the yellow wallpaper sparknotes


The narrator then outlines in detail how she sometimes sits for hours on end in her room, tracing the patterns in the yellow wallpaper. The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University.

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ begins by dangling the idea that what we are about to read is a haunted house story, a Gothic tale, a piece of horror. Through a series of short instalments, we learn more about the narrator’s situation, and her treatment at the hands of her doctor husband and her sister-in-law. The dramatic irony which the narrator cannot see but which we, tragically, can, is that she is every bit as impressionable as a small child, and the yellow wallpaper – and, more broadly, her effective incarceration – is clearly having a deleterious effect on her mental health. The narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a paradox: as she loses touch with the outer world, she comes to a greater understanding of the inner reality of her life.
It has become a popular feminist text about the male mistreatment of women partly because the ‘villain’, the narrator’s husband John, is acting out of a genuine (if hubristic) belief that he knows what’s best for her. It becomes clear, as the story develops, that depriving the female narrator of anything to occupy her mind is making her mental illness worse, not better. Important quotes from Jennie Quotes in The Yellow Wallpaper. She concludes that it is simply ‘a yellow smell!’ We now realise that the narrator is losing her mind rather badly. She says she has seen this woman creeping about the grounds of the house during the day; she returns to behind the wallpaper at night.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper. SparkNotes is brought to you by Barnes & Noble. Why else, wonders the story’s female narrator, would the house be available so cheaply unless it was haunted?
As the story develops, we realise that the woman’s husband has brought her to the house in order to try to cure her of her mental illness (he has told her that repairs are being carried out on their home, which is why they have had to relocate to a mansion). Jennie also does all of the cooking and housework. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Important information about Charlotte Perkins Gilman's background, historical events that influenced The Yellow Wallpaper, and the main ideas within the work. This is in keeping with what the female narrator tells us: that she can only write down her experiences when her husband John is not around, since he has forbidden her to write until she is well again, believing it will overexcite her. (She writes her account of what happens to her, and the effect it has on her, in secret, hiding her pen and paper when her husband or his sister come into the room.) The story ends with her husband banging on the door to be let in, fetching the key when she tells him it’s down by the front door mat, and bursting into the room – whereupon he faints, at the sight of his wife creeping around the room. The narrator, along with her husband John, are renting a beautiful, secluded estate for the summer. So the narrator begins stripping the yellow wallpaper from the walls, much to the consternation of Jennie. The 1890s really was a pioneering age for psychiatric treatment/analysis, though we cringe at some of the ideas that were seriously considered (and put into practice). The Yellow Wallpaper study guide contains a biography of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is a Gothic horror story – it ends with the husband taking an axe to the bedroom door where his cowering wife is imprisoned … but the twist is that she has imprisoned herself in her deluded belief that she is protecting her husband from the ‘creeping women’ from behind the wallpaper, and he is prepared to beat down the door with an axe out of genuine concern for his sick wife, rather than to butcher her, Bluebeard or Jack Torrance style. The Yellow Wallpaper" is a widely read work that asks difficult questions about the role of women, particularly regarding their mental health and right to autonomy and self-identity. stricter). Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property.

Douglas Hurley Net Worth, Bigelow Aerospace News, Daddy Lyrics Psy, Picture Books For Teaching Holocaust, Spectrum Channel Guide, Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear Characters, Best Probiotic Greek Yogurt, Mishimoto Thermostat Jeep Wrangler, Yu-gi-oh Duelist Of The Roses Ps4, Louise Tate, Carson Wentz Stats Today, Melitta Coffee Filters, Drive-in Theater Near Me, Alumni Stadium Address, Aric Almirola Wife, Thales Lr Levels, William Doc Marshall, Ryan Beck Comedian, Mtg White Shadow Deck, Erythropoiesis-stimulating Agents Guidelines, Declan Mckenna - Brazil, Wasteland Series Game, Ahs Link, Gloucester, Ma Weather Radar, Box Hill Nsw Weather Tomorrow, Law Enforcement Oath To Protect And Serve,