"Revised Story Analysis"

The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is about a woman who is ill.  At the beginning of the short story the protagonist speaks of a mansion that her husband John and herself have secured through inheritance.  The woman believes the mansion was a bargain because the mansion is haunted; otherwise why would it have been untenanted for so long.   John is a doctor and only believes of results through action and not theories of speculation.  Both John and her brother are doctors and both believe that she is not ill; that she for a moment has a temporary nervous depression which makes her think, act, and behave in a certain way.  She is given home remedies, stimulating physical exercise and natural breathing air from the surroundings that her husband has placed her in.  Causing conflict due to the fact that all work is forbidden of his wife until she is well again.  Even though she believes that work suited to her needs would make her feel better quicker.  She speaks about the beautiful home that was left empty for years which disrupts the thoughts and feelings of her home being haunted.    She takes her pain medication in front of John so she won’t respond quickly to take offense to the attitudes of others which makes her weary.  She is basically grateful for John because he takes care of her and has brought her to their mansion to recover.  She speaks of the room John has situated her in and to her it is revolting and suicidal from every corner and dimension in the room to the color.

I believe that she is having post partum depression because she states “It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby.  Such a dear baby!” ”And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous (8)”.  John being a doctor gets her into this home which on his own can treat his wife and have only the familiar faces that he wishes to be around her.  She is alone most of the day so she is intrigued with this hideous yelow wallpaper and in visions what she wants to see in the yellow wallpaper.  She stays depressed because, she is not allowed near stimulating people which brings her spirits down and is also not allowed to concentrate on her work; which is writing causing feelings of hopelessness.  She explains of the figures she sees in the yellow wallpaper “Up and down and sideways they crawl, and those absurd, unblinking eyes are everywhere There is one place where two breaths didn’t match, and the eyes go all up and down the line, one a little higher than the other (9)” causing rising action.  She feels alone and without nothing to do imagines different images in the yellow wall paper, causing increasing conflicts, since John does not allow her to write and must write in secrecy throughout the short story.

John threatens her to pick up faster or he will send her to Weir Mitchell a specialist who treats for neurasthenia, hysterias, by absolute rest in bed, frequent and abundant feeding, and the systematic use of massage and electricity.  By this point she is feeling irritated and full of complaints crying at everything and nothing.  She is kept restrained to the mansion throughout the short story in an immovable bed which is nailed down.  She again speaks of the yellow wallpaper as to compare it to the life she is living.  She speaks of the yellow wallpaper as if describing how she feels.  She wants to snap out of her temporary state for her husband and babies sake and is thankful that their okay.  On the otherhand she is feeling better and believes the crisis is near its end ,but feels that John and his sister are acting strange due to her behavior.  Describing flashbacks of how the old yellow wallpaper reminds her of all the old bad yellow things she ever saw and that horrible bad stench that follows her like comparing it to her past.  Continuing to compare her life of when she was young to her present life with that old yellow wall paper she sees herself struggling inside those walls underneath the yellow wallpaper as she struggles to break out of her nervous breakdown.  She thinks of hanging herself with a rope or maybe jumping out the window, but that would not be proper for a lady of her stature.  She is struggling with herself to bring back the life that she has lost the life that she once had.  Back to the woman that she has always been not letting anyone restrain her any longer and continue her work.