
For centuries, women had been viewed as inferior persons who were expected to serve their husbands and were obliged to stay at home and tend to the care of their children. They were confined to the home they lived in and were expected to practically be maids. These roles were a trend that faded out and ended near the midpoint of the twentieth century, yet were extremely prominent during the late eighteen-hundreds, which was right around the time “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written. Charlotte Perkins Gillman lived during the time of these gender stereotypes and used them as motivation when writing her short story. The narrative focuses specifically on the way gender stereotypes affected medicine of the time and the impact they had on their patients. Charlotte Perkins Gillman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a piece to fight back against Dr. Weir Mitchell’s rest cure and to disapprove that medicine should be applied differently to individuals of opposing genders. Although Dr. Weir Mitchell’s rest cure helped a small fraction of the individuals that were treated with it, many more did not see their health increase and continued to live with severe mental illnesses. 

Dr. Weir Mitchell created the rest cure to treat patients suffering from nervous depression, which was a severe mental illness during the late nineteenth century; however, his treatment was rooted in gender stereotypes, which led to many remaining mentally ill. This time period exhibited many individuals with mental illnesses, specifically nervous depression. Dr. Weir Mitchell believed that these mental illnesses came from overwork and exerting too much effort. For men, he believed that physical exhaustion from labor resulted in their mental deterioration. While with women, he thought that putting too much energy into aiding the sick, too much studying, and staying out too late at social events all contributed to their mental instability (Poirier. “The Weir Mitchell Rest Cure: Doctors and Patients”). He began treating those that suffered from this mental instability with his rest cure; however, the treatments differed depending on gender. While Dr. Weir Mitchell saw differences in the way the individuals acquired nervous depression, he also treated the patients differently too. Men were advised to head out west and find their inner masculinity in the mountain and on ranches. Many men left their homes and families under Dr. Weir Mitchell’s rest cure for adventure on a different part of the country. The thought was that the men’s will should be put to the test and that they will emerge stronger and healthier from the western part of the United States (Will. “The Nervous Origins of the American Western”). However, women were told to stay home, to rest and to do as little as possible. They were advised to lay in bed all day and were not allowed to cook, clean, or perform any other tasks of their daily life (Poirier. “The Weir Mitchell Rest Cure: Doctors and Patients”). Charlotte Perkins Gillman was one lady who was thought to have suffered from this nervous depression. She reported feeling symptoms similarly to those with the illness and sought out help. Gillman decided to try the famous rest cure; however, this resulted in her not being able to write. She was advised to cease her work and was told to not even pick up a pencil. Charlotte Perkins Gillman started the treatment in 1887, but stopped treatment after realizing that her condition was only worsening and also because she wanted to continue to write. The rest cure treatment inspired her to write “The Yellow Wallpaper”, which was published three years later in 1890 (Kessler. “Gilman, Charlotte Perkins 1860-1935). The narrative became one of Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s most well-known texts, yet it led to much controversy during that time period.  

Charlotte Perkins Gillman incorporates much symbolism in “The Yellow Wallpaper” in order to represent the mental deterioration of the protagonist and also utilizes a first person point of view to enhance the authenticity of the story to the reader. The yellow wallpaper that makes up the walls of the protagonist’s room is mentioned throughout the entire story. The protagonist constantly writes about it in her diary and mentions it to the other characters. As the protagonist continues to follow the rest cure treatment, her mental instability begins to increase, similar to how the role of the wallpaper increases. As the protagonist’s sanity begins to leave, the yellow wallpaper becomes more and more important to her. She constantly studies it and becomes obsessed with it. The narrative concludes with the protagonist ripping apart the yellow wallpaper, which symbolizes her sanity being gone and her turning mentally unstable. This is significant because it highlights the failure of the rest cure and how it is not a treatment that works. Gillman also writes the story through the perspective of the protagonist because she wants to give the reader insight to what someone suffering from nervous exhaustion might be thinking and how the rest cure fails to treat their illness. The protagonist’s thoughts and feelings are exposed to the reader and it is obvious how little of an impact the rest cure has. The reader is able to see the mental stability of the protagonist fall apart firsthand. Both symbolism and the point of view of “The Yellow Wallpaper” are used to enhance Gillman’s argument. 

Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” serves as a text that parallels to her own experience with the rest cure treatment and she uses it as imagery to portray to the reader the failures of it. The protagonist of the story suffers from nervous depression and her husband, who is a physician, has taken her to a rural area to undergo the rest cure treatment. She has been prescribed to lay in bed all day and to remain isolated in her room. As the plot progresses, the protagonist’s mental stability continues to deteriorate because of the rest cure treatment and by the end of the story she is in a complete state of mental hysteria (Gillman). Gillman uses the text to illustrate her own experience and wants to provide insight of how the treatment affects the women undergoing it. Gillman, like the protagonist, was bedridden and confined to a small room in her home. She was forbidden to write and was simply left to her own thoughts. As time progressed, she realized the treatment was doing more harm than good, which led to her decision to stop the rest cure and continue her occupation in literature. However, the protagonist continues to obey the guidelines for the rest cure, which leads to her mental deterioration and collapse by the end of the plot. Charlotte Perkins Gillman ends the text on this note to highlight how the rest cure does not work and is in fact harmful to one’s heath. This is a very significant way to end the story because she is portraying how rest cure results in one becoming mentally insane and that that could have been a potential outcome for her if she continued her treatment. Besides hoping to illustrate the failures and dangers of the rest cure to the reader, Gillman also aims to emphasize the role of gender stereotypes that are present in the rest cure and how they have impacted medicine for the worse. 

Charlotte Perkins Gillman also wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” to portray to the reader how influential gender stereotypes of the time had on society, specifically in the rest cure treatment. Gillman incorporated numerous stereotypes throughout the text because she wanted to highlight how prominent they were, which impacted Dr. Weir Mitchell’s discoveries. Much of the treatment in rest cure is rooted in the fact that women are deemed to be inferior by society and Gillman emphasized the stereotypes throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper.” For example, multiple times throughout the text the protagonist tries to explain to her husband how she is very sick, but is not taken seriously and ignored (Gillman). Her husband continues to doubt what she has to say, which highlights the stereotype that women are not as intelligent as men and implies that males are the more knowledgeable gender. This connects to Dr. Weir Mitchell’s claim that nervous exhaustion is caused from women studying too hard and that they do not have the mental capacity to complete the same quantity of studies as a male. Charlotte Perkins Gillman is fighting back against the intelligence stereotype that is associated with women. She does this numerous times throughout the story and incorporates many examples in an attempt to highlight how rest cure treatment comes from gender roles. This rebellion exhibited by Gillman led to her work to be considered controversial and other authors began fighting back against her to prove that Dr. Weir Mitchell’s rest cure does in fact work. 

In 1902, author Owen Wister published his work called The Virginian, which promoted the success of the rest cure and was an attempt to fight back against the authenticity of stereotypes in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Wister’s narrative told of the journey of one man’s adventure out west as he was following the prescription of his doctor after being diagnosed with nervous depression. The protagonist has his masculinity tested while he experiences the great outdoors on the other side of the country, but eventually returns home cured and a new man (Will. “The Nervous Origins of the American Western”). The publishing of The Virginian is significant because it exemplifies how Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s work was very impactful and was successfully able to bring light on the issue of gender stereotypes and their impact on society. “The Yellow Wallpaper” can almost be considered a piece that is part of a fight amongst writers of the time over the presence of stereotypes in society.  

Historical context is crucial when reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” because the reader’s opinion on what genre to classify this work in is severely impacted without knowing what was occurring during the author’s life. One reading the piece might consider the story to be a grotesque or horror story. There are elements of this category present because of the incorporation of insanity and the protagonist losing her mind. However, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is not a short-story in the horror genre, but one of the realistic fiction genre. The author is attempting to pass on a message through the story using aspects of life that are accurate. If the reader had no idea that rest cure existed and that mental health was a very serious issue during the late nineteenth century, then the interpretation of the short story would be completely different than what the author intended for it to be. Historical context is crucial for “The Yellow Wallpaper” because the story could be falsely categorized in the reader’s mind and they would not think that this story is based off of realistic events on the time. 

Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” was very impactful on society and had a lasting legacy because of her work’s ability to not only advocate against gender stereotypes, but to help address the issues regarding mental illnesses in the United States. She used her piece as a way to speak out against Dr. Weir Mitchell’s rest cure, which was creating a divide amongst genders and to also gain progress in medicine. Gillman was able to portray how women do not get healthy with rest cure and that stereotypes are the foundation for this treatment plan. The “Yellow Wallpaper” is a great example of an author addressing issues in society and using her work to speak out. Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s piece had a positive impact on society by fighting against the status quo and helping to make strides towards women’s equality, while also calling for developments in mental health treatment.  

Charlotte Perkins Gillman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” with a goal to highlight the sexism that is rooted in Dr. Weir Mitchell’s rest cure and to portray how his research in medicine has not helped those suffering from mental illnesses, but in fact harmed them. This was a significant work of the time because it directly highlighted the problems that spawned from gender stereotypes and how they impacted society. Overall, Gillman assisted in the social movement to help tear down stereotypes and assisted in bringing light on the issues associated with mental health. Her work was very impactful and is still well recognized today. 

 