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Often human illness calls for medical attention to acquire both soundness of body and mind. Opinions from medical professionals are sought after by those individuals seeking reassurance and peace of mind in knowing they will receive the best possible treatment. In her short story The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents a situation where a respected professional, medical opinion contradicts those thoughts and desires of the patient. The wife, and narrator, in the story suffers a long-drawn depression following the birth of her daughter. In an attempt to remedy her ailment, the character John, a physician as well as the narrators husband, prescribes rest and isolation as the cure for his wifes mental illness. It is apparent by the end of the story that such treatment not only failed to cure his wifes disorder, but further intensified her unstable condition.
Many scholars offer other underlying explanations in exploring the narrators sickness. Leslie Fish bein, in her review To Holland and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, points out that the narrators ailment is credited to a domestic role that ill fit her character and talents (1116). On the other hand, it was the fact that John ignored the narrators personal desires that ultimately led to her severe paranoia and depression. The wife is aware of aspects in her life that, given individual freedom from her husband, would aid in her recovery. The narrator believes that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do [her] good. She then questions her ideas, But what is one to do? (404).
The wife refers to the fact that both John and her brother are physicians and their professional opinion, in the eyes of society, must be regarded above all. The narrator again takes a stand with her personal view of achieving wellness. If I had less opposition and more society and stimulus- but John says that the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad (404). She desires such contact and wants to achieve personal wellness. However, John acts as a steady influence, controlling and limiting the thoughts and feelings of his wife.
Margaret Delashmit and Charles Long, in their article Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, refer to John in similar light. Although he presents himself as a caring and loving husband, he is overbearing and unknowingly cruel to the point of deserving censure (32). Gilman presents John as the overseer, putting forth guidelines that deprive his wife of happiness. The narrator makes excuses that not only contradict her own feelings, but comply with the wishes of her husband as well. Gilman uses such excuses to emphasize the characters insecurities and lack of self-confidence. The narrator uses the country home to excuse her own ideas in light of her husband.
So I will let it alone and talk about the house. The most beautiful place! (404). In disagreeing with the manner in which John treats her, the narrator turns to her mental disorder as a reason for her sensitivity. I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I think it is due to this nervous condition (404).
She places the blame on herself and her prescribed medicine for suppressing what she feels would bring her to proper health. So I take pains to control myself- before him, at least, and that makes me very tired (404). The narrator utilizes such treatment as an excuse to obey John and his professional opinion. In addition, she turns to love to excuse for John disregarding her emotions. It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so (410). As she is left alone for a majority of each day, the narrator wants the same attention from John that he gives his patients.
John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious. I am glad my case is not serious! (405). Again, the wife turns to a positive, sarcastic excuse to deny the pain she feels from the neglect of her husband. It seems as though the narrator has an idea of what would help her to regain stability. However, it is the manner which she oversees Johns control that further aggravates her condition. Writing, which John does not approve of, becomes an escape for the narrator in being the only way to express her feelings.
She is trapped in a world bounded by those who refuse to listen to her opinions. In reference to her journal, the wife questions the desire to think for herself. I dont know why I should write this. And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way- it is such a relief! (409).
The narrators journal is the only objective ear that actually listens to her thoughts and ideas. John, in his effort to retain control over his wife, fills her head with concepts that please only him and believes that writing will only hinder her recovery. He is the domineering male that is warring against her very being, her unique self (Delashmit 33). Keeping her writing a secret is responsible for deceitful intentions and exhausts her own will to regain mental health. I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal- having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition (404). The narrator only writes when she is alone and is forced to conceal her true thoughts when John is present.
John ignores her personal expression feeling confident that prescription medication is the only way his wife will recover. It seems as though the medication that John urges his wife to take hinders her ability to write. She tires easily, it does exhaust me a good deal, and admits that we have been here for two weeks, and I havent felt like writing before, since that first day (405). Perhaps it is Johns intention to drain her emotion both physically and mentally, therefore inhaling her to not only write but think for herself as well.
Similar to Johns medical treatment, John Bak, author of Escaping the jaundiced eye: Foucauldian panoptic ism in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, suggests that both companionship and work proved a detriment to his patients recovery, further ta...
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Research essay sample on Charlotte Perkins Gilman Gilman The Yellow Wallpaper
