In 1890 Charlotte Perkins Gildman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a haunting tale of a woman who loses her mind after being prescribed the rest cure to treat a slight hysteria. This semi-autobiographical story defied all literary expectations of the Victoria era by disagreeing with the social standards women were forced to follow. Ellen Bassuk writes about the idea of female inferiority in the Victorian Era in her article “The Rest Cure: Repetition or Resolution of Victorian Women’s Conflicts?”. Gildman’s complaints sparked great turmoil among the male readers. In her essay "Monumental Feminism And Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look At 'The Yellow Wallpaper'", Janice Haney-Peritz explains Gildman’s intention was to make men uncomfortable by confronting the sexual stereotypes in the relationship between men and women to create awareness of the disparity in gender equality. Other writers such as Suzanne Poirier add evidence to the argument by explaining that Mitchell’s treatment simply mirrored the medical, social, and religious beliefs of the nineteenth century. He believed the only way to cure neurasthenia in women was to force them to revert to their domestic ways. Paula A. Treichler’s argument also supports the idea than Victorian men wished to control every aspect of their wives’ lives. By describing the difficult relationship between the narrator and her husband, Treichler shows how social and economically dependent the narrator was of her husband.  

The rest cure was a popular treatment in the nineteenth century prescribed to both men and women suffering from a nervous disorder (Bassuk 245). Doctor S. Weir Mitchell first developed the treatment in 1872 during the Victorian Era. Even though the treatment seems intense and brutal for today’s medicine, it is important to understand that Victorian doctors based their diagnoses and cures on the social, cultural, and medical understandings they had of women at the time. Even though the rest cure was created to treat both men and women, it was primarily prescribed to women with similar symptoms such as “unrelenting” nervous systems and pelvic pain (246). Rather than looking at women as individuals able to take care of themselves, Mitchell felt “they should abdicate control of treatment to their doctors, who were usually male” (249). A woman undergoing the rest cure was forced to surrender all control over her life (247). She was alienated from her family and bound to bed rest for at least two months. The patient was fed a diet rich in calories and fat. Mitchell believed that every person should have excess adipose tissue specially when trying to fight off a nervous disorder (248). During the Victorian Era, weight gain was considered a sign of health and improvement. Mitchell also used several psychotherapeutic techniques, which he called “principles of philosophy, patience, resignation, and consolation”, with the objective of reeducating the female patient on how to control her emotions and practice “self-restrain” (249).  He took this opportunity to remind his patients of their only role in society as caretaker of the family. 

During the Victorian Era, men were the superior sex. Because of this belief, men considered it imperative that they controlled every aspect of a woman’s life, including her feelings. Mitchell argued that women were weaker than men which is why they often suffered from terrible illnesses and rely on men for guidance and support (Bassuk 250). At the time, the female reproductive system was thought to be the cause for the neurological disorders that affected women in the Victorian era (251).  The unacceptable habit that women had of sharing their emotions with everyone around her was also considered to be the root of hysteria in women. New medical and psychological findings argue that Victorian women could have used nervous symptoms as an excuse to escape the difficult roles women assumed in the household such as childbearing (253). Women could have expressed these symptoms so they could avoid their sexual obligations to their demanding husbands. Bassuk also points out that it is not a coincidence that the rest cure appeared at a time when women began to challenge the domestic role and question social standards (254). It is not absurd to think that the rest cure was originally created to help repress women with feministic tendencies back into the submissive servant every husband wanted. After studying the rest cure and male superiority, it is easy to understand why feminist in the Victorian Era, like Charlotte Perkins Gildman, openly refused to conform to the traditional gender roles that restrained a woman’s individuality and freedom. 

