Oppression In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper
Symbolisms of oppression in Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"
During the Victorian period women were viewed as objects. Upper middle class women were not allowed to be intellectual or work. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an oppressed woman who wrote about the hardships of being a woman in a male dominate world. The symbolism in Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" depicts the feelings of oppression of a Victorian woman. The narrator in Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is infatuated with the wallpaper in her "colonial mansion" (531). The protagonist sees what she is "quite sure it is a woman" (538) trapped behind the wallpaper. The woman changes by day and night. "By daylight she is subdued, quiet" (539), however, "at night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it [the wallpaper] becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be." (538). The protagonist sees a woman who represents …show more content…
"The front pattern does move- and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it . I think that there are a great many women behind," (540). Since the Victorian women were not allowed to be intellectual because of the mere fact that they were women, women would think in private and then publish their ideas and writings under a man's name; however the women were never given credit for their ideas.
"If only that top pattern could be gotten off from the under one!" (541). The top pattern of the wallpaper symbolizes society. When hanging wallpaper you have the ability to pull the paper off the wall if you have made a mistake. However once the glue is set and dry the only way to remove the paper is to peal and tear and rip the paper off, which takes hard work and perseverance. To change a culture, to change peoples beliefs and views is much harder than tearing down wallpaper. "Then I pealed off the paper It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it!"
During the Victorian period women were viewed as objects. Upper middle class women were not allowed to be intellectual or work. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an oppressed woman who wrote about the hardships of being a woman in a male dominate world. The symbolism in Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" depicts the feelings of oppression of a Victorian woman. The narrator in Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is infatuated with the wallpaper in her "colonial mansion" (531). The protagonist sees what she is "quite sure it is a woman" (538) trapped behind the wallpaper. The woman changes by day and night. "By daylight she is subdued, quiet" (539), however, "at night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it [the wallpaper] becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be." (538). The protagonist sees a woman who represents …show more content…
"The front pattern does move- and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it . I think that there are a great many women behind," (540). Since the Victorian women were not allowed to be intellectual because of the mere fact that they were women, women would think in private and then publish their ideas and writings under a man's name; however the women were never given credit for their ideas.
"If only that top pattern could be gotten off from the under one!" (541). The top pattern of the wallpaper symbolizes society. When hanging wallpaper you have the ability to pull the paper off the wall if you have made a mistake. However once the glue is set and dry the only way to remove the paper is to peal and tear and rip the paper off, which takes hard work and perseverance. To change a culture, to change peoples beliefs and views is much harder than tearing down wallpaper. "Then I pealed off the paper It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it!"