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The Yellow Wallpaper Feminist Essay

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Feminism was the talk of the 1890’s, that is why the fact that Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s feminist failure came as quite the surprise. Author of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman, wrote her story with the face value of why the “Get Rest Cure” is bad. However, if reading between the lines it is very clearly a feminist text. But while the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” tries to be a feminist through her own writing, dialogue with other characters, and actions, both the narrator and the peace are ultimately feminist failures.
Through the Narrator's own writing she tries to actively present herself as a feminist, but she is ultimately unsuccessful in this attempt. While the narrator’s act of writing is seen as an act of feminist …show more content…

However, the narrator rarely talks back to stick up for herself, and if she talks, it is of no significance. A most prominent example is when she is talking to her husband and doctor John but just as soon as she began her “Stopped short” (Stetson 6). While this may be viewed as her fearing John’s wrath or otherwise, what she is actually doing is giving up. By stopping short the narrator gives up her own voice and a part of the feminist movement is that women should have a voice. However, there are places wherein she does get out a full sentence of dialogue, but it is just the ramblings of a madwoman. How could the narrator be seen as a feminist when she either does not talk or talks about how “The key is down by the front steps, under the plantain leaf” (Stetson 10). Some may argue that the narrator was driven to this point by her husband and her own curiosity about the grotesqueness of the wallpaper, but they would be incorrect. As the narrator either does not talk or mutters meaningless phrases, it is made apparent that she does not have the sense of mind to advocate for feminism. Now both the narrator's own writing and dialogue have both been debunked as feminist, all that is left are her

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