“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman centers around the narrator’s journey through mental health treatment.  The article’s “Mad Doctors? The Significance of Medical Practitioners Admitted as Patients to the First English County Asylums up to 1890” and “Asylum Nursing as a Career in the United Kingdom, 1890-1910” provide cultural and historical backgrounds that develop our understanding of the world that surrounds the main character.  By reading these articles, information, about the setting and characters in the text, from the point of view of the main character is revealed.  

“The Yellow Wallpaper” follows the story of a new mother, who becomes mentally ill.  Her husband John, who is a physician, is responsible for treating her.  He describes her condition as, “…temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency…” (300 Gilman). For the entirety of her treatment, the narrator is put in a “nursery” until her recovery.  

The historical contexts provided in both articles suggest that the “nursery” is really a room in a mental institution.  During the 19th century, asylum chambers were intended to confine and control the insane.  To achieve these goals, rooms were often used as a way to impose cruel punishment.  A patient from a Scottish asylum was punished by, “…the use of seclusion in padded rooms…” (772 Brimblecombe).  The confinement aspect is seen in “The Yellow Wallpaper”.  The narrator arrives at the place she was to stay, “…The nursery… the windows are barred…and there are rings and things in the walls” (301 Gilman).  This quote shows the narrator’s isolation from the outside world in an enclosed place that uses bars on the windows to ensure that there is no way out, which was a way for doctors to keep a tight rein on every aspect of their lives.   

In addition to the method of punishment as a means of control, the stereotypes of the mentally insane explain the need to have power over them.  In the eyes of mental health professionals, patients were seen as, “…a vicious horse that he had to subdue” (771 Brimblecombe).  This need for control exemplifies the stereotype because these insane people were labeled as “out of control”.  Without a doubt, asylum chambers were intended for the purpose of locking down the crazy patients.  Francis Fox, a patient from Nottingshare asylum, details his experience of the effects of being labeled “insane”.  He states, “…his brother…began to treat him as though he were insane…by locking him in a garret room and using bolts, bars, and handcuffs to ensure he remained in his room and strapped to his bed” (447 Tomkins).  Moreover, the rings described by the main character of “The Yellow Wallpaper” are likely intended for strapping her down to the bed like they were in the case of Francis Fox.  This conclusion is based off the information about the area of torn wallpaper.  The main character looks up at the wall and sees that, “It is stripped off—the paper—in great patches all around the head of my bed, as far as I can reach…” (301 Gilman).  The placement of the ripped wall is where the ends of her hands would touch when they were strapped to the headboard of the bed.  Through the evidence gathered in these articles, it is logical to conclude that the “nursery” was actually an asylum cell.  

Not only do these backgrounds reveal the real setting of the story but, they give insight into the women that were involved in the treatment of the narrator.  Based off the actions of these women and the information in the article “Asylum Nursing as a Career in the United Kingdom, 1890-1910” we can conclude that they were the main character’s nurses.  Nurses played a, “…part of the ‘moral’ or psychological and environmental treatment” (771 Brimblecombe).  The first women introduced in the story is the character of Mary.  Mary’s responsibility is explained by the narrator’s praise, “…Mary is so good with the baby” (301 Gilman).  Mary’s care of the baby plays a role in the psychological part of the treatment.  While the baby is being taken care of by Mary, the narrator can focus on helping herself instead of focusing on the needs of the baby.  

Another aspect of nursing during this era, was that, “…asylum service offered an opportunity…to expand earning potential and develop a career…” (776 Brimblecombe).  This opportunity supports claims made by nurses that, “We are satisfied with our own work…” (773 Brimblecombe).  The character of Nellie displays the benefits of this field.  Nellie, as explained by the main character, “is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession” (303 Gilman).  This nurse shows how the opportunity to switch into a career in the field of treating the mentally ill brings a great deal of fulfillment.  

Furthermore, the author of the article cites a medical superintendent to explain the stressful aspects of working as a nurse in an asylum: 

“Attendants are in actual direct contact with the patients…and are…subject… to the turmoil of the wards, the whims and humors, the objectionable conduct, the foul habits, often the exasperating insults, and even the actual violence of the patients under their care.” (772 Brimblecombe). 

Nurses had to deal with every aspect of the patient’s lives.  In the story, Jennie is the most involved in the care of the main character.  Jennie’s responsibilities include making sure the narrator felt comfortable, cleaning the home, and working with the doctor.  Along with all the responsibilities of being a nurse, she has to deal with the nasty habits of the insane.  When Jennie goes into the “nursery” one day, she examines the patch of scratched off wallpaper above the headstand and commented, “…that the paper stained everything it touched…found yellow smooches on all my clothes and John’s…” (307 Gilman).  This quotes shows what medical assistants had to witness and deal with.  Overall, the context provided in this journal develop the roles of the characters Mary, Nellie, and Jennie.  

The information provided in these articles give insight into the medical professionals, both nurses and doctor, in this passage.  The article “Mad Doctors? The Significance of Medical Practitioners Admitted as Patients to the First English County Asylums up to 1890” gives evidence to answer the question of why some of these doctors went mad.  The author states, “…doctors who held roles caring for or treating the mad were particularly prone to suffer mental disturbance” (438 Tomkins).  In fact, just having the position of physician to the mentally insane increased the chances of suffering a breakdown.  Doctors during this era were put under a lot of pressure and had to balance many responsibilities:

 “The strains of juggling private practice, public responsibility, domestic solvency, and personal ambition…did wreak havoc on individual men’s physical and mental health… giving rise to the anxious, overworked, disappointed, or fearful practitioner, who could not always withstand the pressures imposed by their professional and personal goals” (439 Tomkins). 

The juggling of all these responsibilities is a great deal of stress to put on any individual. Being prone to having mental health problems and dealing with the immense pressure as a physician for the insane can be explanations of John’s behavior at the ending of the story.  At the end of the story, it is possible that the physician went insane.  John comes home one day to find the main character in her room attempting to commit suicide.  After John screams at the narrator, she says, “Now why should that man have fainted? But he did…” (312 Gilman).  The strain of witnessing such an atrocity psychologically damaged John, which resulted in his loss of sanity.  This caused such a profound effect on John because he felt responsible for the care of the main character.  Her attempt at suicide, in John’s eyes, would be a failure of his doctoral responsibilities, which as previously mentioned can induce a great deal of psychological stress on someone who holds themselves responsible for the care of another.  Clearly, the assumption that John has become mentally ill himself is a logical conclusion based of the information in this article.  

In conclusion, both of these journals provide knowledge on the world of asylums that develop the reader’s interpretation of the story.  They give context to the place in which the story takes place, the jobs of the women, and the mental breakdown of John the physician from the perspective of the main character of “The Yellow Wallpaper”.  All in all, the cultural and historical information give valuable insight for interpreting this story’s meaning through the eyes of a mentally insane woman.
