Yellow Wallpaper Depression
Eyes glaring from behind the walls, waiting to attack. The feelings of uneasiness, fear, and suspense crawling under one’s skin. This is the case in the “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as one follows the chronicle of a housewife in the late 1800’s. This housewife, a recluse and solitary person, finds herself trapped within the same walls due to the fact she was dubbed ‘sick’. It is within these walls, that she falls forth into a dark and maniacal trance, otherwise known as the twisted realm of insanity. Confinement within the same walls slowly, but surely, destroyed her mind to the extent in which she saw images distorting into beings from within the walls. Many factors within her life contributed to this great fall, factors
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that formulated her quotidian life, such as her complete subjugation to her husband and society, her dependence to tonics, her depression, and her deep loneliness.
In the short story, the narrator reveals that her husband John is a physician; in fact, he is the doctor who prescribes that she remains in the home until he dubs her ‘healthy.’
Hints betwixt “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggest that the narrator is undergoing severe depression that later on escalates into pure insanity.
One can clearly see this when the narrator states that “one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression.” This distinctly indicates that the narrator is afflicted with depression, since her husband has diagnosed her with this disorder. One is also inclined to believe that this illness is the result of childbirth and a condition known as post-partum depression. In line 33, the narrator says that “we took the nursery at the top of the house.” After reading this, one can comprehend that the narrator has recently given birth. Later on in the text, the narrator exclaims in anger after saying that she was not allowed to enter the nursery; much less, see her own child. This cruel separation from her child may not be the root of her depression, rather hormone imbalances that spike different chemicals responsible for emotion that release in one’s brain, leading to a mental disorder. Post-partum depression is common because of this fact (Pick). Such profound depression like the one the narrator finds herself in, can prove to be terrible in the sense that it can build into true hallucinogenic
delirium.
Within the lines of the story, the narrator shares her deep solitude, this solitude is one of the causes of her delirium. She begins by saying that “John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious.” This tells the reader that her husband is rarely in her presence and in previous occasions, the reader sees that she is detached completely from her newborn child. Rarely in the story, can one see that the narrator is ever accompanied, let it be by anyone. Of course, with the exception of the moments she shared with her husband and servant. Loneliness can in fact induce a psychotic state; a study conducted in June 2016 proved that people can suffer serious mental repercussions from loneliness (Marano). Loneliness in turn could have been the symptom that crushed the sanity of the narrator.
A huge deciding factor on the sanity of the narrator lies in line 12, “So I take phosphates or phosphites- whichever it is, and tonics.” To understand the severity of taking tonics, one must also understand what exactly a tonic is. A tonic was a medicinal drink that contained harmful drugs; drugs such as cocaine, which in present-day society are considered illegal due to their hallucinogenic effects. These drugs greatly contribute to the narrator’s mental demise since ingestion of tonics can cause permanent defects to the brain. When the narrator began to see figures materializing in the yellow wallpaper it was perhaps due to the hallucinogenic in her tonics. Being under the influence of drugs nearly all day can destroy your synapses and change them. The act of the narrator constantly being under the effect of tonics greatly affects the way the narrator falls into insanity since the presence of tonics in her system distorts her internal functions.
that formulated her quotidian life, such as her complete subjugation to her husband and society, her dependence to tonics, her depression, and her deep loneliness.
In the short story, the narrator reveals that her husband John is a physician; in fact, he is the doctor who prescribes that she remains in the home until he dubs her ‘healthy.’
Hints betwixt “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggest that the narrator is undergoing severe depression that later on escalates into pure insanity.
One can clearly see this when the narrator states that “one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression.” This distinctly indicates that the narrator is afflicted with depression, since her husband has diagnosed her with this disorder. One is also inclined to believe that this illness is the result of childbirth and a condition known as post-partum depression. In line 33, the narrator says that “we took the nursery at the top of the house.” After reading this, one can comprehend that the narrator has recently given birth. Later on in the text, the narrator exclaims in anger after saying that she was not allowed to enter the nursery; much less, see her own child. This cruel separation from her child may not be the root of her depression, rather hormone imbalances that spike different chemicals responsible for emotion that release in one’s brain, leading to a mental disorder. Post-partum depression is common because of this fact (Pick). Such profound depression like the one the narrator finds herself in, can prove to be terrible in the sense that it can build into true hallucinogenic
delirium.
Within the lines of the story, the narrator shares her deep solitude, this solitude is one of the causes of her delirium. She begins by saying that “John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious.” This tells the reader that her husband is rarely in her presence and in previous occasions, the reader sees that she is detached completely from her newborn child. Rarely in the story, can one see that the narrator is ever accompanied, let it be by anyone. Of course, with the exception of the moments she shared with her husband and servant. Loneliness can in fact induce a psychotic state; a study conducted in June 2016 proved that people can suffer serious mental repercussions from loneliness (Marano). Loneliness in turn could have been the symptom that crushed the sanity of the narrator.
A huge deciding factor on the sanity of the narrator lies in line 12, “So I take phosphates or phosphites- whichever it is, and tonics.” To understand the severity of taking tonics, one must also understand what exactly a tonic is. A tonic was a medicinal drink that contained harmful drugs; drugs such as cocaine, which in present-day society are considered illegal due to their hallucinogenic effects. These drugs greatly contribute to the narrator’s mental demise since ingestion of tonics can cause permanent defects to the brain. When the narrator began to see figures materializing in the yellow wallpaper it was perhaps due to the hallucinogenic in her tonics. Being under the influence of drugs nearly all day can destroy your synapses and change them. The act of the narrator constantly being under the effect of tonics greatly affects the way the narrator falls into insanity since the presence of tonics in her system distorts her internal functions.