Yellow Wallpaper Literary Techniques

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” defines her own life through nineteenth century psychology and women’s rights. In the works of many authors, we can see a reflection of their character or hobbies. The heroine Jane embodies the writer herself through different stages of her life.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses a collection of literary techniques to convey the critical state of the protagonist. Firstly, the setting and the symbols in the novelle help create a rather creepy mood. The wallpaper is described as scary, horrid, the pattern reminds of a face; Gilman wrote: “There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down” (Gilman 3). Also, the bars on the window, the …show more content…
The story begins in a colonial mansion, as it would seem, the perfect place to spend a summer with the family. Jane is a writer, that has developed postpartum depression after her first born child. Her husband John, who works as a physician, prescribes her unknown medicine and the rest cure treatment; Consequently, the woman has to stay in her room all day long, sleeping or looking through the window; According to Gilman, she says: “So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well again” (Gilman 1). The worst part was, she was not allowed to write and create. That is the main reason her slight illness developed into total madness. To Jane writing was her life, her hobby, her work. To take that away from an artist means to push them into emptiness. From there, everything went downhill for John’s family. Nobody took care of the poor mother, she even forgot her baby. In the end the woman was talking to the wallpaper, creeping around the wall and confusing herself with the lady inside the paper.Gilman wrote: ”But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way.”(Gilman 9) But by crossing the sanity line, in a way she became free. MacPike suggests, that “The …show more content…
Her first husband, Charles Stetson, was a negative influence for her creativity. According to Les Stone, “She also separated from her husband, for she had become convinced that the stifling domesticity of her marriage had contributed, if only somewhat, to her chronic despair” (Stone 2). Gilman was not treated well and she was not going to submit quietly. She left Charles and moved to California, where, later on, Gilman found herself in the feminist society and embraced her writer’s talent. L. Stone mentions, that “Upon leaving her husband, Gilman settled in California, where she became active in a range of feminist concerns, including preparations for the state 's Women 's Congresses of the mid-1890s” (Stone 2). Her feminist approach can be seen in “The Yellow Wallpaper” as well. The main character Jane is kept in her room after her family found out about her mental illness. Her husband, John, had organised the treatment and it did not work. Jane had to listen to him no matter what. He was the man in the family and he made the rules. She was confused, but could not do anything. As a result, one time she took the key and locked herself in. Gilman wrote: “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight” (Gilman 7). It made her feel confident, as if she was in charge of her own life, not John. She did not want to see any doctors, Jane did not want any more men to try to help her. Jane and the woman in the wallpaper