Feminist Theory and Psychoanalysis in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” takes readers into the mind of a young, powerless wife and mother, whose struggle with mental illness is constantly invalidated because of harmful, male-centric, patriarchal thinking. Her only escape from the insanity inducing isolation she has been forced to adopt is her writing, which she has to hide from her husband and the other members of her household. The ways in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” depicts the consequences of a patriarchal society as well as the effects of mental illness on the psyche can be explored through the perspectives of a feminist as well as a psychoanalytic critique.
It is the wallpaper, as suggested by its title, that is the focal point of the story. There are other elements to the story that stand out when conducting a feminist reading, however. The narrator is kept isolated from the outside world; she is not able to contact most of her family, including her baby. The treatment that the narrator receives is a result of the patriarchy, or “the broader cultural history and practice of centering on men while underestimating women” (Parker 149). There are several examples throughout the text of the narrator’s husband, John, underestimating his wife. At the very beginning of the story, when the narrator first mentions that she has suspicions about their new house, she says “John laughs at [her], of course, but one expects that in marriage” (Gilman 9). She is aware that her husband does not take her seriously, but was taught as a result of the patriarchy that it was something to be expected and accepted, not challenged. Gilman is showing that the women of her time were made to feel that their marriage was the most important aspect of their lives, besides child bearing. These women were not taught their thoughts and actions were valid. Another example of the narrator’s husband dismissing her completely is when upon telling...