Feminist Criticism Of 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

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The short story titled “The Yellow Wallpaper” emerges to have been written in the era where women were much oppressed. The story narrated involves a woman who has a certain mental illness and could not heal because of lack of belief from her husband, who thought that she was melodramatic. During this period, women were looked down upon and were handled like second-rate persons (Gilman, 1899). The author of the story, Charlotte Gilman employs the Feminist criticism features in the story to bring out the treatment that women faced during that period. There is a personal view of the causes and contributing factors likely to have led to the madness of the main character.
The contributing factors and causes of the narrator’s mental illness must …show more content…
Performance and activity is part of human growth and wellbeing (Terryberry, 2005). Unfortunately, the narrator was in a room and could not be allowed to be active in any way. The best treatment that the husband thought was appropriate was to isolate her from the world of activity. Moreover, the husband forbids her to write, giving the excuse that it is very taxing, but she would write her journal in secret. The only thing she could do in that room was thinking and sleeping. The condition becomes worse than ever, as she gets obsessed with the wallpaper that is present in her room, where she kept on staring. The hideous pattern really gets into her system that she finally makes a conclusion that it resembles a woman that has been trapped behind bars. This only reflects how helpless she felt in that lonely room and she could not find other things to think about besides her ugly ordeal. The continuous worsening of her condition is seen when she starts viewing herself as part of a pattern of the wallpaper and then starts crawling along the floor while following the particular pattern. When her husband finds her crawling along the floor he faints, and the wife doesn’t stop as she crawls over him. This shows how idle mind and lack of activity can cause serious damage. A minor situation that would have been avoided turns out to be a complex and hard-to-solve issue just because of ignorance. The loneliness that the main character experienced could have also contributed to her madness. She did not have anyone who listened and understood her expression as relatives and friends only believed the words uttered by her husband. More so, people must have viewed her through the lens of her husband’s description of a pretender. The other reason that may have contributed to her loneliness is the fact that she was locked in a room and did not have time for interaction (Terryberry, 2005). As human beings, we are created
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