The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis

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The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis
Description
In “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the speaker or persona of the story is a mentally troubled woman, named Jane, who was the wife of a young and notable medical doctor. She narrates about her battle with post-partum depression, which her doctor described as a nervous condition, and how she was subsequently banished to a countryside house where she gets “phosphate or phosphites-whichever it is- and tonics, and air and exercise, and journeys, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again” (Gilman 224).
Theme
The mental constraints that are placed on Jane, even more than the physical ones, are the main factors that drive her insane. She has been forced to hide the anxieties and fears that she experiences so as to reserve the façade of a great marriage, and to construct a perception that she is endearing against her depression. From the onset, one of the most unbearable facets of her treatment is the enforced silence and joblessness that she is subjected to as a method of “resting cure.” However, she feels that working would benefit her when she says that “Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman 224). She hates everything about the surrounding she is kept in, but she tries to abide by her husband’s and doctor’s instructions so that to make them happy. She points out that her husband love…