Yellow Wallpaper Essay
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An Ironic Triumph
In "The Yellow Wallpaper", a story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the conflict centers on the protagonist's inability to maintain her sanity in a society that does not recognize her as an individual. Her husband and brother both express their own will over hers, forcing her to conform to “an appropriate code of behavior for a sick woman.” She has been given a "schedule prescription for each hour in the day; [John] takes all care from me" (1213). This code of behavior involves virtually no expression of her free will. Rather, she is expected to passively accept the fact that her own ideas are mere daydreams, and only the opinions of the men in her life can be trusted. While "Wallpaper" presents a powerful argument in favor of the feminist movement, the true issue behind the conflict is the healthy mental state of a human in an oppressive environment.
Obviously, it is impossible to maintain a healthy mental state in the oppressive environment surrounding the woman. Throughout the story, the author traces the woman's mental deterioration from a having a normal but weakened sense of self, to a complete inversion of her ego. She slowly inverts her orientation of her place in society, turning away from society completely in order to create a world where she can act on her own free accord. In order to represent the stages of her gradually worsening state of mind, the author represents the woman's struggles through a parallel with her view of the wallpaper. The wallpaper is at first a seeming inversion of the woman's mind, but it is eventually revealed to be a parallel, showing her transition from a weak-willed but outwardly focused wife to a strong-willed but internally focused individual.
The wallpaper takes on immediate significance when it is introduced to the story, simply because its characteristics are described with such detail. At this point, the paper seems to represent all that is the opposite of the woman, and she is repulsed by it. "I never saw a worse paper in my life,"(l214) writes the woman. Whereas she is a sweet, dutiful wife to her husband, and her behavior carefully conforms to what society expects of her, she is disgusted by the paper's poor condition, its faded, soured color, and its pattern, "One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin"(1214). Her mild-mannered behavior carefully conforms with what society expects of her. Therefore, this vague description of the pattern of the wallpaper seems to be an inversion of the woman's personality.
However, a closer look proves that her reasons for hating the wallpaper are illogical, irrational and reveal hypocrisy in the way she views society. The idea of an artistic "sin," implies that artists are supposed to follow a specific set of rules. This is not true. There are many schools of artistic thought, but artists are continually challenging those traditions and developing new ones. An artistic sin, then, would be an original technique, but to call originality in art sinful goes against the nature of art. Similarly, the woman feels that she is required to capitulate to her husbands wishes: If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency--what is one to do? (1213). But for society to expect the woman to give in to her husband's wishes regardless makes no sense. She is a complete person, an should be allowed to function as one, just like the artist should be allowed to experiment. Unfortunately, the woman feels that pressure from "friends and relatives" as well as her husband is equal to law, and therefore, her opinions do not matter. Her respect for the traditional idea of a well-ordered society is hypocritical because it does not allow she herself to thrive; instead, she becomes ill from the constant oppression.
She further describes the wallpaper pattern consisting of "lame uncertain curves" that "suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroying themselves in unheard of contradictions"(1214). Her efforts at controlling her own life follow the same pattern. Her assertions are weak, and they continually give into her husbands stronger will, thus "committing suicide. " They destroy themselves by allowing her to act according to her husbands will, even though it is an "outrageous contradiction" to her own. The pattern on the wallpaper thus represents her; specifically her methods of dealing with the societal figures around her: her husband, primarily, but also her brother, the maid, and the nanny. Her fascination with the wallpaper not only signifies its role as a symbol, but determines what that role is. She is behaving like someone looking in a mirror for the first time--fascinated and slightly repelled by her own appearance.
She is bewildered by this reflection of herself because until this point, she has been focused on the outward world. She seeks and receives advice...
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