantastic book.

I cringe every time this story appears on a reading list or in a curriculum textbook. It’s almost hysterical in tone and quite disturbing in how overstated the “abuse” of the wife is supposed to be. It’s right up there with “The Awakening” as feminist literature that hinders, instead of promoting, the dilemma of 19th century women.

How is it overstated?

To witness the woman’s unraveling and how ignored she is, to me, a profound statement how people with emotional distress are not treated with respect.

• Pingback: ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’: A Summary of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Story – Interesting Literature

Terrific analysis. Gothic fiction is always open to many forms of reading and particularly for feminist reading – as openly presented by Angela Carter’ neo-gothic stories (which I would love to read your analyses of one day Oliver!). ‘the Yellow Wallpaper’ I think is the go-to story for most feminist commentators on Gothic fiction – and rightly so. I can’t help notice the connections between this story and the (mis)treatments of Sigmund Freud. Soooo much in this story to think about that I feel like a kiddie in sweet shop!

Thank you as always, Ken, for the thoughtful comment – and I completely agree about the links with Freud. The 1890s really was a pioneering age for psychiatric treatment/analysis, though we cringe at some of the ideas that were seriously considered (and put into practice). Oddly enough I’ve just been rearranging the pile of books on the floor of my study here at IL Towers, and The Bloody Chamber is near the top of my list of books to cover in due course!

I will wait with abated breath for your thoughts! I love Angela Carter :)

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120 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts, Topics & Thesis Ideas

Looking for The Yellow Wallpaper essay topics? The most famous short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in definitely worth writing about!

• 🔝 Best Essay Topics
• 🟡 Essay Questions
• 💡 Thesis Ideas
• 🏆 Essay Examples & Titles
• ⚖️ Argumentative Essay Topics
• 📒 Essay Prompts
• 🔬Literary Analysis Essay Topics
• 🎭 Character Analysis Essay Topics
• 🌻 Themes Essay Topics

In your essay on The Yellow Wallpaper , you might want to make a character or theme analysis. The key themes of the story are freedom of expression, gender roles and feminism, and mental illness. Another idea is to write an argumentative essay on the story’s historical context.

Find here all you might need to write a paper on Gilman’s short story. The Yellow Wallpaper essay prompts, titles, writing tips, and Yellow Wallpaper essay examples.

🔝 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Topics — Best Selection

• The Yellow Wallpaper
• Feminist Perspective on “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• Unreliable Narrator in Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
• Comparing ‘The Story of an Hour’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ Essay
• Gender Roles in the 19th Century Society: Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
• Symbolism in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’: Point of View
• Symbols in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by C. P. Gilman
• Marriage in The Yellow Wallpaper
• Psychology in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

🟡 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Questions

• Is the Narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper reliable? The narrator of the story has mental health issues. Her slide into madness happens in the middle of the story and speed up at the end. Examine her reliability in the very beginning of the story.
• Why doesn’t the main character have a name? Through the anonymity, the author might have wanted to show the readers that this is not an isolated event. Anyone who lived in the Victorian era could be the narrator and her husband.
• How is the Victorian-era medicine represented in The Yellow Wallpaper ? To answer this question, you should research how patients were treated in the Victorian era. As it was already mentioned above, anyone could be in the narrator and her husband’s place.
• How does The Yellow Wallpaper promote self-expression? Being unable to do the things you love is a frustrating thing. The narrator states a few times how much she enjoys writing but isn’t allowed to do that. Inability to express herself led to her isolation and her madness. In your essay, examine why is self-expression is vital to everyone. You can also investigate whether the narrator uses the wallpaper as a “paper” to write on. Can it be some self-expression? Think about it when you will write your thesis statement.
• How are gender roles represented in The Yellow Wallpaper ? You can find a lot of examples to support The Yellow Wallpaper essay thesis on subordination. Here are some of them: the narrator stays in the room with the yellow wallpaper, although, she doesn’t want to stay there. Her husband does not allow her to stay in one of the others. He sets plenty of rules she must follow.
• How do madness and creativity influence each other? You can use the idea that the inability to realize creative needs will lead to madness. You can compare and contrast the lives of many famous artists and writers’ destiny whose lives ended tragically when they were unable to express their ideas through creativity. Are all genius people mad?

💡 The Yellow Wallpaper Thesis Ideas

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” offers some great ideas for college and high school students to work with. Here are examples of thesis statements you can use as the foundation for your paper on this literary work.

Feminist Critique of The Yellow Wallpaper: Thesis Statement

Your paper on this subject can review Gilman’s short work as a commentary on the state of women in the late 1800s and the author’s struggle to live in a patriarchal society.

