Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is a gripping example of the effective use of literary symbolism and the depiction of an abused woman, Jane, who is driven to insanity by her lack of psychiatric care. The symbolism expressed in the story combines the strategic placement of colors and objects next to images of femininity, which enhances the relationship between women and the mental and physical abuse they endure at the hands of their male captors. Gilman presents her audience with the harsh realities of nineteenth century treatment of mentally unstable women by using strategic symbolism, limiting Jane’s autonomy, and exposing the mental torture Jane endures while being held as prisoner in a patriarchal society.
First, the use of symbolism can be most clearly seen in the image of the yellow wallpaper itself. Yellow, a color which is most commonly associated with sickness in literature, is used in this piece as a symbol for Jane’s mental illness, postpartum depression, which medical officials had not yet classified during the time the story was published (Wolfe). Her psychological condition is fueled and aggravated by the yellow wallpaper and its “sickly sulphur tint” that occupies her focus for nearly the entire length of the story (Gilman 514). She is constantly consumed by the designs in the paper, proclaiming that they are “sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin” (Gilman 514). Near her final journal entries she writes of herself being “securely fastened now by [her] well-hidden rope,” and through her obsession with the wallpaper, her mental illness devours her soul (Gilman 523). Jane begins to see herself not as the sickly Jane, but as a separate entity that belongs within the wallpaper; she views herself as completely mentally detached from the corporeal body of Jane, John’s wife. Gilman also makes a metaphorical prison of the nursery through fitting the window with bars, a widely used symbol of confinement (Wolfe). John’s refusal to have the room renovated and remove both the wallpaper and the barred windows reflects his willingness to keep his wife trapped in an unstable atmosphere where escape is only possible through a physical door and eventual mental insanity. Jane’s journal, a symbol of mental and emotional asylum, stands as the only image in the story that presents an escape for the main character (Suess). Jane’s relationship with her journal is more layered and honest than the relationship she maintains with her husband, and the release she experiences through writing provides her with the occasional mental freedom she needs to temporarily postpone her insanity.
Furthermore, Gilman’s use of names is an excellent symbol for the universality of male-female relationships. John was a rather common name in England and America during the period this short work of fiction was written (Wolfe). Today, it is still the second most popular first name for males in the United States (Word). When matched with the name John, Jane also holds a place in history as being a common name for females. Gilman’s motivation to give her characters names that are frequently used is fueled by the possibility and the hope that a married reader might find her or himself in place of one of these complex characters. By giving John and Jane common names, Gilman puts forth a story that reaches a worldwide audience.
Second, John’s seemingly gentle treatment of his wife translates into nothing more than that of a jailor who confines his prisoner to her physical and mental cell. John prevents her from gaining autonomy by not allowing her the complete freedom to write her own words (Suess). From the beginning, Jane possesses hardly any independence; she is discouraged by her husband, her brother, and her sister-in-law to write. She then tells the reader that “[she writes] in spite of them […] having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (Gilman 513). By discouraging Jane from journaling about her emotions and experiences when she is so distressed threatens the delicate balance of her psyche, something that is already disturbed by the chemical imbalance caused by postpartum depression (Suess). Without being allowed to write, Jane is being robbed of the freedom to record the most personal aspects of her life. She even explains that “congenial work, with excitement and change would do [her] good”: this is shot down by John, who retaliates with his opinion that her “imaginative power and habit of story-making” would only lead to “all manner of excited fancies” (Gilman 515). Jane’s power to make decisions for herself has also been eliminated by John’s wildly undocumented assumptions. If she cannot freely turn to her personal journal or her husband for comfort, then she is forced to confine her disturbing thoughts to her presently fragile mind, which could only result in weakening her wits more.
Additionally, it is not until the last few lines of the story that Jane’s name makes an appearance in the text. From the beginning until the moment she proclaims, “ ‘I’ve got out at last […] in spite of you and Jane,’ ” the main character has no name at all, only a husband and a newly born son with whom to identify (Gilman 524; Suess). Jane is not complete without a name, the thing that identifies a person as an individual, one belonging to themselves, rather than just another animal who’s been gifted with the talent for speech and intelligent thought. Furthermore, as previously discussed in moderation, even though her name is eventually revealed, she is still seen as “Jane,” a name which carries with it different connotations, the first of which being “Plain Jane”. This title, referring to an ordinary and uninteresting girl or woman, is void of any individuality or personal identity which a woman might carry with her if she were free to express herself, a liberty that Jane is not given in “The Yellow Wallpaper” ("Plain Jane"). Additionally, “Jane Doe”, an expression which has been in use since the mid-1850s to describe a woman without a known identity, exhibits the long-standing presence of female oppression and lack of personal female individuality; this has been caused or, at the very least, contributed by the presence of a dominant male ("Jane Doe").
