The Yellow Wallpaper Themes Essay Example

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," there seem to be many recurring themes such as the desire for self-expression, gender roles, and mental illness. The theme of mental illness plays a significant role in the story, as the main character is slowly going insane. The main character has just given birth and is now in recovery. However, despite her husband's orders to relax, she can be seen getting worse, as she is suffering from postpartum depression and paranoia throughout the story. 

As the story begins, the narrator and her husband, John, have rented a home for the summer. They've even invited John's sister, Jennie, to aid as a housekeeper, all in hopes that the narrator's recovery will be relaxing. Though Jennie may be seen as a threat later on, as she takes on the housekeeping, readers may think that it makes the narrator feel guilty as she runs the house with no problem while the narrator cannot do anything.

Additionally, when the narrator informs her husband of her health concerns, he refuses to listen to her and treats her like a baby. Furthermore, the narrator is convinced the house is possibly haunted as she is filled with funny feelings, she says, since the house was completely abandoned for years, "I am afraid, but I do not care—there is something strange about the house—I can feel it." (Gilman, Ln. 22-23). Yet again, her husband John dismisses her claims of a strange sensation in the house. As John dismisses his wife and treats her like a child, readers may see this as a sign of her downfall as well, since he is ignoring all his wife's concerns and making her out to be crazy.

As the couple moves up to the room on the top floor, the narrator supposes it is an old nursery due to the boarded-up windows and the peeling yellow wallpaper. She claims that the wallpaper was "repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering, unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight." (Gilman Ln. 36) 

Throughout the story, the narrator becomes obsessed with trying to decipher the patterns the yellow wallpaper has. She is convinced that it holds some evil force behind it that is threatening the whole home. The narrator eventually starts a diary, despite her recovery process forbidding her from pursuing any work. Seeing that writing is a relief for her, she keeps her new diary a secret so that her husband does not get rid of it.

She continues to study the wallpaper to the point where she imagines seeing a figure behind the top pattern. At this point, she tries to convince her husband to leave the house, but he belittles her concerns yet again by saying, "The repairs are not done at home, and I cannot possibly leave town just now. Of course, if you were in any danger, I could and would, but you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color; your appetite is better. I feel really much easier about you." (Gilman Ln. 136). Once again, readers can see how John dismisses his wife's concerns, which leads to her depression worsening as she is stuck with her own insanity and cannot leave her home.

While the narrator continues to write in her diary, her fascination with the wallpaper grows even more. She begins a series of short entries, entailing her progress with the secrets of the wallpaper. She believes the figure is a creeping woman trapped within the walls, in which the narrator is now working to free her. While working on this, she is also growing more anxious about John and Jennies' intentions. She keeps her wallpaper fascination a secret from Jennie and John, as well as the existence of the lady in the wall. She keeps it a secret even from her diary now as well. 

It gets to the point where the narrator needs to remove all of the wallpaper before she leaves the next day. So that night, she peels away as much wallpaper as possible, as she is obsessed with finishing the task before she leaves. "When the sun came, and that awful pattern began to laugh at me, I declared I would finish it today! We go away to-morrow, and they are moving all my furniture down again to leave things as they were before." (Gilman Ln. 223-224) She says as she refuses to leave the room. 

She ends up locking herself in the room and throws the key onto the front pathway so that she can finish without interruption. Struggling to reach the top of the walls, she tries to move the bedstead for extra height and support in hopes of finishing the job. As she tears off everything within her reach, the wallpaper seems to laugh at her foolish attempts. This can be seen as her trying to escape her own madness, but she cannot get away from herself, which is why the wallpaper seemed to laugh at her attempts to get rid of it.

The narrator writes that she is so angry she could jump out of a window, but the bars are too strong for her. At this point, she has been convinced that the lady in the walls is herself as she yells to her husband, "I have got out at last, in spite of you and Jane! And I have pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (Gilman Ln. 266)

Thinking back to the start of the story, with the relaxing vacation for the main character, readers can clearly see how she slowly loses her mind from beginning to end. In the beginning, the narrator can be seen as anxious and suffering from depression. Towards the end, though she remains anxious and depressed, readers can see that it has heightened to a greater degree. The narrator also makes a comment about jumping out of the window due to her anger. This comment can be seen as a possible thought of attempting suicide due to the mental instability she was going through as well, hence the reason mental illness is a reoccurring theme in "The Yellow Wallpaper."