In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Jane is severely mistreated and misdiagnosed by her husband John who is also serving as her doctor. Because Gilman wrote this short story in the late 1800s, it is important to note the historical context of the story. After researching power dynamics between genders in the 19th century, it becomes obvious that men used medicine as a source of power over women very often. Doctors were almost exclusively men and usually very unqualified to practice medicine, so John’s actions and choices in the story become more understandable to the reader and become more of a reflection of the time period. This is not to say that the mistreatment and misdiagnosis of Jane is acceptable, but having the knowledge of gender roles in medicine during the 19th century does change my initial reading of the text, and it helps the reader further understand Janie’s response and reactions to John’s treatment. Rather than simply being viewed as a mad woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Jane now emerges as a victim of medical oppression under John.

To grasp why doctors treated women so unfairly, it is important to recognize that during the 19th century, doctors were almost exclusively men.  The gender roles of women during the 19th century are explicitly stated by Morantz as he states, “on the one hand, woman was described as weak, sickly, dependent and ornamental. On the other she was exalted as highly spiritual and morally superior confined to the home, yet invested with genuine power and responsibility within her sphere” (Morantz 493).  Women during this time were viewed as dependent of men. Because women were confined to their domestic duties, they were not able to go out into the world and become doctors (Morantz 493). Their lives at home often confined them into their roles as just mothers and wives (Morantz 493). Because of this gender gap, men were the ones becoming educated and practicing medicine (Morantz 493). An article written in 1973 by Ann Douglas Wood also highlights the gender roles in the 19th century by addressing the obliviousness within the medical field during this time period: “Before the Civil War, the American doctor was quite simply ignorant, and even his post-Civil War successor did not receive the training expected of a doctor today. Few medical schools before 1860 required more than two years of attendance; almost none provided clinical experience” (Wood 32). Having the knowledge that modern medical school take at least eight to ten years, it there is no doubt that physicians during this time were extremely unqualified. With little to no experience in performing surgeries or treating mental health at all, men tended to frequently misdiagnose their patients (Wood 32). It was also stated that American doctors during the 19th century had little to no tools except to rely on their senses (Rosenberg 489). Due to this drawback in the medical field, “The combination of honest medical ignorance coupled with cultural biases served to give women little latitude in their individual needs and even less voice in assessing the health care they received” (Poirier 16). Women were unable to voice their wishes because they themselves were unware of the science as well. The lack of medical knowledge during this time undoubtedly left room for mistakes and misdiagnoses to happen. 

Due to the fact that male doctors were simply unaware of the consequences of the treatment of women, this meant that women continued to be mistreated and ill-diagnosed. Wood also states that men used medicine as a way to exert power over women, as a male doctor explicitly stated in the article: “Women doctors would always be inferior to male physicians, he believed, precisely because they could not exercise such tyranny: They were unable to obtain the needed control over those their own sex. They were unable to obtain the needed control over those of their own gender” (Wood 38). This quote is particularly alarming to think about. This 19th century physician believed that women were incapable of handling themselves and others, and that men were the only ones who could assume control in the medical field. This quote also highlights the idea during this time period that it was male’s duty to become a physician. Male physicians clearly believed that men and only men were qualified and should become doctors. Men saw women as subordinate to their commands, and thus saw it fit to then force their power over them in the medical setting. 

The use of medicine as a source of power directly parallels with John and his treatment of Jane in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. By looking at John’s tone and language when speaking to Jane, the reader can see just how much he looks down on her as his lesser equal. In a particular passage, he is using guilt as a way to force Jane to do what he wants her to do. John says to Jane: “I beg of you, for my sake and for our child's sake, as well as for your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind! There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It is a false and foolish fancy. Can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so?" (Gilman 306). John uses the words “Can you not trust me” to manipulate Jane into thinking he is worthy of her trust, when in actuality she should be terrified of him. Knowing she does not agree with his idea of staying in one room and not talking to anyone, John is still also forcing Jane to succumb to his treatment of isolation and confinement against her own will. John even speaks to Jane like she is a child instead of his wife. He is constantly calling Jane “my dear”, “dear”, and “my darling” and “my little goose” (Gilman 302, 306). Such words suggest that John is trying to keep Jane calm, which allows her to trust him so that he can continue to control her. The most obvious passage where John is speaking down to his wife is when Jane is beginning to see a woman in the haunting yellow wallpaper. John sees Jane awake in the middle of the night staring at the wallpaper and says “What is it, little girl… Don’t go walking around like that…Bless her little heart!” (Gilman 306). John is Jane’s husband, and yet instead of treating her like an equal, he is treating her like a child. To talk to her like this shows how highly he thinks of himself, as well as how low he thinks of his wife. He feels pity for Jane, but is not actually trying to help her. John looks down on Jane and feels superior because of it. 

