Comparison Of Macbeth And The Yellow Wallpaper

Good thing my lips stitched together or I’d throw up.” (pg. 45-46). The cause of Melinda’s dreary mood obviously comes from IT’s abuse. Andy Evans constantly harassing Melinda in the hallways reminds her of the horrid rape and keeps the image in her mind. This is why Melinda cannot wake up from her nightmare and is emotionally unstable.

At first glance, Gilman’s short story,”The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a very strange story. The story is based on a woman who eventually becomes taken over by the yellow wallpaper in her room, even to where she eventually is driven insane. Although the story only tells you the main details, the wallpaper is so much more than just a terrible decoration choice. When annotated, the wallpaper is made out to be a symbol of all the terrible things that are to come. The room at the top of the house was not just a room, but a place that caused the unfortunate woman to become crazy.

These intensely unpleasant and relatable images help to reinforce the narrator 's sense of oppression within her life and through society 's expectations, as they all are haunting smells and colors that seem to linger all around, unable to broken from the pattern. This paper becomes increasingly more menacing as the narrator decreases in mental instability, its pattern becoming ghostly, only seen in certain lighting, then coming to resemble bars. The narrator begins to becomes obsessive over the "paper", believing it to be some kind of text only she can and must interpret. As her obsession grows, the paper begins to resemble the shape of a desperate woman, "stooping down and creeping about" (Pg.166) and the yellow pattern becomes reminiscent of bars on a cage, which is seen confining many women as they strangle themselves attempting to escape through the bars/ pattern. In this, Gilman masterfully creates the entrapping wallpaper as a mirror to society and its entrapment of women into an "acceptable" role.

3. As the story reaches a close, the descriptions of the wallpaper in the narrator 's bedroom become less realistic and start to mirror the narrator 's deteriorating mental state. The yellow color of the wallpaper isn 't as concerning to the narrator as the "yellow smell" (203) and the "many women behind" (203) it. She believes that the wallpaper "strangles them off" (203) so that the women can 't escape. In reality, the only woman the wallpaper is trapping is the narrator.

She mentions the night of Duncan’s murder when she says, “will these hands ne’er be clean [of blood]” (5.1.39). Her heart contains the guilt of all the evil deeds she has done, and her body is paying by not letting her sleep properly. The doctor says “Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles” (5.1.65-65) referring to the trouble of sleeplessness Lady Macbeth faces from the unnatural deed of murdering many people. She is damned due to the feeling of guilt, which eats her up inside and causes her to lose sleep. This guilt is caused by all of the evil she does, and sees her husband do; ultimately, her sleeplessness is caused by the evil inside of her and around her.

The symbols of light acts as their conscience, as they begin to become consumed with the guilt of their actions and spiral out of control. Macbeth’s remorse becomes too strong as he can’t even sleep anymore, because the darkness reminds him of the evilness within him in the darkness. Macbeth recalls, “Methought I thought a voice cry- “sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”- the innocent sleep” (2.2.47-8) Macbeth becomes paranoid, obsessive, and careless in his actions following his first murder. Lady Macbeth uses the light to hide herself from the darkness and evilness that surrounds her as she “she has light by her continually; ‘tis her command” (5.1.20) The same darkness that she used to commit her murders, to hide her conscience that could’ve prevented her from committing the crimes, is now the one she fears, that she needs protecting from.

She begins to see strangles heads in the wallpaper, which can be a symbolic representation of the patriarchal order that stifled women. The bars on the wallpaper that cage the imaginary women are a reflection of her own situation where she is confined in the old mansion. Even the smell of the wallpaper, which she describes as being ‘yellow’ and present throughout the house, is a reflection of the mental repression that is always present in her life. She is so consumed by the smell that she thinks about burning the old mansion just to cover it

What, quite unmanned in folly?” Macbeth’s erratic behavior in the Banquet Scene, is a sign of his growing paranoia. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s relationship has begun to deteriorate as they attempt to overcome the constant fear that has begun to consume them. By the last act of the play, all equality and love between the two is lost and replaced with mania. In the Sleepwalking Scene, Lady Macbeth’s paranoia is exposed through her obsessive hand washing and shouting: “Out, damned spot, out, I say!” Unable to escape the guilt which entraps her, Lady Macbeth is reliving the night of Duncan’s murder. The “damned spot” which Lady Macbeth refers to is the blood left by the murder of Macbeth, a symbol of guilt.

It’s no surprise, that Shakespeare’s Macbeth was clearly constructed as a rebellion against femininity roles of the time. During the Elizabethan era, women were raised to believe they were inferior to men since men obtained desired masculine qualities such as strength, and loyalty, whereas women were viewed as figures of hospitality (1; 6; 28-31). Obviously, not being tempted by the luxury of subservient women, William Shakespeare rebuked this twisted belief, applying that women deserve more respect than their kitchen tables. However, if transcending female expectations was used as a weapon than for good, is it still considered an act of femininity? Of course not!

“They staggered from the studio, Missus leaning heavily on Josephine’s shoulder, her feet dragging behind.” (Conklin 188). Josephine lies, possibly to reassure Missus or to avoid the consequences that she as a slave may receive talking back to their masters. Conklin has created an air of frustration and hurt feelings in this scene as Missus confesses that she knows about Josephine’s thoughts of escaping, which seem to push Josephine further and further away from her. “A pure rage gripped Josephine,” and “darkness spilled forth into the room.” (189) With this you can see the author is really putting emphasis on these thoughts Josephine is having. It seems so out of character for Josephine its as if the darkness really has filled her.