The Yellow Wallpaper Gothic Analysis

Skip to content THEBLUMEBLOG Exploring Literature in a Digital Age Menu The Yellow Wallpaper Argument Essay Written by theblume The_Yellow_Wallpaper_by_kaitaro04011“The Yellow Wallpaper” is, on its surface, about a woman driven insane by post-partum depression and a dangerous treatment. However, an examination of the protagonist’s characterization reveals that the story is fundamentally about identity. The protagonist’s projection of an imaginary woman — which at first is merely her shadow — against the bars of the wallpaper’s pattern fragments her identity, internalizing the conflict she experiences and eventually leading to the complete breakdown of the boundaries of her identity and that of her projected shadow.

Symbolism Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper One might know that Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” uses the wallpaper in the main character’s room as a symbol for a bigger underlying meaning. This is a short story about a young women diagnosed of depression and “a slight hysterical tendency”. In hopes of healing the narrator, her husband moves them into an old, ornate home for the summer and required her to refrain from any activity to calm her mind. However, instead of getting better, the narrator goes into a deeper level of madness. This madness is caused by her obsession over what she believes is animate patterns and a trapped women in a peeling, aged wallpaper in her room.

The house is in a super-isolated place. The house represents the narrator 's personal emotions; restricted and isolation. In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the symbolism of the the wallpaper and the diary demonstrate the psychological difficulties, that were caused by being disrespected and thought less of, during the 19th century for women across the United States. In the “Yellow Wallpaper”, the woman 's husband John neglects her symptoms of postpartum and says she has a slight hysterical tendency.

She becomes obsessed with the patterns of the wallpaper, but she mainly notices a woman that she thinks is trying to free herself from the confines of the wall. During the day this woman is still, but when night time comes around, it seems as though the woman creeps around. Towards the end of the story, the narrator has a breakdown and thinks that she is this woman inside of the wallpaper, and begins to perform similar actions like creeping around. This meaning of this scene is simple cause and effect. Not only did she already have postpartum depression, but she is basically trapped in this house for a whole summer with nothing to do so she can heal.

While the narrator was sitting in her room she states, “Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over” (Gilman). Strictly speaking, the narrators intellectual lack of activity caused her to see a woman trapped within the wallpaper. The point of view within the short story gives us a better view on what the narrator had to go through. “Years later, Gilman claimed the story reflected her own experience under the care of Philadelphia neurologist, S. Weir Mitchell, in 1887, and that the story’s purpose was to spare others from such treatment” (Bittel). Therefore, using the first person point of view in present tense shows the deep emotional and mental state of her life.

Setting is the key element in Gothic Literature. It displays the different places and architectures that are essentials to visualize Gothic. The setting is highly significant in a Gothic novel because it helps to add horror and fear to its mood and dreadful weakness to its characters. As said by Snodgrass, the settings of Gothic literary works present an extensional symbolic psychological case to its human characters (158).Gothic fictions are usually set in isolated landscapes or highly secured prisons, secret passages or corridors, old castles or ghostly houses, and graveyards. According to Hogle, Gothic areas might be "a castle, a foreign place, an abbey, a vast prison, a subterranean crypt, a graveyard, a primeval frontier, or island, a large old house or theatre. . .

Everything in her house emphasizes the frightening setting and as well Emily´s mood and mental state. Moreover, it also includes some Gothic characters as a harsh and selfish father or an insane woman, Emily´s great-aunt. In addition, Faulkner described Emily´s antisocial behaviour which is one of the Gothic features. Emily´s manners and certain circumstances throw her into isolation and loneliness. Thus she found herself at the bottom of the deepest chasm where she found only some offshoots of

Gothic Literature is a writing style that combines the elements of Romanticism, such as individuality and high passions, with situations of fear and suspense. This subgenre of Romantic Literature uses emotion as a technique to create metaphorical gender coding. By presenting overflowing emotions as a living or animated experience, characters in a Gothic work are given an additional layer of traits. According to Nicola Trott, the sublime is associated with masculinity by providing massive strength and size that induces terror.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is suffering from postpartum depression. The narrator 's husband John, who also happens to be her physician, prescribes the rest cure to help lift his wife of her depressive state and ultimately heal her depression. However, the rest cure does not allow the narrator to experience any mental stimulation. Therefore, to manage her boredom the narrator begins obsessing over the pattern of the yellow wallpaper. After analyzing the pattern for awhile, the narrator witnesses a woman trapped behind bars.

Debate the Ending: Insanity versus Haunting Often times, people blame horrific events on the supernatural or paranormal world. What they do not consider is that people may be going insane for different reasons. Insanity is the state of being seriously mentally ill or going mad whereas haunting is poignant and evocative or difficult to ignore or forget. In “the Yellow Wallpaper,” insanity is definitely what made this woman who she is.

It becomes hard to recognize her as the story progresses, sleepwalking through the castle and constantly rubbing her hands as she attempts to remove the innocent blood shed on her hands driven by her guilt-ridden mind. Lady Macbeth is unable to surpass the evil she has set on herself and in the end; the guilt she prayed against became her worst enemies. She was beyond repair and it lead to her suicide. Furthermore, in the yellow wallpaper the protagonist becomes mentally ill for being locked in a room deprived of life. The majority of the story takes place in a room which only induces pain deep within herself evoking negative mental thoughts.

The plot of "The Yellow Wallpaper. " show that the longer this woman is trapped in this room the worse her condition becomes. Her depression slowly evolves into a personality disorder. If she would 've been able to leave the house and walk around, write and see her baby she could 've

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a lady made crazy by post pregnancy anxiety and a hazardous treatment. However,, an examination of the protagonist’s portrayal shows that the story is generally about character. The protagonist’s projection of a fanciful lady, which at first is just her shadow, against the bars of the wallpaper shows her personality, disguising the contention she is dealing with and in the end prompting the entire breakdown of the limits of her character and that of her shadow. Continually alone and not allowed to abandon her room, the absence of something to involve her time makes the protagonist very confused. With blocked windows, the room is very similar to a jail.

First of all, in the story the narrator is stuck in a room she is absolutely disgusted with. She includes details about “it was a nursery at first”, “the windows are barred for children” and “there are rings and things in the walls”. These details say a lot about what is really going on. What does the husband’s choice of room suggest about their relationship and her place in it? Notice the jail reference and the fact that she is being placed in a childish situation.

The narrator main focus that brought her madness was the paper, she is drowned by its shapes and appearance, unable to pull from its tempting depressive figure. The protagonist is not freed from this capture until the end when she ribbed most of the wallpaper from the wall. In conclusion, this story was written to knowledge the author’s feminist views, displaying the physical and mental grief women faced in the 1800’s. These were presented in John’s actions, the writing and thought of the narrator, and the environment.