It is also significant to note that John is treating Jane as a patient and not his wife, but he is not actually taking care of her. He is negligent of her needs as he leaves Jane in the care of another woman serving as her nurse for the majority of the day. Jane evens writes “John is away all night, and even some nights when his cases are serious” (Gilman 301). It is clear that John does not actually care that much about his wife. He would be spending more time on Jane if he actually wanted to see her condition improve.

Having the prior knowledge that John is probably very underqualified to treat Jane and just simply using his title as a physician to express control over her, the readers are now able to further see Jane as a victim under John.  It is clear that she has no control over her life, as John makes all the decisions for her. Jane never seems to get what she wants. John’s dominance over Jane is seen when Jane says to herself:

I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him (John) the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there and I did not make out a very good case for myself, for I was crying before I had finished (Gilman 305). 

All that Jane wants is to live a normal life, and John strips Jane’s ideas of freedom away from her. His power and control is seen in this particular quote because he makes her cry. Jane could not even talk to him without crying. She does not try to fight with him, but instead she obeys everything he says. Jane tries to reason with John and voice her opinions, but he quickly dismisses them as unimportant. Jane also notes that “He (John) is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction” (Gilman 300). Jane is trying to ignore the fact that John is exerting his power over her. Jane tries to see him as caring because he is her husband. He should be treating her with love and respect. John may think that he wants her to get better; however, we as readers know that this is not the case. John is not helping Jane’s case at all, but rather hurting her and using his supremacy to take full advantage of her.

As readers, we can also see Jane as a victim of male dominance in the medical field when Jane states her own beliefs of John. She ridicules her husband’s job as her doctor. Jane critiques her husband’s authority and motives in the opening paragraph of the story by saying ““John is a physician, and perhaps- (I would not say it to a living course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)- that is one reason I do not get well” (Gilman 209). Because Jane is writing these words down in her notebook, she feels safe talking about John; however, it is clear that Jane is scared of John by the way she writes this passage. Jane would never dare to speak those words out-loud, for fear of John hearing them. She is aware that her treatment is not helping her at all, and that it is actually hurting her well-being. She also addresses the fact that the very reason she is getting worse in her health is because John is a physician. She does not want to be treated by him, and now that she is actually ill, Jane is even more afraid of John. 

While reading “The Yellow Wallpaper”, it is also important to recognize that male physicians used unjust methods to treat women which enabled them to manipulate women and take advantage of their place in society as physicians (Wood 39). To understand the way men used medicine as a source of dominance over women, we should first come to understand the infamous “rest cure” prescribed by the 19th century physician Weir Mitchell (Wood 31). This method used by many physicians was the main reason as to why so many women went crazy. The main components of Weir Mitchell’s rest cure are described in an essay by Suzanne Poierer. The rest cure was prescribed to women who were diagnosed with “nervousness” or “nervous disorders” (Poirier 17). Treatments included being restricted to being in bed all day and being held on a very strict diet of fatty milks which were meant to help make the patient gain weight (Poirier 17).  Ann Douglas Wood also describes the methods of the rest cure used by male doctors to treat women as “the patient was removed from her home, and allowed to see no one except the doctor and a hired nurse. Confined to her bed flat on her back, she was permitted neither to read, nor, in some cases, even to rise to urinate. The massage treatment which covered the whole body lasted an hour daily” (Wood 31). It is important to note that women who were malnourished and overworked actually benefited from these methods of rest and diet, but when the rest cure was eventually used to treat mental illnesses, this form of treatment did not help patients at all (Poirier 21).  The methods used in the “rest cure” became very detrimental to women because it actually drove them to insanity. Because women were confined, they became trapped in their own minds. And if they were not sick at the beginning, they were definitely sick by the end of their period of treatment. Poirier even notes that “it is easy to imagine that many depressed, repressed, or alienated women…would go back home and families “cured” by Mitchells terms - but resigned and without hope” (Poirier 23). Mitchell would deem them cured, and yet they were actually worse off than they were prior to treatment.

