By looking at “The Yellow Wallpaper” in terms of the late 1800s, we can see that mental health and women’s rights were looked at in a very different light than how they are today. This is important because it enhances to the semi-autobiographical tale, proving that the period that this tale was written in was a corrupt time for medical technology and women. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, describes a woman who is mentally ill and her struggles while being locked up in a room by her doctor. The tale brings up problems in society during the late 1800s that needed to be addressed. 

Throughout the tale, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the reader is informed about the obstacles that a woman with mental illness had to face. Her mental illness was looked down upon and many times throughout the story her doctor thought that the best thing for her was the “resting cure”. The resting cure involves having someone sleep until their problems go away and they are healed completely. Clearly, there are a lot of things that are wrong with this type of cure. If someone was physically ill, they wouldn’t be able to be become cured by sleeping, similar to mental illness. However, during the late 1800s, the doctors did not know how to treat mental illnesses properly. In the article, “The Challenge of Chronic Mental Illness: A Retrospective and Prospective View”, the reader can now understand that mental illness was not treated as an illness in the past. When doctors became aware of mental illness, they did not know how to treat them. The doctors or physicians did not know the effect that the drugs they were giving the patients had most of the time. Nowadays, luckily, doctors and psychiatrists have a much greater knowledge and understanding of how they choose to handle those with mental illnesses to cure them properly. During the 1800s, it was hard for hospitals to have patients with mental illnesses because they did not know how to protect the patients during their major psychotic episodes. (Mechanic, para 7). Looking at this article, the reader can see parallels throughout the tale that Gilman wrote. In the tale, the reason that the doctor had the woman in a house instead of a hospital was perhaps because during the 1800s, hospitals did not know how to protect patients with mental illnesses. Another aspect that was relevant to the tale is that the doctors did not know how to appropriately treat the patients to help them improve mentally. In the tale, she is treated like she is not human. She is told to lay in bed all day, not write anything down in a journal, not to work, and to rest. For example, she wrote, “So I take phosphates or phosphites whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.” (Gilman 300). This quote is an example of the resting cure during this time. The resting cure included lying in bed for six weeks to two months at a time, with a doctor’s permission to even sit up in bed or turn over. It also included a specific, heavy diet, which if the women refused, they would have to be force-fed through the nose or rectum and even whipped to ensure obedience in certain cases. (Mechanic, para 4). It is clear that she is not getting any better from the treatment her doctor is giving her, and that point is supported because the reader now understands that during this time, the doctors did not know themselves how to treat those with mental illnesses. 

On the other hand, the other major problem during the late 1800s was women’s rights. While reading, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, there are numerous references to women not having enough rights to stick up for themselves. This is very evident when Charlotte wrote, “But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take pains to control myself-before him, at least, and that makes me very tired.” (Gilman 300). It is apparent that the woman in this tale does not have any power over her choices. Her husband simply tells her what to do and she listens to him because that is what she thinks she needs to do. Another point throughout the tale is marriage. Many reading this tale may think that the reason that she is kept up in a room away from others is because the husband is trying to hide her. The reason for hiding her would include that he wants others to think that he has a good marriage, without problems. During the society of the late 1800s, marriage was a very important part of culture and men would do anything to convince others that they had a successful marriage. However, while reading the article, “The Changing Logic of Political Citizenship: Cross-National Acquisition of Women's Suffrage Rights, 1890 to 1990.”, the reader quickly will learn that the rights during this time were all geared solely towards men. During the 1890s, women were not even given the right to vote in the United States. Women during this time did not have a right to much besides taking care of their families. However, the woman in this tale was not even able to conquer her only job because her husband was hiding her away. Also during the 1890s, the nation was just starting to make a stand for women’s rights. Women were determined to expand their sphere of activities further outside of working at home, so they created the “National American Woman Suffrage Association”. (Rameriz, para 15). However, only a few women were sticking up for their rights and because the woman in the tale was locked up in a room and not exposed to what was going on in the real world, she did not have the knowledge to begin to stick up for herself, too.

In conclusion, there were many major problems in the late 1800s. Two of these major problems distinctly included mental health and women’s rights. These problems had an effect on the society during this time period and created an unfair society for women and those with mental illnesses. However, the United States has had the opportunity to improve greatly since these problems came about. “The Yellow Wallpaper” takes place during the time of corrupt health care and when women’s rights were not given to them. After reading, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the reader can now see why the woman in the tale was given the treatment that was shown. The treatment given to her is explained by the poor mental health knowledge and lack of women’s rights during this time in society. 