When viewing the relationships between the Jane and her male counterparts, Gilman presents an unmistakable struggle between the two sexes. From the beginning of the story, Jane as the simple, no-named narrator writes that she and John had acquired an “ancestral home”, a “hereditary estate” in which they will spend the summer resting up after the birth of their newly born son (Gilman 513). It is made clear in this first passage that the society in which Jane lives is one of patriarchal dominance (Suess). Common legal practice during this time was for the father to will his possessions to his eldest born son, leaving practically nothing to his daughter or wife. Such is still the case in some cultures today where women’s rights have not been considered or accepted (Wolfe).
Besides being Jane’s husband, John is also her doctor, another position of patriarchal power in which the patient, a woman, is subject to the diagnosis, experiments, and treatments of a man with authority and control over her body, something which should be guaranteed her own (Suess). The position of John as Jane’s husband and practitioner places him in an extremely authoritative and advantageous position, allowing him to mentally manipulate his wife through romantic promises of love and affection while, at the same time, physically caging her from the outside world with the authority and reason of a doctor. He even denies Jane a visit with her cousins, Henry and Julia, a visit she knows will ease her mental suffering. His professional opinion is that she would “not be able to stand it after [she] got there,” an assumption at the very least and a poor excuse for a qualified doctor’s medical reasoning (Gilman 518). He offers this feeble excuse to an honest logical request, one which should be taken into account especially since, ironically, Jane gradually deepens further into a place in her mind where logic has no position of power (Suess). Following this conversation between them, John “gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me upstairs […] He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had” (Gilman 518). John once again uses his position as Jane’s husband to influence her perception of him as her trusted confident and caregiver.
John attempts to disguise the fact that he is Jane’s doctor with the fact that he is her husband; his affectionate ploys to win Jane’s trust as her husband are a ruse to make his professional medical opinions appear as husband-like concerns. Since a woman is tied more closely to her husband than her doctor, he uses this natural fact to control her feelings and thoughts and compels her trust him as her husband-doctor, rather than her doctor-husband. Furthermore, since John is both her husband and doctor, Jane is damned twice into the hell of female repression by two male personas that happen to reside in the same individual. John abuses his power as the dominant male through a vicious string of sly psychological manipulations. These manipulations are, at the very least, a heinous form of mental abuse, taking advantage of Jane’s particularly fragile mind to force and maintain medical and masculine authority. Jane is even trapped by the newborn baby, who is strategically written as a male. The main character is confined to the condition of motherhood by two male figures: her newborn son and her husband. However, she does not and cannot enjoy the obligations of motherhood without feeling “nervous” around the baby (Gilman 515).
Finally, As Jane’s psychosis progresses into an animated delirium, the reader sees her becoming part of the wallpaper rather than simply an observer: “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard” (Gilman 523). She pines for freedom from the oppression she has endured for so long under the reign of her husband, her brother, and most recently, her newborn son. Therefore, she attempts to find freedom in even the most obscure places – the wallpaper which she so fervently proclaimed was “repellant” and “revolting” at the beginning of her summer stay (Gilman 514). Ironically, once she finds her psychological freedom as an individual with a personal identity in the wallpaper, she immediately falls into the trap of being imprisoned by her own superficial lunacy, which is seen immediately by the those people who surround her (Suess). Jane has, unbeknownst to herself, transformed into a mental oxymoron: living in triumph internally, but remaining imprisoned and oppressed by an outward insanity.
Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper” displays a colorful feminist proclamation that presents the reader with a deeper understanding of the treatment of women who suffered from postpartum depression were forced to tolerate. The difficult position Jane resides in as depressed mother and subordinate woman is only exacerbated by the presence of her husband-doctor and his insistence that she is perfectly sane. Gilman’s use of symbolism to instill deeper literary meaning, depiction of the narrator as a dependent, and portrayal of a truly male-dominated society all present an accurate and chilling tale of the entirely plausible possibility of madness as a result of mental neglect and psychological torture.
Works Cited:
Gilman, Charlotte P. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter 9th Edition ed. Ed. Alison Booth, Kelly J. Mays, and J. P. Hunter. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 513-24. Print.
“Jane Doe” ,“Plain Jane”. Dictionary.com. 2009. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.
Suess, Barbara A. “ 'The Writing's on the Wall’ Symbolic Orders in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.” Women's Studies 32.1 (2003): 79-98. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Apr. 2010.
Wolfe, James. “Symbolism in The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Gilman.” Review. Associated Content - Associatedcontent.com. 14 Mar. 2006. Web. 1 Apr. 2010.
Word, David L., and Charles D. Coleman. “Putting a Demographic Face on Names from Census 2000.” United States Census Bureau. United States Government, 2003. Web. 01 Apr. 2010.
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