 Known for her feminist works, Gilman shows how many mentally ill women were treated in the late 1800s and early 1900s in her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.”  Moreover, the dynamic between a man and a woman in a relationship during this time period is evident in Gilman’s short story.  Many women living in this time period fought to prove their sanity, and their pleads were mostly disregarded.  They were considered to be weak and unable to make decisions for themselves.  These assumptions about women also made its way into relationships.  Husbands, along with society, did not give their wives the chance to be independent, as women were only expected to raise the kids and cook. Because they were presumably incapable of doing most things, women many times were not given a chance to fend for themselves. If a woman was accused of being insane, she normally would not have been given the proper courtesy she deserved.  For this reason, many sane women roamed mental institutions with no hope of being released.  Many were locked in their house by their husbands, like the narrator was in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Charlotte Perkins Gilman portrays a typical marriage in the early 1900s, and she delineates the injustices many mentally insane, and sane, women had to endure.  

Women in the early 1900s generally had little to no basic human rights, and barely any political rights.  They were typically expected to become domestic servants and do as they were told, when they were told.  Although society was mainly male-dominated, women continuously made strides to better their quality of life and freedom.  In an article on the learning site, a spokesperson, Trueman, talks about how women also played a role in preventing the progression of equality.  For example, a quote by Queen Victoria haunted the feminist movement for decades.  She said, “Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for a man, but with totally different duties and vocations.” The main character in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is supposed to only be a “helpmate” for her husband John, and her depression stops her from being able to do so.  The oppression of women many times led to unhealthy marriages, much like the narrator and her husband, John.  In most cases a woman could not possibly be financially stable enough to live on her own, which created an automatic dependence on men during this time period.  Moreover, American culture in the early 1900s looked at divorced women as an outcast, and they were usually ostracized. Therefore, many women stayed in unhealthy marriages to prevent some sort of social and financial downfall.  The male-dominated society of the early twentieth century made it extremely difficult for women to advocate for themselves and to fight for their own equality.

The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” has been diagnosed as mentally ill by her husband, and he forces her to stay in the house alone without practicing any of her hobbies, like writing.  Condescending in his tone, John acts as her caretaker rather than a husband.  She convinces herself every day that her husband knows best, and she does not try to fight or defy him. After the narrator asks to go downstairs, she says, “Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and said he would go down to the cellar, if I wished, and have it whitewashed into the bargain” (302). By calling the narrator a “blessed little goose,” her husband is patronizing her in the most demeaning and belittling way.  In the midst of a patriarchy, their relationship is not by any means abnormal or uncommon.  The narrator describes John’s sister, the ideal wife of this time period, as an enthusiastic housewife (303).  The narrator cannot fit the mold of Queen Victoria’s quote due to her postpartum depression.  Because because she is unable to fit the mold, she is ostracized by society and by her husband.  A woman’s purpose in the early 1900s was to take care of the house, raise the kids, and to make her husband happy when he came home from work.  Although she drives herself crazy, the narrator appears to make one social stride by the end of “The Yellow Wallpaper,”.  She is no longer afraid of John seeing her “creeping,” and she rips down the wallpaper that he did not let her change.  She stood up to her husband for the first time, possibly symbolizing one step in the progression to equality for women.  

While the dynamic of marriage and women’s rights in general were unfair to women in a patriarchal society, women with any kind of mental disorder were ostracized.  The mental institutions in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth had a broken system.  If a woman legitimately diseased, her mental state would many times be worsened.  Furthermore, if a woman was admitted into a madhouse sane, some sort of mental disease was created. David Wright, a professor from Oxford, provides insight on the broken systems of mental institutions through the use of one asylum: The Earlswood Asylum during the Victorian England.  In a review on Wright’s book, Gerald N. Grob writes, “Equally paradoxical, the faith in education rested on a belief in the organicist origins of mental disability, namely, that physical defects were hampering individual development. Idiocy, in other words, was being framed as a disease of the mind.”  Something as simple as idiocy during this time period could be considered a mental disease.  Although the narrator had postpartum depression, it was most likely treatable with proper care and attention. However, her lack of knowledge and submissive personality allowed for John to simply disregard many things she said, and her ignorance was mistaken for idiocy. The narrator’s inability to leave a single room for an extraneous amount of time intensified her depression.  She is infatuated with the yellow wallpaper in the room, and her infatuation drives her to insanity.  She says as she is consistently growing more insane, “But there is something else about that paper- the smell! I noticed it the moment we came into the room, but with so much air and sun it was not a bad smell” (308).   She begins to see and smell things in the wall, and she feels it needs to remain a secret.  She figures out the secrets the wall contains throughout the story until she is completely mad.  As she becomes more infatuated with the wall, John believes she is recovering because she does not need as much attention.  

 Grob considers this culture to “devalue mental disability.”  Women could not earn an independent living because they were oppressed by a male-dominated society, and Grub discusses how society at the time placed value on achievement and education, both of which were denied to most women.  For example, John tells his wife she cannot write anymore, and he denies her anything that might stimulate her intelligence.  Regardless, the narrator talks about John in a loving light, and she thinks he knows what is best for her.  After John tells his wife, again, that she cannot live downstairs, she says, “he is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction” (300).  John has made the narrator believe that he knows what is best for her, and that she is not smart or independent enough to make decisions for herself.  John suppresses not only her independence, but her education and will to write.  Throughout the short story, the narrator consistently mentions her desire to write, and how John does not want let her.  According to Grob the people in this time period made for “a culture that places a premium on educational achievement and self-sufficiency.”  In contrast to the narrator, John is treated with the upmost respect throughout the story because of his schooling and knowledge.  However, the easiest way to repress women’s rights was to restrict their education and self-sufficiency as much as possible, since there was so much value placed in academics and self-sufficiency. As the narrator is writing in her journal, she writes of being intimidated and frightened by John, and she says, “There comes John, and I must put this away- he hates to have me write a word” (301).  John is, in his essence, a symbol and an example of late nineteenth century culture suppressing a woman’s right to education, independence, and responsibility. 

Women were restricted in the late 1800s and the early 1900s a great deal in many different ways.  For a culture that placed so much value and importance on education and independence, men almost completely denied women the right to either.  Because this was denied from so many, women had no credibility.  Therefore, they had no means to defend themselves if they were diagnosed as mentally ill, and no say in what their treatment was.  The patriarchal society also made its way into family life, and it was especially evident in marriages. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is striped of her credibility, independence, education, and right to do things and move as she pleases.  She falls victim of this society and of the archetypal marriage of her culture. Charlotte Perkins Gilman illustrates what society was like in this time period through the eyes of a woman with a cultivating mental illness in a typical late nineteenth century marriage.
