
“My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.” As summed up by Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, women were not seen as their own entities, able to take control of their own lives and allowed to make decisions on their own, up until the 1900’s, when they were finally awarded rights that men had had all along. Wollstonecraft, however, wrote this book long before women having rights seemed even somewhat viable and in reach. Written in the late 1700’s, this book was centered around the fact that women were not given the rights that they very well should have been, and were treated as if they could not make decisions or take care of themselves, that a man must be in their life and do this for them. Wollstonecraft was a women’s rights activist before many of the major movements came about, and over the next century, change was certainly brought about regarding these issues that meant so much to her and to the many women that supported these ideas as well. This book and group of women’s rights activists was the beginning of a movement that would eventually lead to the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the late 1800’s, a movement that Wollstonecraft would have been proud to be apart of. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was one of the first of many books to be published that referenced women’s rights and the treatment of women by society. In the years following, there were many books, poems, short stories, etc that were also published voicing opinions on this matter and even just giving a personal look into how women were treated before or during this time. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is one of these stories. Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, this story talks about her personal struggle during this time, and how her struggle with post-partum depression was also greatly affected by this movement and the treatment of women during this period of change. With knowledge of how women and post-partum depression were treated in the 1800’s, Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” can be better understood and interpreted.

At first reading of this text, I had little knowledge of the historical context in which it was written, and therefore was not able to fully interpret the text to see the true meaning Gilman was trying to get across. Since I was going into this reading vaguely, I interpreted it simply as a story about a woman who was suffering from depression, and was therefore being given treatment by her husband (that doubled as her physician). The treatment that she was given simply involved getting rest and isolating herself so that she could have space from the outside world, which I viewed as the trigger to the issues she was experiencing. She was given “a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore” (Gilman, 301). Her husband visited often, although he was “away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious” (301). He seemed to have restricted the list of activities she was allowed to participate in, but even despite that, she was somewhat content with the way she was now living her life. She described life as “very much more exciting now than it used to be… [she] always had something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch” (Gilman, 308). She even talked about the improvements she had been making, and how “John [was] so pleased to see her improve” (308). Weeks later, she saw her improvements to be great enough for her to leave the confinement of her room and venture out into the world of which she had been kept from for weeks, and even months. She “locked the door and [threw] the key down into the front path” (311), not wanting to go out and not wanting anyone to come in until John had made it back. However, after waiting for him to come with no prevail, she began to get “angry enough to do something desperate” (311), so she did. When John finally came to the door to get her, she jumped out of the window and “in spite of [John] and Jane… pulled off most of the [wallpaper], so [they] couldn’t put her back” (312). The story ends with John fainting when she breaks out, and her running off by herself. It was not until the last pages that I even got the slightest sense of there being more to the story than just a woman being treated for an illness by being put in confinement and having to cope with the difficulties of this treatment, although the way it way I saw it at first was that it was being beneficial. I later realized, though, that a mental disorder was involved in this situation, and began to form a different view of the story.

After reading the story again and reading into the historical context of this time period, I began to realize that there was a much deeper meaning. My knowledge of this context greatly changed my view on this story, and I can say that I have a much better understanding of the points Gilman was trying to make regarding post partum depression and its treatment during this time period after reading farther into it and getting a better idea. The main character was suffering from post partum depression, a condition that is seen in mothers up to 12 months after giving birth. The American Psychological Association says the symptoms vary all the way from anxiety and distancing yourself from friends and family to thoughts of suicide and even the urge to hurt the baby. This is now a condition taken very seriously, and once the symptoms are identified, the correct measures are taken to ensure the health of both the mother and the child. However, it was not taken seriously until the 1850’s or later, so Gilman suffered through this when proper treatment was not readily available to her or anyone else dealing with like issues, hence why she wrote this story regarding that matter. At the time, doctors classified women with these symptoms as neurotic, and they were then forced into “treatments” like the rest cure, water immersion, and electroshock among others, according to the Health Guide website. As seen in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the most common of these was the rest cure, which entailed being confined to a room with little to no outside human contact, prohibiting them from participating in daily activities and forcing some to even go insane. The main character in this story was pushed to the point of which she did go insane, and when she described the room as “the furniture… is no worse than inharmonious.. the wallpaper, as I said before, is torn off in spots… the floor is scratched and gouged and splintered” (Gilman, 303), this was all due to the fact that she had gone insane after being confined for so long. All of these issues with the room had been her doing, and she was crazy enough to make it out to be that that was the way it had been due to the children that lived in the “nursery” beforehand, when it was actually just her going insane due to this “cure” that was said to help women with this condition, when all it actually did was make them even crazier. 

Another issue Gilman touched on in this story was the fact that men had full control over women, even having control over whether they were placed in treatment facilities, which at the time were just mental institutions, simply for behaving in ways that the male society did not agree with. Being admitted into these facilities was determined solely by males, whether it was a husband, brother, or even a male friend, according to the Health Guide website on the History of Post Partum Depression. Physicians were also seen as people who knew exactly what they were doing, even though most practices had just been passed down from father to son through generations, so treatments used were most likely out of date and not applicable to life, yet they were used anyways. Gilman uses an example of this in her story when she says, “ ‘you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not.. can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so?” (Gilman, 306). This shows that he is backing up his treatments simply with the fact that he is a physician, even though his treatment for this illness could be way off from what it actually should be. The last point Gilman touches on in the story is regarding post partum depression specifically towards the end. She mentions her daughter, Jennie, saying that she “wanted to sleep with [her]- the sly thing! But I told her that I should undoubtedly rest better for a night all alone” (Gilman, 310). This highlights the symptoms of post partum depression, showing how the mother wants distance from her child, and basically wants nothing to do with her at the time, although the baby needs her. 

These are just some of the instances in which Gilman tries to highlight issues that were taking place at the time that she was writing this story. After reading into the historical context from this time, I learned that there was so much more to this story than what comes across at first, and once I educated myself on the history of women and the treatment of conditions such as post partum depression during this time, I gained a much deeper understanding. One of the main points that helped to strengthen my understanding was learning the various treatments for women with this disorder. These included rest cure, shock treatment, and water immersion, none of which proved to be even the slightest bit effective. However, doctors stuck with those treatments because they allowed them to dismiss these issues very easily, although they were issues to be taken seriously. This helped me to better understand “The Yellow Wallpaper” because it explains why she was locked up in isolation for so long, and why she was literally going crazy. Another point that helped me better understand this was the amount of control men had over women. Men made every single decision for the women, women not having a say at all in their treatments or anything regarding that matter. This was helpful when reading the short story because it helped to explain why her husband had so much power over her, and why she was so afraid to stand up to him. Overall, I found that researching background information during the time of these stories helps greatly when it comes to interpreting them. You may read it once and not catch anything, but after knowing the information behind it, your eyes are opened to the true meaning, one that is deeper than what meets the eye.
