The Yellow Wallpaper Mental Health Essay

Why does the mental health of the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, seem to deteriorate throughout the entirety of the short story? The woman does not seem to be very ill; but, as time progresses, it can be assumed that her state of mind is slowly worsening. While her husband, John, is a physician, it is mentioned multiple times by the woman, that he may have misdiagnosed the illness that she does seem to possess. The images the woman sees in the wallpaper represent how unstable her mental health is, the way in which the wallpaper mirrors the image of her life, and how her mental health slowly fades when isolated from society for a long period of time. Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper, it can be inferred that the woman’s state of mind is slowly worsening. The woman in the story
She does not like when John or Jennie touch it, and is terrified that they may all see the same thing that she sees within the boundaries of the yellowed wallpaper: bars made of the darker parts of the wallpaper, trapping the woman in the lighter, peeled parts within the bars confines. Another symptom that would fall under having a serious mental disorder, is hallucinations. She may not see multiple beings within her hallucinations, but it is made very prominent throughout the story, that she does see the woman trapped behind the darker wallpaper on many occasions. “Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over”(page 10). Not only does she see the the woman in the wallpaper, but, eventually, she believes that she has become the woman within the wallpaper. “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard! It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please!”(page