“Throughout history, women are constant victims of society’s ideals” (Balanza). In the 19th and 20th centuries, the emotional and physical aspects of women’s lives were almost completely disregarded. The second that a woman during this time began to show indications of any type of mental affliction, they were instantaneously assigned to the rest cure, a method in which they were constrained to a high- fat diet, enforced bed rest, and complete isolation (Stiles). Women would have no say in whether they approved of this wrongful method, due to the fact that they had little power over their husbands during this time period.  A woman who became a product of the horrendous effects caused by rest cure is illustrated in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The narrator in Gilman’s story was completely dominated and misjudged by her spouse, John, who, when informed of her signs of a mental illness, uses it as an excuse to have total control over his mentally ill wife by assigning her to the rest cure. Throughout the story, the lack of privileges and voice within her marriage during her imprisonment in the course of the rest cure eventually lead the narrator to complete insanity and tragic downfall (Balanza). 

The narrator, who we suspect is named Jane, realizes that she is suffering from an illness of which is consuming her mind and internal well- being. A condition which would be known as postpartum depression in today’s world. Knowing that she cannot overcome this on her own, she confides in her physician husband to determine the next step for her. Since during this time the husband holds complete say- so over his wife, (Ziegler) John refuses to believe that his wife is ill, yet he purposely purchased a “haunted house” which was previously used as an insane asylum in order to “make his wife better”. He uses his “careful and loving” (Gilman 300) nature to mask his worry over his wife and primary purpose of renting the house. John also dominates over Jane in his decision of occupying the attic as their bedroom. Although Jane requests the room downstairs, he explains that the attic would be better because of its large size and spacious layout. John’s right of complete dominance over her also confuses her into thinking that this insane asylum is a former gymnasium because of its barred windows for the children, rings in the walls, stripped off wallpaper, and bed nailed to the ground (Gilman 301). Jane does not suspect anything of this unusual setup, besides the fact that it is just run- down and had some wear and tear. Little does she know, this room is a precise example of a room occupied by an individual who had been prescribed to the rest cure.  John uses his power over Jane as an advantage to trick her into thinking that her new “cell” is actually the prior some of a nursery and gymnasium, which is the primary igniter of her journey to insanity. 

 During this time period, women who were prescribed to the rest cure were restricted to stay within their “cell” all day and were not permitted to leave (Golden). The narrator is prohibited by her husband to leave the house due to her illness. He demands that she stays inside and does not wander out of the house, for he believes that this is the best thing for her. Assuming that she needs to be stuck inside all day in order to contemplate her illness and overcome it, her husband makes sure that this is what she does. She also is paused from her normal household chores such as tending to the children and cooking and cleaning for the family in order to focus on herself and getting better due to the fact that John assumes that she is weak, which is also a common stereotype assigned to women in the nineteenth century (Ziegler). Not only does her husband and his “solution” to her disease control her household/ matronly chores, they also control her intellectual interests. She loves to write in order to express her feelings and describe what is going on inside of her mind, which could help cure her. John argues that his wife should stop writing in her journal in order to give herself a break and focus on the important thing: healing. Although she is expected to obey and follow her husband’s rules and beliefs, she refuses to stop writing. She tells of her daily experiences and what goes on inside of her mind, and allows the reader to see for themselves exactly what she is thinking and how she goes about her daily life as a “patient” in her husband’s hands. This demanding of control by her husband in order to cure his wife is the initial cause of Jane’s downfall. He not only controls her mind now, but he also controls her physical self (Gilman). 

The primary goal of the rest cure was to isolate the woman from her daily life so that she was able to think about healing. The problem with this is that sitting alone by oneself every second of everyday will drive someone senseless. The narrator was trapped in the marriage and in the room. Although she does not seem to be interested in completely rebelling against her husband and his cure, she does seem like she has an urge to escape. She starts to search for anything that will steal her mind from its daily thoughts. All she has to think about is her condition which is only getting worse, much less being healed. Boredom officially strikes the narrator and she starts to become interested in the yellow, complex- patterned wallpaper. It is the only thing in the large, bright room that she has to focus on, so after many weeks of study and examination of the complex, confusing wallpaper displayed in her “jail cell” of a room, she begins to make something of the pattern. She sees a woman in the background of the wallpaper who is behind bars and comes out to creep during the day. At first she is contemplating whether or not the woman is real and why she is there, but once the narrator studies the paper some more, she realizes the she is seeing herself in the pattern. The narrator sees herself in this woman and is reminded of her want for freedom. She has now officially realized what her husband has done to her and how he does not care what she thinks, he knows that he has control over her and that she must obey him, so she does and now she sees that there is more to life than sitting inside of a room. Not only does she realize this, but she also becomes completely consumed by the wallpaper. It becomes the primary focus. She is no longer concerned about her problem that she has tried so long and hard to overcome, now all she thinks about is the wallpaper. She reaches the point where it drives her so insane that she crawls around on all fours and starts ripping the wallpaper off. This is the point during which her husband realizes what he has done. He walks into the room to fins his wife completely insane and he faints. 

Charlotte Gilman portrays several exact aspects of the ways that women struggled with their husbands, daily lives, and within themselves during the rest cure in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. She allows the readers to get inside of the narrator’s mind through her vivid descriptions and detailed journal writings so that that experiences and inequality that she deals with are easily understandable. Throughout the journey of the story, the reader can clearly see that as she becomes more bored with her life and cramped inside, the narrator’s mind slowly steers away from reality. Her life begins to solely consist of one thing: the yellow wallpaper. All because of her husband and the effects that the rest cure has on her. Many of the mistreatments and struggles that women experienced during the rest cure in the 19th and 20th centuries are perfectly interpreted in “The Yellow Wallpaper” (Balanza). 
