The Yellow Wallpaper: Critical Analysis

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1882 short shorty, The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator expresses her fear that her husband, John, will send her to Weir Mitchell if her condition does not improve. Although this reference has lost context as times have changed, Gilman was calling out a well-known American physician, Silas Weir Mitchell. Through examining Gilman’s personal life, it can be seen that her treatment by Silas Weir Mitchell was the inspiration for her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, which is important because it gives events in the story new meaning and sheds light on the misogynistic nature of nineteenth century medicine.

The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of the narrator, an unnamed woman and new mother, and her treatment for a “nervous illness,” administered by her husband, a physician named John. The events are told through a series of journal entries written by the ailing narrator in which she expresses her fears and frustrations with her treatment. In the story, the narrator often complains that her husband, John, does not believe she is unwell, and it can be observed on multiple occasions that he is quite controlling.

Get quality help now

Bella Hamilton

Verified writer

Proficient in: Free Essays

5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

John “assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter” , he restricts her creative and intellectual pursuits by forbidding her to work , and disregards her concerns for her mental health by calling them “a false and foolish fancy” . Much like the female narrator in her short story, Gilman felt similarly after her treatment by Mitchell. Prior to meeting Mitchell, Gilman sent him an extensive letter detailing the history of her illness and factors she believed contributed to it.

Denise D. Knight, professor emerita of nineteenth-century American literature, writes that Mitchell was dismissive of Gilman’s letter because he had “little use for women who failed to adhere to traditional gender roles”. Michael Blackie, associate professor of health humanities, department of medical education, also describes Mitchell as a “staunch Victorian” who objected to women’s higher education and the women’s suffrage movement . This is important because Gilman was a spirited, intellectual woman, the antithesis of Mitchell’s “ideal woman,” and being a former civil war doctor of considerable status, he surely allowed these prejudices to shape his medical practices.

In the mid to late nineteenth century, nervous and hysterical symptoms became for more common among men and women, prompting the classification of a new condition known as neurasthenia . Blackie outlines Mitchell’s treatment for this condition, known as the rest cure, which involved complete isolation except for the supervision of a doctor or nurse and a diet restricted to a large intake of milk to help the patient gain weight. Taking Mitchell’s ideals into account, this practice was likely a tactic to ensure that women remained the submissive housekeepers he thought they ought to be. This becomes even clearer when his treatment for his male neurasthenia patients, whom included none other than former president Theodore Roosevelt and the “father” of the American western, Owen Wister, to name a few.