
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story written based off events that occurred following her early marriage to her first husband. The story not only brings awareness to women’s mental health and treatments used, it also ties in factors such as gender roles and feminism. After the publishing of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” many critics said the story brought to life the unjust treatment of women and changed the treatment strategies doctors used.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a personal story because it was written based off true events from her life. However, it was not released that “The Yellow Wallpaper” was based off Gilman’s life until 20 years after it was published. Much like the narrator of the story, Gilman experienced the same sickness, symptoms, misdiagnosis, and wrongful treatments. After Gilman had her first child, she became depressed and unhappy. Following the birth, she was misdiagnosed with temporary nervous depression. She was treated with rest cure and was told to never touch a pencil, pen, or brush ever again. Gilman followed through with the doctor’s orders for three months before leaving her husband and moving to California. Similar to Gilman, the narrator was misdiagnosed with temporary nervous disorder following the birth of her child. Her husband, who was also her physician, forbid her from writing and told her to never touch a pencil, pen, or brush again until he gave her permission to. The was hard for the narrator because like Gilman, this was her career and what she enjoyed. As part of her treatment, the narrator was moved to a new home outside the village, isolated to a third-floor bedroom, and left alone while her husband was at work. Overtime, the narrator began to see an image within the wallpaper and this image slowly began to come alive throughout the story. Eventually, it becomes known that the image is a woman trapped behind the wall in which the narrator tears down in order to “save” her. The misdiagnoses and wrongful treatment of the narrator ultimately led to her seeing unrealistic images and going insane. Even though Gilman did not personally go insane, she ended “The Yellow Wallpaper” with that particular image to prove that there are major consequences to misdiagnosing and using the wrong treatments on patients.

An article by Ann Oakley brings to life three concepts throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper.” These include production, reproduction, and medicalization, all of which are at the expense of women’s mental health. Production regarding women is important because women make up two thirds of the work force, but society tells them to stay at home and maintain the health of the family. This relates to “The Yellow Wallpaper” because the narrator and Johns sister, Jennie, are forced to stay at home and preform household duties while he goes to work in town. Jennie ends up becoming the main caregiver of the narrator because John is so busy with other patients. Reproduction is another aspect that plays a role in “The Yellow Wallpaper” because the narrator would not have gone “insane” if she did not have a child. Having a child is what led to her disorder in the first place, which led to her misdiagnosis, which led to her receiving the wrong treatment and so on. Finally, women as a whole were medicalized as “difficult” because many of them would suffer from depression after child birth and be misdiagnosed with a nervous disorder. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator was labeled as a difficult patient when she became obsessed with the wallpaper. This was considered difficult because the doctor thought he was treating her, but then her condition started to deteriorate after a few months of treatment. Her doctor, John, would contradict himself by saying that her condition was getting better, but then he would threaten to send her to another doctor if she said did something that he could not control. Depression after childbirth is commonly called postpartum depression, which is “a severe form of clinical depression related to pregnancy and childbirth” (Lieber). In today’s time, postpartum depression is treated with psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of both. This is much different than how Gilman and the narrator were treated because it was personable and designed for the correct diagnosis of postpartum depression. Even through Gilman and the narrator’s treatments were designed for each individual, doctors ignored the fact that many women suffered from the same symptoms following child birth. Therefore, the doctors were ignoring the bigger picture of postpartum depression. If Gilman and the narrator were correctly diagnosed, they would not have had to endure wrongful treatment and the narrator could have continued her career as a writer much like Gilman did.

Gender roles and feminism are displayed throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper.” It is well known that Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a feminist, so it would only make sense that feminism would be a theme throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Much like Gilman, the narrator also has feminist aspects to her. Feminism is the belief in social, political, and economic equality of both men and women (Baldwin). However, these feminist ideas are disregarded because of gender roles. During the time period when “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written, it was common for women to listen to their husband’s commands. The narrator remains nameless throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper” to show the lack of power and importance women had, especially women with mental health issues. The unnamed narrator defies her husband by secretly writing in her journal even after she is forbidden to. According to the narrator, John “…hates to have me write a word,” so she quickly puts up her journal when she sees him coming (Gilman 301). Similarly, Gilman defies traditional gender roles by leaving her first husband, giving up her daughter to her first husband and his new wife, and pursuing a writing career. The narrator believes that being creative, having a room downstairs with roses on the windows, and seeing people she knows will help cure her. However, she also states that “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…what is one to do?” (Gilman 300). Therefore, the narrator shows that she truly believes she has a nervous disorder, which is backed up when she talks about being over sensitive and says “I think it is due to this nervous condition” (Gilman 300). John convinces the narrator that she needs light and “all the air [she] can get” (Gilman 301). Gender roles are also seen in other characters in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Aa example is when the narrators brother, who is also a physician, agrees with Johns diagnoses and his treatments. Due to her brother being both male and a doctor, the narrator cannot deny that he agrees with her husband’s treatments or confide in him. Johns sister, Jennie, is “…A perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession” (Gilman 303). This shows the traditional role of a women during these times because she stays at home and takes care of the house. Jennie assumes the role of Johns wife because the narrator is simply not capable of preforming the duties of a housewife during her treatment. Unlike the narrator, Jennie does not defy John and is happy being the traditional domesticated housewife. Towards the end of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Jennie starts to question if she is also seeing what the narrator is seeing within the walls. However, she resists telling John because she is not a doctor or the man of the house. 

