In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American women did not enjoy the freedom they do today, and their roles were defined for them by men (Metaphor; Thomas). This was particularly true of middle-class women, and men placed them in an ideological prison which effectively silenced them. Women were often virtually imprisoned in their homes, with servants tending to the needs of the family, caring for children, and taking care of the house. Women were expected to remain virtuous and pure, even in marriage, to be modest, and religiously pious and submissive. In this way, men ensured the passivity and docility of women, and the medical professionÆs godlike attitude in The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates this arrogant attitude of men towards women. Gilman portrays American society at the time as being oppressive towards women and how dangerous it was for a woman to fight back.
The story of The Yellow Wallpaper is told by the woman, who acts as narrator (Gilman). Her husband, a physician, has rented a mansion for the summer so she can recuperate from neurasthenia. She rests in an upstairs room, a former nursery, with peeling yellow wallpaper which becomes her obsession. He husband forbids her to do anything, particularly write, so she keeps a diary in secret. She is tended by her husbands sister, Jennie, and the nanny takes care of their baby boy. As her condition worsens, the woman becomes more obsessed with the wallpaper, trying to trace its patterns and becoming convinced that someone is trapped inside, a woman, and is trying to get out. Each day, the image becomes more clear, and the narrator cannot wait for the woman to emerge. By moonlight, she sees the woman clearly behind bars (there are bars on the windows of her room because it used to be a nursery). As the narratorÆs health seems to improve, her interest in the wallpaper deepens, and now it takes on a distinctive odor that seems to pervade the entire house. ...