“The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story that portrays many different elements of unfair treatment of women and the mental health of women. Gilman constructed her work based off of the way women in marriages were treated starting in the late nineteenth century. Also, she discussed factors like postpartum depression, which was a big issue in the eighteen-nineties, to fully describe the way the narrator felt throughout the story. The way the narrator was treated in her relationship with her husband, John, and her postpartum depression, were two significant factors that lead to the demise of her mental health. The characterization of the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” was developed by the way she was treated in her marriage and the way postpartum depression affected her. These two contributing factors to the narrator’s character are historically accurate to the time period of the story. 

Livia Gershon composed an article called “Marriage: Not What It Used to Be.” This article does a great job of summing up the aspects of the inequality in marriage that Gilman references so often throughout her work. The first idea mentioned in this article is that advice about marriage is almost always directed towards women (Gershon 2). In other words, the responsibility of fixing a broken relationship, or maintaining a healthy relationship, falls upon the woman, rather than the man. This element of a late nineteenth, early twentieth century marriage was used on multiple occasions to exhibit the narrators skewed relationship with John. For example, the narrator said, “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the windows, and such pretty old fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it” (Gilman 300). This quote illustrates the power that John has over his wife because once John did not want the same thing his wife wanted, she had to succumb to his preferences rather than herself. It also shows that in order to ensure a stable relationship, the narrator has to put John first. Furthermore, this part of the story agrees with Gershon’s point that women are expected to conform to what their husband desires if they want to have a healthy, long lasting relationship. 

The next main point in Gershon’s article can be explained best by the following quotation: “Wives were urged to avoid conflict, persuading their husbands with tears and love, while helping them to control their own natural, male anger” (Gershon 4). This concept communicates to the reader that it is the responsibility of the woman to ensure their husband is pleased with his current situation. Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator can be seen several times acting in a way that ensures John will be satisfied with her actions. Instead of the narrator doing what is best for herself, she does what she thinks will please John. For example, on page 301, the narrator mentions that she must put away her writing because John hates when she writes (Gilman). This detail tells the reader that the narrator is worried about what her husband’s reaction might be if he catches her writing. As a result, she stops doing something she enjoys, just to try to avoid a confrontation with John. Additionally, on page 307, the narrator says, “The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John” and on page 309 she says, “John is so queer now, that I don’t want to irritate him” (Gilman). The first quote shows that the narrator is starting to fear John because of the way he treats her. The second quote depicts the narrator’s uneasiness around John because of her fear of upsetting him. These two direct quotations further describe the narrator’s sincere fear in upsetting her husband. As a result of this fear, she will act against her own desires in order to appease John’s emotions.

The narrator and John’s marriage is so toxic that she begins to believe that the way John treats her is normal. For example, the narrator says “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” (Gilman 300). This line tells the audience that she is so accustomed to being treated this poorly that she thinks the way John treats her is normal. Also, the narrator feels like her only purpose is to be beneficial for John, rather than thinking or acting for herself. This idea is communicated to the reader when the narrator says, “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!” (Gilman 301). This quote says that the narrator’s main focus is to assist John in whatever he needs, and that she is so brainwashed by his behavior that she believes she is a burden to him. Page 304 mentions that the narrator cries often, but only when John is not around (Gilman). This idea portrays the narrator suppressing her emotions, so she does not affect John in any negative way. Gilman mentions that the narrator is always very tired, so John has her take cod liver oil and lots of tonics (Gilman 305). This sentence tells the reader that if John is displeased with the way his wife is acting, he will take it upon himself to improve her. Also, this shows that the narrator will let John do whatever he wants just so he can be more satisfied with her actions. The narrator is so brainwashed by the state of her marriage that she barely realizes how unfairly she is treated. All of these elements of marital inequality are ideas mentioned in Livia Gershon’s article, “Marriage: Not What It Used to Be.”

The other contributing factor to the narrator’s mental instability was postpartum depression. Avalene Bateman composed an article titled “Healthwatch: Postpartum Depression,” which was about the symptoms and causes of postpartum depression. Bateman summarized the main symptoms of postpartum depression as feeling exhausted, resentful, restricted, angry, tearful and unable to cope (2). After reading “The Yellow Wallpaper,” one can easily notice some of these symptoms in the narrator. John did not allow his wife to be with her baby, and as a result, she experienced many of these symptoms. At one point in the story, the narrator says, “Half the time now I am awfully lazy, and lie down ever so much” (Gilman 305). This quote portrays the exhausted symptom of postpartum depression that is apparent in the narrator’s everyday life. Also, the narrator spends the majority of her day in her room, with little to no contact with the outside world. This is a combined result of her husband’s oppressive nature, and her restrictive symptoms of postpartum depression. Furthermore, on page 304, the narrator mentions that she cries often, which agrees with the tearful aspect of postpartum depression. Lastly, the narrator is unable to cope with her life anymore. At the end of the story, the narrator says to John, “I’ve got out at last” and then John fainted due to the sight of something that is unclear to the reader (Gilman 312). Despite the ambiguity of the ending, one can infer that the narrator committed suicide and John fainted at the sight of it. This result also aligns with the “unable to cope” symptom of postpartum depression. 

Mental health was the overall theme of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Throughout the story, the audience read about the steady digression of the narrator’s mental stability. As the story progressed, she took a deeper interest in the wallpaper. The first appearance of her strange interest in the wallpaper came on page 303, when she said, “I never saw so much expression in an inanimate thing before, and we all know how much expression they have!” (Gilman). Later on, the narrator said “He thought I was asleep first, but I wasn’t, and lay there for hours trying to decide whether that front pattern and the back pattern really did move together or separately” (Gilman 306). These two quotes are a couple of examples early on that portrayed her beginning to lose her sanity. Additionally, she started to talk to the wallpaper, which portrayed a woman stuck behind it. The yellow wallpaper exhibited the demise of the narrator’s mental health, and it represented the narrator being held back by John’s oppressive behavior.

Unfair treatment of women in marriages and postpartum depression were the two most important factors that helped shape the characterization of Gilman’s narrator. The way the narrator was treated by her husband was representative of marriages in the United States between 1900 and 1970 (Gershon 1). Complementary to her skewed marriage, the symptoms of postpartum depression led to the downfall of the narrator’s mental health. Livia Gershon’s, “Marriage: Not What It Used to Be,” and Avalene Bateman’s, “Healthwatch: Postpartum Depression,” both include the key aspects of this story, and how the narrator ultimately lost her sanity. In conclusion, Charlotte Perkins Gilman constructed “The Yellow Wallpaper” with the use of two major concepts, which were the gender inequality in marriages and postpartum depression in women.   