Here’s a thesis example you can use:

Jane’s physical and mental isolation mirrors women’s imprisonment and subjugation by men. This essay will showcase how “The Yellow Wallpaper” reveals 19th-century norms and their influence on women’s mental health.

The Yellow Wallpaper Thesis on Historical Context

“The Yellow Wallpaper” describes the circumstances in which women lived at the time the novel was composed. Many of its elements came from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s personal life, making the work semiautobiographical. You can delve into this topic, and here’s a thesis statement to use as a starting point:

This paper will evaluate the main character’s encounter with enforced bed rest, which was greatly inspired by the author’s personal experience.

Symbolism Thesis Statement for The Yellow Wallpaper

Gilman employs symbolism to depict the role of women in the societal hierarchy and how men fail to acknowledge their mental state and possible illnesses. The yellow wallpaper and the patterns Jane sees also embody her growing insanity. If you wish to focus on this topic, consider using a thesis like this:

This essay dives deep into the short story’s symbols and how Gilman employed them to draw attention to the state of women in the 19th century.

Psychological Analysis Thesis for The Yellow Wallpaper

Gilman’s work is rich in psychological themes. Isolation, psychosis, and hallucinations keep the chained Jane in a disrupted state of mind her husband seems oblivious to. In your essay, you can review this story from a psychoanalytic criticism theory. Here’s an illustrative thesis statement:

This paper will interpret Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” from the lens of psychoanalysis to demonstrate how the author used the story as an outlet for her own experience.

The Yellow Wallpaper Thesis on Narrative Style

Since Gilman’s work tells the story from the position of a mentally unstable person, the narration becomes hard to follow. The narrator gets unreliable, and it’s impossible to understand which events happened and which were a mere figment of Jane’s imagination.

Check out a thesis example for your essay on this theme:

This paper determines whether the audience of “The Yellow Wallpaper” can rely on the narrator’s words or if she’s totally lost in delusion.

🏆 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Examples & Titles

• Mental Illness as a Theme of The Yellow Wallpaper As it appears from the novel, the reason why the narrator and her husband John decided to spend their summer vacation in a secluded mansion is that this proved beneficial to the narrator’s mental condition.
• A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper: Compare & Contrast That is one of the main dangers that people should be aware of. This is one of the main points that can be made.
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” Short Story by Gilman In Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the unnamed female protagonist is instructed to rest in isolation and stillness in the large upper room of a remote country house that has bars on the windows […]
• Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Gothic Horror Tale She does not, however, trust her own judgment, since, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter…what is one to do?
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” a Novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Thus, the imagery, particularly the woman behind the wallpaper, is a metonymic representation of social boundaries that most women had to face at the time, and a very powerful one at that Gilman clearly knew […]
• Narrator’s Changing Character in “The Yellow Wallpaper” The story thus portrays the transformative reading potential in that had the narrator failed to realize that the reading has the potential to transform her. The yellow paper helped to transform the narrator in that […]
• Loneliness in The Yellow Wallpaper She is beginning to personify the wallpaper in her musings. To nearly the end, she is lucid about people’s roles in her life.
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The value of the composition lies in the progressive moral it brought to the world of literature as well as social views, redirecting the social mind from the old patriarchal foundations to the recognition of […]
• ”The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin & ”The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman: Comparing The characters of Louise Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” and the storyteller for “The Yellow Wallpaper” are representative of what the authors want to express about themselves and their current situation.
• Women’s Role in The Yellow Wallpaper, The Awakening, & The Revolt of Mother Sarah then decides to drop the matter because she knows that it is not her place to go against the wishes of her husband.
• Bradbury’s The Veldt & Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper At the beginning of the story we immediately know that something is wrong with the nursery, and we find out about the African Veldt and how it seems to be stuck in a rather wild […]
• Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper & Trifles The two texts; the short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins and the play ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell strategically illustrate this claim since they both aim at attracting the reader’s attention to the poor […]
• Self-Expression in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman The core of the problem related to the protagonist’s health is undefined in the short story. Thus, as the protagonist decides to free the woman in the wallpaper at the end of the story, she […]
• Literary Criticism of The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman When she is isolated in the room, she notices a shadow emerging from the wallpaper and creeping over the walls and floor.
• Psychological Analysis of Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper The article explores the impact of mental illness from the perspective of postpartum/ nervous depression in the woman. 1 7, Web.
• Chekhov’s “The Lady With the Little Dog” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Malcolm’s magazine article named “The Kernel of Truth” supports the opinion that the explicit and intimate characters’ life description is the most interesting and significant part of the story.
• Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” The main feature of this style is a sense of doom and often exaggeration to show the problems of ordinary people.
• Madness in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Story by Gilman The source of the conflict and the main cause of the woman’s unfortunate fate is not so much the mental illness itself but, rather, the refusal to recognize it as such.
• Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Story Analysis The magic of the story arises from the innovative transfer of the experience of insanity in the first-person storytelling, showing the evolution of the image of the wallpaper and indicating their symbolic significance and ending, […]
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman and “My Last Duchess” by Browning The narrator soon found herself observing the patterns of the yellow wallpaper of the room she stayed in. Eventually, the narrator began to perform the same behavior she observed from the women in the wallpaper.
• Narrator’s Experience: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman The narrator is devastated by the fact that she is not allowed to write, as she is sure it would “relieve the press of ideas and rest” her.
• Interpreting “The Yellow Wallpaper” The theme and problem of woman’s rights looming over the society of that day is demonstrated as the main issue at the core of the story.
• “Yellow Wallpaper” – A Creepy Shade of Yellow A simultaneously heavy and light-hearted style of the writing is a significant part of the narrative, which demonstrates the sharp contrast between the perception of the main heroine and the rest of the characters.
• Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and Walker’s “Everyday Use” It is remarkable that the language of The Story of An Hour speaks for the feelings of protagonist and the plot uncovering.

