How Does Gilman Use Situational Irony In The Yellow Wallpaper

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman displays verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. The story is rich in literary devices, which help the reader understand the overall irony of the story. The story is about a woman, who has no name, and she is placed in a mental hospital by her husband because she is not mentally stable. Interestingly, the story is written in the format of a journal entry, documenting her stay at the mental institution. The situational irony is that as much as John thinks he is curing his wife, he is actually making her worse. Gilman uses repetition, imagery, and symbolism to connect to the irony in the short story.
Repetition is used vigorously throughout the short story. She uses the rhetorical question “What can one do?” (1) several times throughout the first page. By asking this question over and over, the reader can characterize the narrator as confused and unsure. The narrator also uses antithesis to convey a point about the condition of the woman. “It is dull enough to confuse the eye... for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions” (2). The woman is talking about the wallpaper at this point in the story, and she refers to it as dull.

“It was nursery first and then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls” (2). The narrator gives us some imagery to describe the room she is placed in. There are bars on the windows, which make us more aware that she is in an institution. Since it was a nursery before she arrived, the reader can hint that John treats her more like a child than an adult. Instead of curing his wife, he does not let her go outside and speak with people, which is something that probably would have helped her improve from her