The following essay is an analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, using feminist criticism.

Feminist Reading of The Yellow Wallpaper Images of women creeping around behind wallpaper that is yellow and grotesque, defiled by esoteric patterns with images of bulbous eyes and strangled heads sounds like either the work of a brilliant impressionist or the ravings of a lunatic. While the story may overtly appear to indicate the latter possibility, closer examination reveals that the wallpaper is not merely an obsession of a deranged woman, but a metaphor for …

…Jane? And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (678). With that bold assertion, as she establishes her freedom, if only a tenuous freedom, her husband faints. He has been overwhelmed by one so courageous, so persistent that she could not only question, but blatantly subvert his advice, demands really. As he lies there unconscious, the narrator creeps over him, showing her victory, for herself, and women around the world.