Once a patient was diagnosed with temporary nervous disorder or hysteria, the most common treatment was rest cure. Rest cure was invented by a man named Silas Weir Mitchell and consisted of rest, a fattening diet, massage, and electricity. Rest cure was originally invented to treat war veterans recovering from gunshot wounds, but it later evolved into a treatment for nervous disorder. In order for the treatment to work patients would be removed from their daily surroundings and were not allowed to read, write, sew, feed themselves, or contact anyone for about two to three months. Mitchell used his power as a well-known doctor to keep control over his patients. Most of his patients had to request to sit up or turn over in bed if they wished to move. If the patients refused to eat the food diet prescribed to them, then they would be force fed. Force feeding was common because most of Mitchells patients were thin, so he developed a philosophy of if a person was physically health, they would become mentally healthy. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrators doctor adopted many principles of the rest cure in order to treat her temporary nervous disorder. These included not being able to see anyone, not being able to write, and having to rest most of the day. At one point in the story, the narrator says “…If I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall” (Gilman 303). This is ironic because Gilman was treated by Mitchell before writing “The Yellow Wallpaper.” To begin the narrators cure, her husband moved them to a quaint house that “stands well back from the road, quite three miles from the village” (Gilman 300). This followed Mitchells principle of removing the patient from their normal everyday surroundings because she was moved to the country and was secluded to a third-floor bedroom. John isolates her from the world by locking her in the room and leaving her alone throughout the day and some nights while he is in town treating other patients. The narrator was also “...absolutely forbidden to work” (Gilman 300) until she is well again, which meant she was not allowed to work on her writings.

After writing “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman sent a copy of the book to the doctor that wrongfully diagnosed and treated her. This doctor was Silas Weir Mitchell, the same doctor John threatened to send the narrator to if she did not improve. Once he received a copy of this book, he realized his errors and altered his treatment methods in order to help truly cure patients. It was common for women to be misdiagnosed during this time because doctors and mental hospitals did not understand how to deal with women’s mental health issues. Similar to Gilman’s doctor, critics say that the publishing of “The Yellow Wallpaper” helped change how women were diagnosed and treated. Fellow feminist mainly advocated for Gilman’s story by publishing “The Yellow Wallpaper” in the Feminist Press. Other female based publishing companies also published Gilman’s work to help bring awareness to many issues that are represented within “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Fortunately for Gilman, she did not have to face the same living conditions, could escape treatment, and did not have the same outcome as the narrator in the story. Her diagnosis was ultimately negative, but led to a positive outcome in how women’s mental health was viewed and treated. According to one critic, “’The Yellow Wallpaper’ offers a compelling study of Gilman’s feminism and shows the roles of women in the 1890s and 1910s” (Dock et. al.). Ann J. Lane says “Gilman offered perspectives on major issues of gender with which we still grapple; the origins of women’s subjugation, the struggle to achieve both autonomy and intimacy in human relationships; the central role of work as a definition of self; new strategies for rearing and educating future generations to create a humane and nurturing environment” (Kessler). It is important that critics stated this because this was the exact message Gilman was trying to convey to her readers. Unfortunately, there were an equal number of critics that said “The Yellow Wallpaper” would not give pleasure to any women who suffered from nervous depression and should only receive severe disapproval. 

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is not an autobiography, but a story that is loosely based off her personal life. The story demonstrates traditional gender roles, aspects of feminism, and brings to light women’s mental health while touching on misdiagnoses, wrongful treatments, and the end result of misdiagnoses. “The Yellow Wallpaper” helps to change how women’s mental health is viewed, which then leads to a change in how women’s mental health is treated among society.
