In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, a young woman is locked away in a bedroom, her own personal prison by her husband, a doctor, for suffering from depression after bearing a child. The tale occurs in the late nineteenth century, when females lacked the identical equality to men. Another faction that suffered in this age were the mentally ill, who also lacked the same privileges. The main character has the double burden of being a woman with depression, which provokes her family to bolt in her in a room until she heals, with no treatment or human contact. Gilman utilizes the time frame to depict to the reader the message of increased aid to those ill. Charlotte’s story over the ages has gotten the ball rolling on not only feministic change, but the health care field. Her story evoked change through a fictional tale. By focusing on Gilman’s use of an unreliable narrator, we can see how the main character perceives the room and it’s scars, which most observers do not notice; this is essential because Gilman wants the reader to comprehend how the late nineteenth century affects the narrator’s mental health and her recovery.

Gilman sets her tale in the late nineteenth century to add context clues, in an overall effort  to get her message across. Charlotte mentions a “ colonial mansion, a heredity estate” ( Gilman 299) that the family decides to live in over the course of her treatment. In the aged elegant manor, the narrator describes the bed she is sentenced to with it’s “ bloated curves and flourishes - a kind of debased Romanesque with delirium tremens- go wailing up and down in isolated columns of fatuity” ( 304).  The outdated eloquent terms used to describe the home and it’s contents refer to a time frame long ago. 

The narrator talks about her physician’s course of action for treatment including “phosphates or phosphites- whichever it is, and tonics” ( 300). In the late nineteenth century phosphates were common in Hosford’s Acid Phosphate, a company that no long exists, which was intentioned for mental and physical exhaustion plus a nervous stomach. Based on her husbands diagnosis of nervous depression, this treatment fits the context of the time frame. The narrator personally disagrees with her husband course of action for her illness, she feels that the lack of stimuli and human interaction, is in fact increasing her symptoms. Another road block on her way to recovery is the fact that her husband is also her physician, due to the idea that the “language of the physician is coupled with the paternalistic language of the husband to create a formidable array of controls over her behavior. “ ( Treichler 65). She sees her doctor as her husband and favors his loving methods without question, due to their marital status. At this time in history, men were seen as the dominant gender, women had little to no rights.Whenever the narrator makes a suggestion to John about altering his recovery plan he “laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” ( Gilman 299). He does not take her seriously or respect her as an intelligent person, but she accepts it as the norm. This is a large historical context clue to the story, when John implies his dominance over her.  Gilman uses this part of history to highlight how the narrator feels about being suppressed to get her main message across, that society’s stigmas are inhibiting her recovery. 

Another faction of individuals at the time that also were labeled as a incapable were the mentally ill and handicapped. They were shunned, ignored, mistreated, and despised. John has this mentality in his approach of her treatment when he says “ no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self control and not let any silly fancies run away with me” ( 305). The ignorance showed by a medical professional shows how humanity treated mental illness at the time, as something you just roll over and tell yourself to knock off. In modern times, those with a mental illness are given therapy and medication to aid them in their recovery. The narrator observes John’s poorly planned treatment and she claims that: 

“ in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus- but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad” (300).

John’s recovery plan for her is inadequate, and when she notices it, he lashes out, making her feel worse about herself. He is simply mortified by the fact that is own wife is having this sickness, by blaming her for it, saying that “ we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get”( 301). He wants her as far away from their family, friends, and town as possible, because she is merely too embarrassing in her condition to be the doctor’s wife.  This is a mirror image of society’s view of the mentally ill. Gilman uses this time frame to accentuate the views of the mentally ill to get her message of suppression 

The narrator suffers from a double stigma in her husband’s and society’s eyes, she endures a mental illness, and is a woman. These two combined put her at the bottom of the social totem pole, and place a barrier between her and her husband. He begins to treat her as a child with condescending behavior with comments like  “What is it little girl?”( 306)  and“ Bless her little heart” ( 306). He intact places physical barrier that one would place for a child like “ the windows are barred for little children…  and then that gate at the top of the stairs” (301-302). The narrator blindly accepts this behavior because it is the social norm at the time. At this historical time period, the male voice is one that is practical, observable, and rational. When the narrator makes claims of superstition to rationalize what is happening, it is John’s voice that is the male logic to dismiss the superstition and refuses to see her reasoning as actually serious. 

By looking on Charlotte’s use of an inaccurate narrator, the reader can see how the main character regards the room and it’s flaws, which most readers do not notice; this is important because Gilman wants the observers to grasp how the late nineteenth century affects the narrator’s mentality and improvements.  Gilman uses this historical period to indicate how the narrator feels perceives being suppressed to get her main theme across to the readers, that society’s stains are preventing her recovery. This culture’s view of the mentally ill and females, get the readers to relate to the narrator’s observations and ultimately change their view of the groups. Charlotte places male dominance over the narrator through John’s condescension to reiterate the stigma on her. Overall, the time frame adds another dimension of background information to get the point across. Gilman’s story sparked the change in not only the care of the sick, but also female equality. 
