Literary Criticism: The Yellow Wallpaper Written by: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

 

The plot of the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" revolves around a wealthy couple who rent a mansion in the countryside, completely isolated from civilization. The reason for this is that the wife suffers from depression; according to her husband, a famous doctor, she needs a long period of peaceful isolation. The climax occurs at the end when the wife creeps over her husband’s unconscious body, declaring that she has freed herself from the paternalistic oppression of the male world.

The main characters are John, a doctor, and his unnamed wife—left nameless not out of inaccuracy, but to emphasize how the female experience is rendered nonexistent. John is the classic nineteenth-century man: responsible, devoted to his work, and faithful to science. Resolute and devoid of frills, he is a man of means who believes he possesses the discernment to know what is in his wife’s best interest. Although he cares for her, he treats her like an infantile creature. Meanwhile, John's sister, Jennie, represents the submissive woman, wholly devoted to domestic duty and respectful of patriarchal laws.

The wife is imprisoned inside a room adorned with yellow wallpaper, featuring a bed chained to the floor and bars on the windows. She is forbidden to read or write. John believes he understands his wife and can control her actions and thoughts, but in reality, he fails to comprehend her. By the end of the story, he discovers that her descent into madness has ultimately broken her chains, rendering her free.