Gender Roles In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a feminist critique and analysis of gender roles in a conservative society and their inevitable effects on the female psyche. The short story portrays a woman, who is the narrator and remains unnamed, and her descent into madness by the hands of her husband after he misdiagnoses her with a “nervous disorder.” She is bound by the patriarchy and the oppression against women. The woman is stripped of her intellectual, emotional, and physical freedom, and eventually succumbs to insanity. Although both characters follow traditional gender roles, the depiction and characterization of John, the thoughts of Jane, and the environment she is forced into describe the patriarchal society