The Yellow Wallpaper

Reflecting their role in society, women in literature are often portrayed in a position that is dominated by men. Especially in the nineteenth century, when women were authorized, controlled, and influenced by the imperious male. In the “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Gilman, the dominant husband pushes his submissive wife from depression into insanity. It is a bitter story of a young women driven into lunacy by her so called “loving” husband-doctor. This short story …

…to be submissive, and choosing to exercise their own minds. Gilman shows the reader how dangerous it could be to give up desire and life to settle for the wants of the dominate male. This short story therefore reflects the wife’s torment to break free from such ambush. She goes through the tragic torment of insanity. It ends with the ironic tragedy that repressing one’s true self results in the loss of self.