In the midst’s of going through constant nervous breakdowns, Charlotte Perkins Gilman went to see a medical specialist in hopes of finding a cure. This specialist recommended what is known as a “rest cure.” Gilman attempted this cure until she forced herself to believe that there were other ways to overcome the symptoms. Charlotte then went on to write “The Yellow Wallpaper” to show her gradual progression towards mental ruin while she was going through this rest cure. This rest cure was a pure example of how women were undermined in the 19th century and how the treatment during this time period ultimately led to these unbearable symptoms. 

Ellen Bassuk, A Harvard Medical School Psychiatrist, uses personal analyzations and primary medical texts in “The Rest Cure: Repetition or Resolution of Victorian Women's Conflicts?” to show the factors that were at play when administering S. Weir Mitchell’s famous “rest cure” to women with severe nervous symptoms. She opened the reader to the underlying medical, cultural, and social assumptions about women during the 19th century which all contributed to the rationalization of Victorian doctors administering this rest cure. On page 242 of her article, Bassuk states, “Imagine such a treatment. Under the paternalistic, authoritarian control of a male physician, the Victorian women regressed physically and emotionally. Isolated from her family and children and usual responsibilities, she was put to bed and taught complete submission; even her arms and legs were moved for her. Every orifice was invaded – by vaginal douches, enemas and milk feedings. Then when she was fatter and ruddier she was told what to think and how to express her thoughts.”  Not only does this article describe the physiological and physical aspects of the rest cure, but also dives into the symbolic meanings of both the cure and the nervous symptoms.

During the 19th century women were taught to think that they weren’t as valuable as a male figure was. Within the rest cure a Victorian woman was unable to do anything on her own. Not only was she unable to physically do anything, she was forced into rejecting her personal thoughts and was fed information on what doctors assumed was the right way of thinking. This state of emptiness and constant empowerment was enough to make anyone mad. In the “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a perfect example to the pure madness one experiences when the rest cure is administered. Without her ability to write, read, think, or act, one can simply go mad. Her whole point of this was to show the deterioration of one’s mind when going through this rest cure. When first released the public was confused to the message behind this story. Only as we moved through the 20th century did the public understand that it was a Feminist work of literary fiction. “The Rest Cure: Repetition or Resolution of Victorian Women's Conflicts?” allowed the reader to understand the role that women played and their constant devaluing from the men and doctors during the 19th century. The rest cure was almost a way for physicians to put these women’s symptoms to the side and not make a practical treatment. The symptoms of these women were a result of the physiological pain they experienced during this time period and those same women were treated as if they were burdens.    

During the first decade after the publishing of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte noticed the difficulty of reading this passage and the misunderstanding of the message behind it. She later went on to write her reasoning behind this story, “Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper.” She claims that her purpose was to save people from this treatment and to not have to endure what she did in the few months while basically being a parasite to the male physicians during this time. The confusion in the first years of her publishing shows that the world was blind to the undermining of the women during this time period. Only as women began to show their true strengths and power did the message start sinking into the public.  Her claim was to not drive people crazy with her story, but save people from being driven crazy. This article brought a clear reasoning behind the craziness of “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The article was difficult to keep up with and puts the reader into the perspective of a woman going through a rest cure. It allows the reader to feel themselves thinking as she does and never want to experience those kind of thoughts or loss of total self. The insanity is able to seek through the article and can somewhat scare the audience. This article allows the reader to really understand the importance of “The Yellow Wallpaper.” This shows that even though she had all of her control taken and toyed with, she found a way to speak out and show the true effects of these rest cures. Charlotte also states that this story has saved lives and that a physician spoke out and claimed that he has altered his treatments and procedures because of it. This article gives a solid back round to the reasoning behind “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 

Ellen Bassuk and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s articles give a practical and symbolic insight on how these rest cures affected women during the 19th century. The rest cure serves as a symbol to how women were labeled as having one traditional role and were looked at as second class citizens. This story reveals that this gender division had the effect of keeping women in a childish state of ignorance and preventing their full development. The article shows the wandering of the mind when women were removed of absolute control of themselves. 
