The rest cure, initially used as a treatment for injured Civil War veterans and later used as a treatment for nervous illnesses, was founded by Silas Weir Mitchell (Stiles 3). The rest cure was used on women with insomnia, depression, fatigue, indigestion, anxiety, and headaches with a regimen of bed rest, a fattening diet, massage, and electricity and were forbidden to read, write, sew, feed herself, or have contact with friends or family (Stiles 3). Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” exposes the gradual decline of the narrator’s mental health to insanity due to the rest cure and her husband, John’s, controlling behavior and oppression.

Society expects men and women to act a certain way. The societal ideals of men and women are different with men being expected to be strong, assertive, independent, and provide for the family while the women are expected to be devoted, submissive, pure, and domestic. It is evident in “The Yellow Wallpaper” that the narrator’s husband John condescending towards his wife, when John “laughs at” his wife and “would not hear of it” when his wife wanted a room downstairs” (Gilman 299, 300). John’s continuous use of condescending nicknames, such as a “blessed little goose” and “little girl” reveals the way he looks at his sick wife (Gilman 302, 306). John’s controlling behavior towards his wife is revealed when the narrator writes that he “hardly lets” her “stir without special direction” (Gilman 300). The narrator writes about John in a sarcastic tone, acting as if he is control of her with her continuous use of “But John” (Gilman 300). 

In the nineteenth century, the feminist movement was beginning to arise, fighting for the equality between men and women. Men were expected to be out of the house and provide for the family while the women stayed at home and take care of the children and house. It is evident in “The Yellow Wallpaper” that the narrator is aware that she is not fulfilling her role as a woman, while John is fulfilling his role because he “is away all day” (Gilman 301). The narrator knows that a wife and woman should be devoted and submissive to her husband when she says “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already” (Gilman 301).  She continues to acknowledge her responsibilities as a woman as “to dress and entertain, and order things” (Gilman 301). The narrator hints at her belief of Mary being “so good with the baby” symbolizing Mary as the ideal woman of the nineteenth century in this story, while the narrator is a woman fighting for women’s rights (Gilman 301). The yellow wallpaper acts as a symbol of the female imprisonment and the oppression of women. It makes the narrator feel trapped and is the cause of her insanity. She began to see a woman behind the patterns on the wallpaper with the “woman behind it as plain as can be” (Gilman 307). The woman trapped behind the wallpaper is how the narrator felt stuck in the room John put her in. She felt isolated and confined to the one room. 

The narrator describes the house as “a colonial mansion, a hereditary estate” insinuating that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a gothic tale (Gilman 299). She observes that the house is isolated “standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village” surrounded by “gates that lock” (Gilman 300). These observations are the first signs that this house is not an ordinary, abandoned house. The narrator said that she did not “like our room a bit” but John did not allow her to move to a separate room (Gilman 300). She goes on to say that it was a “was nursery first” because “the windows are barred” and there were “rings and things in the walls” (Gilman 301). She described the paint and paper with “flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” with a “repellant” color and “a smoldering unclean yellow” continuously reiterating her disgust with the room (Gilman 301). The most important piece of furniture in the room is the bed bolted to the floor, drawing a suspicion that this room is not an old nursery room. Understanding the description of the room can lead to the conclusion that the house was an old, abandoned asylum for mental health patients and John was aware of the history of this house. The gradual decline of the narrator’s mental health is continued when she claims she has thoughts of “burning the house—to reach the smell” and thinking that “there are a great many women behind” the wallpaper (Gilman 308, 309).

Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” exemplifies the female imprisonment of women and societal gender roles placed on men and women in the nineteenth century. Through the use of symbols and first person narrative, Gilman is able to capture the gradual decline of a woman’s mental health when put on the rest cure. 
