The Yellow Wallpaper Opinion Essay
After initially reading and studying Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, I concluded that the narrators behaviour was violent and thoughtless, driven by her mental instability and overall insanity. While analysing the opinions of varying critics on the narrator's overall mental state, I discovered a number of contradicting ideas to my original hypothesis arguing against my opinions about the narrator's psychotic and irrational behaviour. The two critics opinions that I studied that showed different views on the narrator's own sanity and mental stability were Beverly A. Hume’s “Managing Madness”and Denise D. Knight’s “I am getting angry enough to do something desperate: The Question of Female Madness”. Denise argued
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Knight stated that this is “one of the most compelling arguments to support the narrator's sanity” which I can agree with as it is difficult to believe that the narrator could be characterised as insane if she has retained the ability to make valued judgements about the moral implications of suicide “I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued” and also that she can logically justify her actions including her thoughts of escaping where she could rationalize that “to jump out of the window would be an admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong to even try”. This puts doubt in my mind about how insane she could really be as insanity is often described as mentally distorted and involves a great deal of confusion but the narrator displays abilities generally associated with those sound of mind. Another point Knight makes to support the narrator's sanity is the “coherent manner in which she continues to chronicle the events that transpire”. The narrator continues to record the events that come to pass in a logical order and can specifically describe events including the tearing of the wallpaper and her attempt to escape resulting in John fainting. The suggests that the narrator is fully aware of both her situation and her actions. Knight states that “it seems unlikely that an insane narrator would be able to
Knight stated that this is “one of the most compelling arguments to support the narrator's sanity” which I can agree with as it is difficult to believe that the narrator could be characterised as insane if she has retained the ability to make valued judgements about the moral implications of suicide “I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued” and also that she can logically justify her actions including her thoughts of escaping where she could rationalize that “to jump out of the window would be an admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong to even try”. This puts doubt in my mind about how insane she could really be as insanity is often described as mentally distorted and involves a great deal of confusion but the narrator displays abilities generally associated with those sound of mind. Another point Knight makes to support the narrator's sanity is the “coherent manner in which she continues to chronicle the events that transpire”. The narrator continues to record the events that come to pass in a logical order and can specifically describe events including the tearing of the wallpaper and her attempt to escape resulting in John fainting. The suggests that the narrator is fully aware of both her situation and her actions. Knight states that “it seems unlikely that an insane narrator would be able to