Paula A. Treichler discusses the complex relationship between the female narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and language Along with exclusion, the rest cure involved language in different ways (Treichler 62). “The Yellow Wallpaper” begins by discussing “unobjectionable, safe” topics such as the house and the room the narrator was staying in (62). The narrative then progresses to talk about more intense topics such as a woman trapped in the pattern of the wallpaper. Treichler explains that this dramatic change in topics is an example of the rapid mental deterioration that the narrator suffered (63).  The narrator was forbidden from engaging in normal conversation and encouraged to practice self-control. She had no one to talk to and nothing to do so she was left with no choice but to secretly write in journal despite the doctor’s orders to not read or write. The conflict with the yellow wallpaper was first hidden behind an “an acceptable female topic, home décor” (63). The yellow wallpaper symbolizes the narrator’s state of mind and her subconscious. It “expresses what is elsewhere kept hidden and embodies the pattern that the patriarchal order ignores, suppresses, and fears as grotesques” (63). The narrator feels trapped inside by the pressure she feels to conform to society’s expectations just like the woman is trapped behind the pattern in the yellow wallpaper. The wallpaper could also represent domestic slavery and all the feminine characteristics that men try to suppress in women. Just like the woman is enslaved by the wallpaper, the narrator feels enslaved by her authoritarian husband and society (63). Throughout the story, the narrator saw herself in the woman trapped behind the wallpaper. Her hallucination led her to strip the paper off the walls to set the trapped woman free. When her husband realizes what, she has done the narrator explains, “I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gildman 312).

 The narrator’s husband, a physician, diagnosed her with a temporary case of nervous depression and a slight case of hysteria (Treichler 61). However, the narrator confessed in her writing that she did not feel sick. She questioned the effectiveness of the treatment since it “confines her to a room in an isolated country estate” (61). Her journal describes her resistance towards the treatment which she believed may be the reason it is not working. When she expressed her concern about the deserted estate they stayed in, her husband discouraged her from having such a foolish imagination. When she voiced her desire to be allowed to leave, her husband confronted her by reminding her she “really was better, whether [she] can see it or not” (Gildman 306). When the narrator told her husband she was worried she was not getting better, he responded, “She shall be as sick as she pleases” (Gildman 306). The narrator’s husband continuously dismissed her concern as meaningless worries since he was the only one capable of making the correct decision regarding her health. Her husband’s goal was to place his wife in a situation where he could control every aspect of her life. By isolating her from her life and forcing her to exercise self- control, the narrator developed a false feminine self that satisfied her husband’s needs for a submissive and quite wife. By prohibiting her from writing or reading, the narrator’s husband removed any possibility for his wife to engage in intellectual activities that might encourage her feminist tendencies. Locked in the room and forced to stare at the yellow wallpaper, the pattern on the wallpaper “becomes increasingly compelling” (Treichler 63). The rest cure’s strict regimens drove her to insanity. 

Charlotte Perkins Gildman had no reservations when writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” (Poirier 15). Gildman did not hesitate to criticize Mitchell’s rest cure. She questioned the curative powers of the rest cure after the treatment was failing to heal her hysteria. Doctor Silas Weir Michell was gaining popularity at the time. However, after the rest cure failed to cure several female patients, including Gildman, many began to protest. In her article “The Weir Mitchell rest cure: doctor and patients”, Suzanne Poirier questions why the rest cure was continued to be used if it was producing such terrible outcomes. Poirier finds the answer to this question when she reflected on the medical ignorance during the Victorian Era. The Victorian era was marked by discoveries in all fields of study, including the medical field (16). However, medicine regarding women’s health was almost unexplored. Due to the “combination of medical ignorance coupled with the cultural biases”, women had limited control over their needs and an insignificant voice when it came to the health care they received (16). Women were considered “sickly and emotional creatures” (16). These were traits that were idolized by society in the Victorian era.  Mitchell’s treatment simply mirrored the medical, social, and religious beliefs of the nineteenth century. He believed the only way to cure neurasthenia in women was to force them to revert to their domestic ways.