This so-called “nervous disease” diagnosed in women was often diagnosed by doctors because men believed that their illnesses stemmed from a women’s reproductive system (Theriot 6). Nancy Theriot discusses how men would blame females for not living up to social standards as well during the 19th century. She states that “husbands brought in wives for a variety of unwomanly offenses. Women who disagreed too vocally, lost appearance, or neglected their children were brought to physicians by husbands who saw this behavior as insane or nervous” (Theriot 18). Men openly ridiculed their wives for having sexual difficulties, child-bearing issues, or even failing to complete housework (Wood 36). The female reproductive organs then became the blame for such cases of “nervousness” (Wood 36). Doctors even performed surgeries directed towards the reproductive organs, which usually included injections in the uterus, and some procedures even involved putting leeches into the uterus itself (Wood 30). Of course, failure to fulfill household activities is no reason to admit a person to a hospital or take advantage of women, but in the 19th century this was a regular occurrence (Theriot 18). Men continued to use medicine as a gateway to exert pressure on women, and although they were unaware of what exactly they were doing to women, men were still the cause of why so many women became mentally unstable. 

As readers, we understand that this is exactly what happens to Jane in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. We know that a women’s mental state is not affected by their reproductive systems, and Jane was simply driven to madness because of her confinement and treatment. Also, having the understanding that men were incompetent and very underqualified during the 19th century to practice medicine helps the reader to understand John’s misdiagnosis of Jane and his choice in “The Yellow Wallpaper” to prevent Jane from writing and restraining her to one room. Jane states to herself in the story, “I get reasonably angry with John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition (Gilman 300).  Even though Jane is not sick with nervousness”, John has convinced Jane that she has a nervous condition. It is also clear that that she is being misdiagnosed by John when Jane talks to herself and says:

If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? . . .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 . . . (Gilman 300).

Jane references John’s “high standing” and dominance over her. Her so-called “nervous condition” is simply a reflection of the time period. We as readers know and understand that Jane is not actually sick with “nervousness”, but John is treating her like she is crazy. Jane’s diagnosis of a nervous condition directly corresponds with Weir Mitchells “rest cure” as well. She is not permitted to write or read, and she is confined into one room. Jane even mentions Doctor Weir Mitchell when states in the story, “John says if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don’t want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once, and she says he is just like John and my brother, only more so!” (Gilman 303-304). It is clear that Jane is frightened to go to be treated Doctor Weir Mitchell. Jane’s fear makes the reader 

understand just how severe these methods of the “rest cure” were.  Jane also states that she takes pills to keep herself from speaking out against John, a clear sign that Jane is unhappy being treated by John but is scared to speak out (Gilman 300). Women were so scared to be treated by doctors because they knew that in doing so, they would be driven into insanity, just as Jane is driven to insanity by the end of insanity. Having a better understanding of John as a character of the time period who is incompetent, it helps the reader to better sympathize with and recognize Jane as a victim. She is being oppressed by her husband, and yet there is nothing that Jane can do about it. She is frightened to live her day to day life because she is slowly diving into madness. 

After researching the historical context of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and discovering the horrific and inhumane treatments men used on patients, Jane’s character and reactions to her husband John become more reasonable. Jane’s comes out to us as more than just a mad-woman. She is now a victim under John’s medical power, and thus we as readers can feel greater sympathy for her as a character. The author of “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman even wrote a letter after she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” explaining the reasoning behind why she wrote this story. She states “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked” (Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “Why”). This statement makes it clear that Gilman’s intention of the story is to point out the oppression of women under male doctors during the 19th century. Just as Jane is a victim of John’s so-called “authority” in the story, so many other women continued to go unnoticed and continued to be mistreated and misdiagnosed during the 19th century time period. 
