The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson Analysis

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, is a story of our narrator going through a mental issue that was unidentified throughout the story. Our narrator has a husband, John, who is a physician of high standards and deems nothing wrong with our narrator, but in an effort to help our narrator, they move to a colonial mansion for the time being while their house is under renovation. When introduced to the mansion, we are met with an eerie feeling as it is being described as a 'haunted house' isolated from the nearest village. 

The opening pages brought forth what our narrator truly thinks of the house, and expresses her distaste with the house, even though her husband John doesn't see it from the same perspective. The house is alone, with hedges surrounding it, gardens, gardeners, and broken down greenhouses. We are introduced to the fact that there are legal issues with this house, and that it was empty for years, inhibited by anyone. When we are introduced to where our narrator will be sleeping and spending most of her time in this story, it is an isolated bedroom, with barred windows and a yellow wallpaper with a particular pattern that she hates. Hate is a very strong word and feeling, and is expressed a multitude of times throughout the story, "John was asleep and I hated to waken him, so I kept still and watched the moonlight on that undulating wallpaper till I felt creepy. " (Stetson 652), " It is the strangest yellow, that wallpaper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw - not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things." (Stetson 654). Our narrator is having the feeling of haunted by this yellow wallpaper, as she is stuck in this room, isolated from society and only told to get rest, so she could get better to see people again. 

Isolation causes people to go insane, and we see this within our narrator. Being stuck in a room, with a yellow wallpaper, noticing every nook and cranny of it will cause one to eventually go insane. " It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down .and creeping about behind that pattern." (Stetson 652). This wallpaper is symbolizing our narrator's mental state, she is trapped and that is driving her crazy noticing the creepy and eeriness of the house she is staying in when those around her don't notice the same thing. As the story concludes, our narrator is driven to a state which shocks even her husband John, who diagnosed that there was nothing truly wrong with our narrator. Moreover, Stetson uses the setting in the opening pages to bring forth the creepiness, eeriness, and the supernatural to express that our narrator is haunted. The 'Yellow Wallpaper' and 'Pattern', how the house is isolated from society, to how our narrator is isolated from society, brings forth the factor that our narrator is haunted.