Both Bassuk and Poirier seem to agree in an interesting point. In her essay, Bassuk explains that Victorian women were taught that they were inferior than men and dependent on them (253). It is possible that not all women were prepared to fulfill the role of caretaker of the family. Bassuk argues some women could have consciously or unconsciously expressed symptoms of a nervous disorder to “avoid their forbidden desires and sexual demands of authoritarian husbands” (253).  Bassuk also points out that women that felt repressed could have used the symptom to escape the demanding family roles. However, this move backfired since the women were forced to undergo the rest cure which only made them feel even more suppressed. Poirier agrees with Bassuk’s argument when she states that women could “adopt the sickness as a rebellion against their suppression” (Poirier 16). 

It wasn’t until 1973 when the Feminist Press printed a single volume of Charlotte Perkins Gildman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” that the true extend of Gildman’s feministic views was examined (Haney-Peritz 113). The printing of Gildman’s story was received with great disapproval as male critics, including Gildman’s first husband, complained about “the story’s morbidity and called for censure” (114).  From beginning to end, Gildman’s intention was to elicit such a response by confronting the sexual stereotypes in the relationship between men and women. For contemporary readers, “The Yellow Wallpaper” serves as a reminder of the ongoing “feminist struggle” against male domination (114). Such ideas are present in the story through elements such as the wallpaper, thought to represent the strict social standards that the narrator finds herself in, that decorated the room. 

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a detailed recount of a woman who underwent the rest cure. Writing from experience, Gildman accurately describes the conditions a woman was forced to live in while experimenting with the rest cure. Deprived from independence and isolated from their families, women often lost their minds and their nervous conditions worsened (Haney-Peritz 114). After the rest cure failed to heal several female patients, it began to lose popularity. Susan Poirier’s article “The Weir Mitchell Rest Cure: Doctor And Patients” explores the idea that Mitchell’s rest cure mirrored the social and religious beliefs of the era. Because of these strong influences, she points out that, instead of treating nervous disorders, the main objective of the rest cure was to force women with feministic tendencies to conform to traditional gender roles (Poirier 16). She provides evidence that helps establish a logical argument that shows how fixated men were on controlling every aspect of a woman’s life. Janice Hayne-Peritz poses a similar argument explaining the male views on feminism in her article “Monumental Feminism And Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look At 'The Yellow Wallpaper'”. Hayne-Peritz explains Gildman confronted sexual stereotypes between men and women in hopes of making men feel uncomfortable so they could understand the severity of the problem (114). These pieces of evidence also support the argument that tries to reveal the disparity between gender roles and expectations. However, unlike Poirier’s argument, Hayne-Peritz bases her argument on more recent evidence supporting the idea that men did not and still do not consider female inferiority a problem in our society. After taking a closer look at feminism and male domination, it is easier to understand why for centuries women have rebelled against the social expectations that limit their independence.

Charlotte Perkins Gildman wrote an interesting tale about a woman who is driven to insanity after experimenting with the rest cure. The rest cure was a popular treatment in the Victorian era for women with nervous disorders or hysteria tendencies (Bassuk 246). The rest cure consisted of complete isolation and a diet rich in fat and calories (248). The women undergoing the rest cure were locked in a room and prohibited from reading, writing, or engaging in any sort of intellectual activity. The female patients were also subject to psychotherapy in hopes of reminding them of their social role as the caretaker of the family. Being locked in a room unable to communicate, the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” became obsessed with the yellow wallpaper and ultimately went insane (Treichler 63). This could have been prevented if her husband would have listened to her concerns and modified the treatment (64). His inability to listen to his wife drove her to insanity. Due to the lack of medical knowledge, the rest cure mirrored the medical, social, and religious beliefs of the nineteenth century (Bassuk 245). Because of this, the rest cure did not aim to cure neurasthenia, but instead it hoped to force women to revert to their domestic ways. The printing of “The Yellow Wallpaper” was received with great disapproval from male critics (Haney-Peritz 113). They viewed the story as a haunting, dark tale that was obviously not true. When Charlotte Perkins Gildman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” her intention was to elicit such a response by confronting the sexual stereotypes in the relationship between men and women and rebelling against social norms.
