The story begins when the narrator and her husband, John, have just moved into a colonial mansion to relieve her “temporary nervous depression.” An ailment her husband and brother has diagnosed. The narrator feels that she is very ill but is always dismissed by her husband and brother. “You see,

The wallpaper itself is so marvelously described. Gilman used metaphorical imagines, and surprising combinations of words to give numerous ways for readers to experience the wallpaper. In the line regarding the wallpaper: “…they connect diagonally, and the sprawling outlines run off in great slanting waves of optic horror, like a lot of wallowing seaweeds in full chase.” The word pairing of “optic horror” and the simile are unusual and sensory. This serves to peak the reader’s interest and more effectively draw the reader into the description.

The wallpaper becomes the narrator’s best enemy and best friend. More like a mirror, the yellow wallpaper reflects what our main character is really going through and feeling. The woman that stirs and creeps within the wall is literally her shadow, which is found out when the housekeeper mentions the yellow stains on all of her clothes. “Then she said that the paper stained everything it touched, that she has found yellow smooches on all my clothes and John’s, and she wished we would be more careful!…I’m feeling ever so much better! I don’t sleep much at night, for it is so interesting to watch development, but I sleep a good deal in the daytime.” She doesn’t sleep much during the night anymore, because she stays awake creeping in the night. This is the narrator’s source of outlet, which leaves her “feeling ever so much better.”

The husband is a physician and in the beginning of her writing, she has nothing but good things to say about him, which is very obedient of her. She speaks of her husband as if he is a father figure and nothing like an equal, which is so important in a relationship. She tries to discuss her feelings, but this only brings a “stern reproachful look,” and she goes back to bed. The oppression of women is shown when the narrator tries to tell her husband how she feels, but he quickly hushes her and assures her that his prescription of rest is all she needs. “Really dear you are better,” John says over and over. “Can you not trust me when I tell you so?” John is the man of the house and also a doctor. She should put complete faith in him as all children put complete faith and trust in their parents when they are small. The looks, constant reassurances, and asking for her trust only puts her down, demeaning herself further. John, the antagonist character, enforces the inactivity that pushes her deeper into madness. According to the Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Volume 9 the real purpose of the story was to reach Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, and convince him of the error of his ways in Treatments of Nervous Prostration.

She writes, “He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.” It is in this manner that she first delicately speaks of his total control over her without meaning to and how she has no choices whatsoever. She is told to rest and sleep. She is not even allowed to write. “I must put this away, --he hates to have me write a word.” This

Some topics in this essay:
Nervous Prostration, Jane I’ve, Perkins Gilman, Criticism Volume, Yellow Wallpaper, main character, Weir Mitchell, yellow wallpaper, society husband, throughout entire story, throughout entire, wall creep, entire story, tearing wallpaper, flat character, complete faith, sleep night,