Written in the first-person narrative, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ focuses on a 19th Century woman’s suffering due to mental breakdown post giving birth. She writes in her diary that she stays in a “colonial mansion...I would say a haunted house- this may be a description of her physical setting but it could also be interpreted as her perception of her own mental illness and being trapped in it.
Throughout the story, the narrator’s consciousness shifts- she understands that her husband and she view realities in different manners. Her husband, John who’s also her doctor, is overbearing, controlling and insensitive towards his wife. She simply dismissed his behaviour as one of the many difficulties experienced in marriages.
John tells her that she is sick and suffers from a temporary nervous breakdown. He treats her with tonics and exercises. And he forbids her from engaging in social activities, writing and working. She accepts her reality, she has no other choice- she spent her time simply staring at the yellow wallpaper. These “cures” worsens her state.
Although she’s an unreliable narrator due to the constant shifting, she does know her reality- how she gave birth to her child and of her illness. From the onset of the story, it is clear that she needs social stimulus and that is forbidden from communicating with anyone is making her worse. So she starts to write secretly- her writing patterns is a reflection of the pattern of the wallpaper. The wallpaper is described as an amalgamation of every artistic error but still is intriguing- this perfect epitomises the narrator’s mental illness itself. The narrator universalises this issue and states that many women go through this. She finally frees herself- thus rejecting her husband’s “cures” as well as the societal norms But still ends in an ambiguous manner.
Not only does the wallpaper mirror her inner thoughts, but it is also similar to the very story- the plot is dull, just like the wallpaper which seems to move- indicating the shifting of the consciousness- yet it seems engrossing.
All in all, on the surface level, the story seems meaningless with flat characters and little to no action and that why ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is an extraordinary story. It implores the reader to read between the lines, to understand the metaphors and symbols.
If the life of Charlotte Perkins Gilman is taken into consideration, the story is almost autobiographical. A seminal piece of feminist text, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ should be read by everyone.
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