Theme of "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Theme of "The Yellow Wallpaper"

The author of the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman, filled the story with multiple themes.  Gilman wrote the story in eighteen ninety two, an era where women were supposed to be fully obedient to their husbands.  If their husbands supported a candidate for office, they supported him too.  If their husbands wanted to make any family decisions, they supported their husbands and did not dare to voice their own opinion.  The two themes I will write about from this story are ones that highlight the inequality shown toward women in that time period.  Themes such as passive behavior in the household and the importance of women’s self expression convey this overall theme of women taking charge, and no longer being subordinate to men in life.    

The first message Gilman is trying to convey in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is that the then current domestic role of women in a marriage was imprisoning.  At the time, the status quo was that the husband was the “active” member of the family.  He went to work, made family decisions, etc.  The wife’s role in the marriage was “passive” i.e. follow the leadership of her husband because “he knew best.”  At the beginning of the story, the narrator is happy to take the passive role of the relationship.  She comments on how John is kind to her and takes such good care of her.  However, towards the middle of the story, she begins to change from the passive housewife to the active, independent woman we see at the end of the story.  This change culminates when, at the end of the story, she calls her husband, John, “little boy.”  The seemingly demeaning title she calls John is unheard of for the time period where husbands were treated with utmost respect by their wives.  Another example of her change to an independent woman is when she locks herself in her room and doesn’t open the door, despite the fact that John tells her to open it.  The author is trying to convey that women no longer must be submissive to their husbands.  They should be able to speak their mind and make their own decisions.  Whether that is calling your husband “little boy” or locking yourself in your room because you don’t want your husband to come in, it is now acceptable for a woman to make that decision.

The next idea conveyed by author is the importance of self expression in women.  The irony of the story is that John’s treatment for his wife, the “resting cure,” is supposed to help cure her of her illness by forcing her to keep her brain idle.  However, the fact is, the idleness from the resting cure is actually the cause of the narrator’s descent into insanity.  For example, at the beginning of the story, the narrator expresses herself using her journal.  During this time the narrator is the most cognitive.  However, after her journal is taken away and her thoughts suppressed, we begin to see her crazy behavior such as gnawing on the bed and imagining a woman in the wallpaper.  Gilman is trying to convey that being submissive, having your brain be idle because you allow your husband to make all of the decisions, causes women to become crazy.   Only when women, like the narrator, become outspoken do they become free.  Gilman is saying that women must begin thinking actively, thinking for themselves and not for their husbands, and not just idly submitting to whatever their husband commands.