Feminism In The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Feminism is the general assumption that woman have the same rights as men as well as the same opportunities. The Yellow Wallpaper is a feminist text and tells the story of a woman going through a hard time while trying to overcome and deal with the male centric societal norms. This story reflects the author’s views on feminism in the time period in 1892 which she takes problem with. This is the tone and reoccurring message throughout the story.

This story, an intimate portrait of a woman’s decent into insanity is the author Charlotte Gilman’s response to a male dominated medical field in the 19th century. The narrator of the story provides insight as to exactly what gender roles were like in the patriarch structure time period. Gilman’s
Him seeing his wife in such a condition caused him to faint like a woman would be expected to. “Now why should that man have fainted?” (4). The narrator has flipped the gender roles between herself and her husband and when john realizes this it only amplifies his need to control his wife or risk being seen as a “woman” in society. The narrator was persistent in being heard though as well as breaking down societal barriers “I did write for a while in spite of them” (5). Up until she found comfort in writing her thoughts and feelings she was depressed and even after writing it became tedious and exhausting to have to hide these things from her husband and society. A troubling factor in all this is that she feels pressured by society to not turn her husband away and to keep letting him care for her how he seems fit “he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more” (6). Society has placed her in an unfair situation based on its gender roles because she feels forced to praise her husbands care and what he calls “nurturing” even though all he seems to have really done is strip of her voice while taking away her need for thinking
John’s mindset is that if he strips her of all her creative urges she will then get better and resume her role of a “proper” mother and wife. It becomes very saddening for the narrator as she does have the desire to be a partner to her husband as she states “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already”