⚖️ The Yellow Wallpaper Argumentative Essay Topics

Get inspired by the following excellent ideas for your argumentative essay about “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

• Argue About the Efficiency and Ethics of the Rest Cure Treatment in the Novel.
• Examine the Critique of Women’s Confinement in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
• The Symbolism of the Wallpaper as a Depiction of the Protagonist’s Mental State.
• Discuss the Use of Unreliable Narration in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
• Argue How Much Gilman’s Life Inspired “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
• Analyze Jane’s Use of Writing as a Means of Escape and Self-Expression.
• Explore the Roles of Female Characters in the Story.
• The Themes of Oppression and Resistance in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
• Explain How Jane’s Character Evolves Throughout the Plot.
• Establish How “The Yellow Wallpaper” Describes the Effects of Patriarchy.

📒 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts

• Analysis of the Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper” From the way she describes and interacts with the room, one can notice that she has a dislike and immense hatred towards the room she is confined in.
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The way she describes the wallpaper is symbolic of the evolution of her psychological problem: she gets to see herself through the wallpaper.
• Conflict in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by C. Perkins Gilman The topic chosen from the story for analyzing is ‘To what extent is the protagonist of the story you have chosen responsible for the conflict or predicament he or she faces’.
• Family Relationships in Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper Being the brain and the intellectual reason of the family, the husband wisely guides the ship of his matrimonial unit through all the possible mishaps and traps and takes the necessary precautions in order to […]
• Depression in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gillman The paper provides a discussion of the short story and analyses the theme of emotion and depression that the main character Stetson Gilman undergoes and her advent into insanity caused by the wrong treatment given […]
• Gender and Illness in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Additionally, the main form of psychological imprisonment was the character’s obedience to her husband who did not believe in her sickness and did not allow her to think that it was something more than a […]
• Female Mental Health in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” The main role of a 19th-century woman was a loving nurturer, serving the needs of her family and obedient to her husband/father.
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” and The Laugh of the Medusa The topic of a woman’s voice being silenced by society and becoming heard in writing appears to be among the similar themes of the critical essay “The Laugh of the Medusa” by Cixous and the […]
• Postpartum Depression Analysis in “Yellow Wallpaper” In reality, postpartum depression is the disease that has to be treated with the help of specific medications and therapies that are appropriate for a patient.
• Stetson’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Criticism Since the woman who narrates is alienated from the community and not allowed to work or be engaged in any other activity, she describes her inner thoughts and feelings, and that makes the whole story […]
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” a Story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman She tries to convince her husband John and one of her minders Jennie, to see the patterns she notices in the wallpaper of her upstairs room, which they, of course, cannot see: the narrator has […]
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” Story by Charlotte Gilman Temporary nervous depression, as termed by the husband, is a factor that makes the husband prohibits her from roaming in the rest of the house but only upstairs.
• Male Chauvinism in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman As it appears from the novel, the reason why the narrator and her husband John decided to spend their summer vacation in a secluded mansion is that this was assumed to prove beneficial to the […]
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Literature Analysis The same way as the woman behind the wall comes out, she also comes out of her slavery, and this shows that women can obtain freedom from social oppression they are undergoing as depicted in […]
• Woman’s Mental Breakdown: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman I tried to explain her that she got tired with her own thoughts and her melancholic mood is not a disease, but one of the peculiarities of her temperament and worldview.
• Prosperity and Social Justice The short story was also the subject of debate when it was first written because it failed to fit in any particular genre at the time.”The Yellow Wallpaper” was mostly considered a horror story when […]
• Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper: Themes & Symbols The fact that the patient is the physician’s wife ought to portray a picture of mutual agreements and understandings rather than subjecting one’s decision to the other with a reason for care and protection.
• The Need for Change in Ragged Dick and The Yellow Wallpaper However, the two authors articulate the importance of such changes that are vital for the development of the personality and the entire society.
• Depression due to Repression in The Yellow Wallpaper By the end of the same century, the patriarchal view of women as ‘natural born housewives’ and the objects of men’s sexual desire, had lost the remains of its former validity.
• Feminism in The Yellow Wallpaper In an attempt to free her, she rips apart the wallpaper and locks herself in the bedroom. The husband locks her wife in a room because of his beliefs that she needed a rest break.
• Women Struggling From Their Fate She gets upset by the sad news of the death of a loved one but when she comes out of the room she seem to have already accepted the situation and adapting to the new […]
• Feminist Criticism in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” This is because she is the only one who knew the suffering she was undergoing in that marriage and that she did not always love her husband.
• Solitude as a Theme in The Yellow Wallpaper & A Rose for Emily She is an embodiment of a great breakthrough in the fact that she rediscovers her new energy and point of view.
• Role of Women in Society: Charlotte P. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” From the very beginning, it becomes evident that the protagonist of the short story is oppressed and the oppression is depicted symbolically.

