Essay: Patriarchy and Madness in 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

This essay provides an analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper." The essay examines the protagonist's descent into madness, triggered by the oppressive patriarchal norms of the medical system and her husband's control. It explores how the narrator finds an association with the wallpaper, initially viewing it with horror but later becoming mesmerized by it, seeing it as a reflection of her own trapped identity. The essay argues that through her obsession with the wallpaper, the narrator eventually recognizes her true self and desires to liberate other women facing similar constraints. The essay also highlights the themes of confinement, loneliness, and the struggle for women's voices and desires in the 19th century, drawing on various critical perspectives and scholarly sources to support its arguments. The analysis concludes by emphasizing the narrator's eventual liberation and the story's critique of gender inequality.

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Title- ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY ON GILMAN’S “THE YELLOW WALLPAPER”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short fiction, “The Yellow Wallpaper” has intended to
capture a traumatic and distressful descent into madness. In the story narrated by her, the
protagonist attempts to evade the norms and hassles of the male dominated medication system
which subjects her to be engaged in a forceful devastating cure regarded as the ‘resting care’ that
results in confining her life within the four walls of a room (Gilman). The essay aims to study
about the way the narrator finds an association with the decorative yellow wallpaper of her room
further believing herself to be trapped inside it. The thesis statement of this essay is, with several
patriarchal dominances, the narrator eventually recognized the identity of her true self, further
willing to set free several other women facing similar confinements.
Persistent confinement and loneliness made the life of the protagonist apathetic and
pushed her into delusion. The narrator’s collapse was the consequence of her medication along
with the factors associated with the attitudes of men towards the women. It has been stated in
many essays, how the wallpaper in her bedroom has been an object of horror to her (Rensing).
The dictatorship of John, her husband aroused a certain degree of possessiveness in the
protagonist towards the wallpaper. She intends to draw a controlling power towards the
wallpaper on the process of searching for something in her own life. John as being solely liable
to his wife’s insanity for his dictatorship and obligatory nature led the narrator express her grief
with actions instead of expressing through words (Beer). Through such actions, the narrator
articulated her intentions to break the societal especially male driven norms that leave women to
be mere objects of the society. However, such controlling deeds of John led the narrator to be
domineering towards the wallpaper that acts as the sole savior and amusement to her motionless
life (González Mínguez). It has been noted in the fiction the way women’s circumstantial factors

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had always been associated with men. The narrator through her stern actions aimed to prove the
manner in which the world has been perceived and comprehended with the perceptions and voice
of men, further remonstrating the diminishing as well as marginalized state of women. The
narrator initially had perceived the wallpaper as atrocious and horrifying: ‘I never saw a worse
paper in my life….’ (Bausch). However, in the later section it was observed that she started to
feel mesmerized and fascinated towards it and hence identified a new ray of hope through it.
It was the wallpaper through which she identified her true inner self of hers by
associating herself with the shadow that was seen by her. The unvarying emptiness in made her
being indulged into her own surroundings. The silhouette or shadow of many elements emerged
to the narrator as the woman behind the paper. Numerous imaginations begun to develop in her
mind which formed the shape of an artificial woman (Gilman). However, this hallucination
acted as a source of her freedom and desires, for which she has been breathing. The narrator
instead of identifying the woman as a mere human figure, she supposes it to be a female by
relating her own life experiences with the shadow. By providing an identification of woman to
the shadow, the narrator paves her way to condemn the patriarchal domination. The evolution
from being a confined indistinct shadow to an unseen women yielded the narrator to identify
herself identity(Martin and Julie). Thus, an intentional shift has been noted, whereby the narrator
instead of setting the woman free, she involves herself in confining the woman. Through the
motives of capturing the woman, she unexpectedly succeeded in liberating herself by intending
to set free several other women trapped like her.
However, according to few scholars, the narrator discovered that her life has begun to
concentrate primarily on the wallpaper of her room that eventually became a sole reason of her
survival. It must be noted that even though the narrator grew a fondness towards the room, yet a

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feeling of loneliness had grasped her inner self, which repeatedly desired her husband’s
companionship (Gottfried). However, it was noted that John kept the narrator into darkness
despite of contemplating to her advices. The struggle for raising the voices had always been
much more for women in comparison to the men. The essay extensively concentrated on the way
the protagonist fought to express her desires and wishes yet in return got immense dismissal
from her husband. This move from her husband compelled her to get immensely involved with
the wallpaper of her room, which she eventually started to consider the wallpaper as only source
of her to achieve freedom and sovereignty (Lian et al). In fact, this move had impelled the
narrator to become immensely fascinated and mesmerized with the wallpaper. The story
critically evaluated the unequal and disturbing relationships between the men and women of the
nineteenth century. The way, John suppressed his wife’s thoughts and desires eventually made
the protagonist enter into the world of hallucination (Collman). The story portrays the deprived
position of the women in regards to their rights and desires. It is regarded as an illusion of the
narrator’s view against the decorative pattern of the wallpaper which further derived her to
accomplish the state of her illness.
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that the continuous dismissal
and ignorance of John resulted the narrator to recognize her own identity. Though during her
initial times she felt imprisoned to view the wallpaper of her bedroom but in the later stage this
state of isolation intensified the desires of the protagonist to escape. The essay evaluated the
aspects of gender disparity and further focuses on the unfairness and discrimination related to the
protagonist and her husband. The paper successfully acclaimed the ways in which the narrator
grew possessiveness and control towards the wallpaper of her bedroom. However, it was referred
as a source to occupy her emptiness in life, but later this wallpaper transpired as a group of

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women whom the narrator intends to release from the confinement by developing a recognition
of her own identity.

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References
Bausch, Richard, ed. The Norton anthology of short fiction. WW Norton & Company, 2015.
Beer, Janet. Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Studies in Short
Fiction. Springer, 2016.
Collman, Elise Marie. The Discourse of Female Mental Illness in Kate Chopin's• The
Awakening. Diss. Cleveland State University, 2016.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The yellow wall-paper. Penguin UK, 2015.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. WOMEN & ECONOMICS: A Study of the Economic Relation
between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution: From the famous American feminist,
social reformer, sociologist and the author of The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland. Musaicum
Books, 2017.
González Mínguez, María Teresa. "CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN'S'THE YELLOW
WALLPAPER': ON HOW FEMALE CREATIVITY COMBATS MADNESS AND
DOMESTIC OPPRESSION." Babel AFIAL 23 (2014).
Gottfried, Heidi. Gender, work, and economy: Unpacking the global economy. John Wiley &
Sons, 2013.
Lian, Olaug S., Catherine Robson, and Hilde Bondevik. "Chapter Eight: Women With Long-
Term Exhaustion in Fictional Literature: A Comparative Approach."
Martin, Ian, and Julie Le Hégarat. "Conventions of Control and Confinement on the
‘Uncanny’Female Body." (2016).

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Rensing, Susan. "Women ‘Waking Up’and Moving the Mountain: The Feminist Eugenics of
Charlotte Perkins Gilman." MP: An Online Feminist Journal 4.1 (2013): 1.