The Critical Analysis on the Yellow Wall Paper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is about a woman who is suffering from depression and nervous breakdown. Throughout the story, her rapture is evident. Yet the setting of the story is a mystery. From narrator’s point of view, the setting of the story is pleasant but at the same time from the clues of the narrator the setting is horrific. The clues in the story about the setting do not justify the narrator’s description of the setting. The setting of this short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” took place in a house. The narrator described the house as a “colonial mansion, a heredity estate” (926), which lead the readers to believe that it is in the south where big plantation mansions were common. When the reader thinks of this area of the United States, they think of lovely weather. “The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road about three miles from the village” (926). Being three miles from town the main character does not have to worry about disturbing the neighbors, so she was free to do any activity she pleased, but she was told to do nothing and stayed in her room. There are gardens that are large and shady, full of small paths, and lined with long grape covered arbors with seats under them. However, the description seems very pleasant but it is more like the narrator’s state of mind. The narrator is a patient, who is suffering from nervous breakdown. All these things about the house are in her mind rather than it is in real. The narrator’s own clues contradict the description of the setting. The house that the narrator thinks is the “house” is more like an asylum where she is having a treatment for her illness. Hallucination is common among the patient of nervous breakdown and a depression. They fantasize things and live in their own world. In the process, they do not realize the reality of what they are going through. Therefore, the provided description of the house is nothing more than a