Mental Deterioration In The Yellow Wallpaper

In the short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the idea of the psychological impact of the oppressive treatment of women during the 19th century is heavily brought up through multiple literary device techniques. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", the narrator's mental deterioration reflects the theme of women's oppression and highlights the consequences of denying women autonomy over their own minds or bodies.

Initially, the narrator is portrayed as being an obedient, submissive woman who happily adheres to her husband's expectations. John, the narrator's husband, embodies the physical being of the patriarchal authority in the 19th century, takes control over the narrator's treatment for her illness, and writes her treatment
The nursery room with barred windows and the yellow wallpaper where the narrator is entrapped, symbolizes the prison-like conditions
The wallpaper begins to symbolize the narrator's deteriorating mental state, as she shows consistent unease with her surrounding environment but remains powerless to change anything about it. The narrator says, "There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will" (Gilman). The narrator's fixation on the wallpaper is revealed and represents her attempt to make sense of her life within the constraints that have been imposed by her husband. Descriptions of the wallpapers, "repellent, almost revolting" (Gilman), colors and patterns image the entrapment that she feels. The narrator notes, "I've got out at last...in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back" (Gilman)! The imagery becomes extremely intense as the narrator begins to project her feelings of repression onto the wallpaper, fully showing her deteriorated mental state. The narrator has become truly insane believing that there is another woman entrapped in the wallpaper and that she must tear and destroy it to help her escape, as she sees herself in the