🔬 The Yellow Wallpaper: Literary Analysis Essay Topics

• Irony and Imagery in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• The Significance of First-Person Narration in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• The Window as a Symbol of “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• Color Symbolism in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• Would “The Yellow Wallpaper” Be Different if Told from John’s Point of View?
• What Are the Meanings Behind the Color of the Wallpaper?
• Imagery and Allegory in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• What Are the Examples of Irony in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• Gothic Elements in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Metaphor Analysis
• Setting Symbolism of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• What Is the Style of “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• What Instruments Does the Author Use to Create an Atmosphere of Suspense & Horror in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• What Does the Mysterious Figure Symbolize in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• Why Does the Description of the Wallpaper Change over Time?

🎭 The Yellow Wallpaper: Character Analysis Essay Topics

• What Is The Narrator’s Inner Conflict in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• Is John the Villain in “The Yellow Wallpaper”? Why or Why Not?
• Who Is to Blame for the Narrator’s Descent into Madness? Why?
• What Is the Significance of the Minor Female Characters in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• What Happens to the Narrator after the Story Ends?
• Who Is the Protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• John in “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Character Analysis
• Why Does the Narrator Remain Unnamed in the Story? What Does This Symbolize?
• What Is the Connection between the Narrator & the Woman behind the Wallpaper?
• How Does John Treat His Wife in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• Is the Narrator Reliable in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• Why Does John Faint at the End of “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• Jane’s Depression in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• What Does the Woman behind the Wallpaper Represent in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?

🌻 The Yellow Wallpaper: Themes Essay Topics

• “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Insanity as a Theme
• Postpartum Depression in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Women & Mental Illness
• Does “The Yellow Wallpaper” Have a Happy or Sad Ending?
• “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Feminist Critique
• “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Perception vs. Reality
• Freedom of Expression in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• “The Yellow Wallpaper”: The Three Stages Towards Feminine Freedom
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Feminist Story
• Creativity vs. Madness in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• Marriage & Family as a Theme in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• How Does “The Yellow Wallpaper” Present the Conflict Between Rationality & Creativity?
• Feminist Theory in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• Feminist Criticism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• Main Questions in “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Analysis Essay
• Social Surroundings and Interactions in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• In What Ways Does the Wallpaper Embody the Theme of the Story?
• The Historical Context In Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• Victorian Gender Roles in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
• “The Yellow Wallpaper” as an Autobiography
• Describe the Time Period When “The Yellow Wallpaper” Was Written
• What Was Gilman’s Intention When She Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
• Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” & Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”: Mood Comparison
• Summary & Analysis
• Themes & Symbols
• Quotes Explained
• Questions & Answers
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Biography
• A Raisin in the Sun Essay Titles
• A Rose for Emily Research Topics
• The Bluest Eye Titles
• The Alchemist Questions
• Jane Eyre Ideas
• The Fall of the House of Usher Research Ideas
• The Story of an Hour Essay Ideas
• The Lottery Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, November 17). 120 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts, Topics & Thesis Ideas. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-yellow-wallpaper-essay-examples/

"120 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts, Topics & Thesis Ideas." IvyPanda , 17 Nov. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-yellow-wallpaper-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '120 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts, Topics & Thesis Ideas'. 17 November.

IvyPanda . 2024. "120 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts, Topics & Thesis Ideas." November 17, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-yellow-wallpaper-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "120 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts, Topics & Thesis Ideas." November 17, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-yellow-wallpaper-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "120 The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Prompts, Topics & Thesis Ideas." November 17, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-yellow-wallpaper-essay-examples/.