Women and Insanity in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860, a time period when women were treated as objects. Men didn’t pay much attention to them, and they were often dismissed during important events. Women were seen mostly as housewives. After only eleven months of marriage, Gilman’s husband became convinced that she needed rest and willpower to overcome her depression and arranged for her to receive treatment in Philadelphia (Gilman 2). Her experiences inspired her to write “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a piece highlighting the themes of women’s treatment during that time period, as well as the insanity and isolation they experienced.

The two genders, male and female, were considered as “separate spheres,” meaning they were viewed as two distinct types of human beings who interacted only at breakfast and dinner or supper (Gender Roles in the 19th Century). In the 19th century, women were seen as weak, private, dependent, illogical, passive, and timid, often shown to value “domesticity, purity, submissiveness, and piety” (Women in the Nineteenth Century). They were expected to stay at home, care for their children, support their husbands, and adhere to society’s expectations of feminine manners. Women were frequently dismissed, seldom taken seriously, and always expected to obey orders. Education for women was designed to mold them into proper and elegant ladies. If a woman showed too much enthusiasm for intellectual pursuits, she was derogatorily referred to as a “blue-stocking”, considered an unfeminine trait (Gender Roles in the 19th Century). Furthermore, women who studied vigorously were labeled as unattractive “dried-up prunes”. They weren’t even allowed to converse with a male unless a married woman was present (Gender Roles in the 19th Century).

How women were treated in the 19th century was also reflected in how they were medically perceived. Women of that period suffered from a variety of conditions such as anxiety and nervous depression, which were largely due to societal treatment. They were often too readily deemed insane based on societal attitudes, and subsequently institutionalized in mental asylums when their behavior displeased the male-dominated society (Lunacy in the 19th Century). The reasons for admitting women to asylums during the 19th century are seriously questioned in today’s society. However, these institutions were perceived at the time as a means to aid the women confined within them and to rehabilitate them into society by enforcing acceptable female roles (Lunacy in the 19th Century). In an attempt to help address their issues, women were often left alone in solitary confinement with only a bed and barred windows. They were isolated with the belief that the woman herself was the only one who could elevate her emotional and mental state and reintegrate into society. These women were only permitted contact with their physicians and were strictly forbidden from writing. This approach was a spectacular failure, with the women deteriorating further into insanity due to their extreme isolation.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” draws a stark parallel to the treatment of women in the 19th century. It was written to draw attention to the female plight at the time. Much like the women of the 1800s, the narrator of the story (John’s wife, whose name is never explicitly mentioned) was institutionalized due to “nervous depression” as diagnosed by her husband and brother (Gilman 486). She was only permitted to converse with John and was not allowed to write, emulating the plight of actual women during the 1800s (Gilman 487). As mentioned, women were regularly dismissed and overlooked during this period. This is evident in “The Yellow Wallpaper” when John’s wife states, “you see he does not believe I am sick!” (Gilman 486). Her pleas to leave the asylum are repeatedly ignored by John, who insists that she trust him and that her condition is improving (Gilman 491-492). The narrative reinforces the fact that women forced into isolation tend to deteriorate mentally due to the lack of human contact. This is depicted through John’s wife spiraling further into insanity. She starts hallucinating figures moving in the wallpaper patterns. In the climax of her madness, she rips down the wallpaper to ‘free’ the imaginary person trapped within it (Gilman 496-497).

In conclusion, women in the 19th century were consistently undermined, with their emotions and feelings rarely considered. Men dominated the 1800s, and women had little to no say in any decisions. If they did voice their opinions, they were branded unfeminine, unattractive, and often confined in mental institutions. This was purely based on men’s disapproval of women’s behavior and overall existence. Such unfair and cruel treatment led to a myriad of mental health issues among women, posing as reasons for their perceived ‘insanity’ and isolation. Women in the 1800s were constantly stressed about maintaining proper manners/gestures to be socially acceptable. They were anxious about their demeanor because that was what differentiated them as attractive or unattractive. They were depressed and seeped in despair, caused by the constant strain to adhere to societal standards of perfection, having no certainty of their worth. Isolation was a part and parcel of their existence as they were expected to interact only within their gender and any conversations with men required a chaperone.

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