In the 19th century the view of woman would be described as outrageous and evil based on this day in age. In this century women were considered “Angel in the House”. They were expected to be submissive, pure, domestic and were supposed to make the home a place for the man to come home and be at peace. They were also viewed as physically and emotional weaker then the man which sanctioned them to stay at home and take care of the kids. While at the same time men were expected to be the head of the house as well as bring in the money to pay the bills. In the story of the Yellow Wallpaper Gilman uses elements in the text to help us better understand the culture in which the story was created. 

In the beginning of The Yellow Wallpaper the narrator is asking the husband how they can afford a “colonial mansion (Gilman)” that has a big yard and is so secluded from everyone else. You then find out that the narrator is going through a “nervous depression”. The husband, John who is said to be a physician by the narrator, is constantly telling his wife she is fine that there is nothing wrong and all she needs to do is go through the rest cure to help her out. The treatment allows her to do almost nothing active and she is definitely not allowed to read or write. The narrator begins to keep a secret journal even though her husband demands her not to. In her journal she describes her room as a children’s nursery that has “rings and things (Gilman)” on the wall and bars on the windows. She is specifically drawn to the yellow wallpaper that surrounds the room. Eventually John catches her writing in her journal and forces her to stop immediately. Overtime she becomes very good at hiding her journal from John making it harder for him to see how she really feels because he can’t find it to read it. Over a few weeks the narrator begins to find a new fascination in the yellow wallpaper. She even says “There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will (Gilman).” The narrator begins to go more and more insane saying “I tried to lift and push it until I was lame, and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece of one corner—but it hurt my teeth.” The narrator is trying to get the woman out of the yellow wallpaper until John comes calling for an axe to open the door. When he opens the door he faints at what he sees but she continues to creep over him where her shoulder fits in the long smooch around the wall.

In the “late 1800’s an influential neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell developed a treatment called the rest cure (Kelly)”. The rest cure was used on patients who had nervous illnesses or anorexia nervosa. The treatment was more often used to help women then men. It was another way to make the woman submissive to the man. Patients were often confined to isolation and could not read, write or even talk. Many times the treatment was used to help keep patients alive and out of asylums. Some patients and doctors believed the cure was more harmful then the disease. In The Yellow Wallpaper the narrator was confined to the rest cure by her husband. Over a period of time the narrator begins becoming more and more insane. She begins seeing things in the wallpaper then tries to help them get out of the wallpaper. Specifically, the narrator describes a woman which some believe may symbolize herself being locked up. Throughout the story Gilman is trying to show the evils of the rest cure and how it doesn’t show any medical care towards the patient. This shows that in fact that the cure was actually more harmful then the diseases.During the time this book was written Gilman was trying to reach an audience to show the inequality in gender roles. In the 19th century men and women were expected to live in separate spheres. “Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere (Hughes).” This gave the men a reason and logic to keep the women in the house. In the house they could take care of the kids if they had any, clean the house and make meals for the husband. In a sense they would do whatever it took to make the man happy. “The fact that women had such great influence at home was used as an argument against giving them the vote (Hughes).” Men worked all day and usually didn’t see his wife except during breakfast and dinner. The man expected a calm enjoyable environment when they came home from work. Women didn’t have a separate identity outside of their marriage. They also had no personal or property rights. Divorce during this time was very uncommon but could only happen if there was significant proof of domestic abuse, adultery or the man didn’t come back for 3 months. “Women were assumed to desire marriage because it allowed them to become mothers rather than to pursue sexual or emotional satisfaction (Hughes).” So it was frowned upon for a woman to try to divorce her man. As shown in the story the narrator constantly listened to her husband even though at times she did not think he was write. In our current time period a man and woman would decide the house they wanted to live in. He decided the house they lived in, she was even wondering how they could afford it. This shows she probably didn’t know much about their finances or what kind of house they were buying. In the story the narrator and her husband don’t sleep in the same room and that is also decided by him. The husband also tells the narrator she can’t write in her which shows his dominance in telling her what she can and can’t do. Then as she starts to go insane she can’t make her own decision to leave the room cause she is locked in.

As one can see the 19th century was not equal between women and men. The women were treated more like objects. Some even considered them to be treated similar to slaves which clearly was not fair at all. The rest cure was used to help women with a nervous illness get better but often times made it worse. As shown in The Yellow Wallpaper neither of these things helped the narrator and in the end made her go crazy. Which why Gilman uses elements in the text to help us better understand the culture in which the story was created.
