In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, the main character is forced by a controlling husband and by stagnant surroundings to descend into madness, thus breaking free from a society where women are property and their thoughts worthless. In the end of the story, the wife breaks free of John's reign over her but at the cost of her own mental health. It is a sad commentary on the relationship between husband and wife during this time period.
The woman of the house is diagnosed with a nervous condition by her husband, a “physician of high standing” (Gilman 1). Her brother agrees with his brother-in-law’s diagnosis of “nervous depression” (1). Because of the men’s prominent position in the medical field, the wife is forced to accept their opinions as fact, even though she personally “disagree[s] with their ideas”; however, she cannot voice her opinions without being shot down. The husband, John, believes his wife’s condition requires her to constantly rest. The author presents the story in a time when men were the masters of their homes. They made the decisions for the wife, just as John made the decision for his wife to rest alone continuously. During the early nineteen hundreds, it was very common for women to be diagnosed with nervous depression. By not allowing his wife to leave the house, John creates an environment in which the wife is actually destroying her own sanity. Because of John's accidental involvement in his wife's insanity, the story paints a picture of controlling husbands not allowing their wives to make their own decisions, which can ultimately destroy them.
Because of the husband’s entrapment of his wife, she becomes so trapped inside of her own mind that all she can focus on is her bedroom, where she spends most of her time. The wallpaper becomes a source of fascination for her. She describes it constantly because she continues to find new developments in the pattern. She uses descriptive language such as, "the pattern lolls...