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The Yellow Wallpaper
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The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) (edit title/settings)

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

First published in 1892, The Yellow Wall-Paper is written as the secret journal of a woman who, failing to relish the joys of marriage and motherhood, is sentenced to a country rest cure. Though she longs to write, her husband and doctor forbid it, prescribing instead complete passivity. In... read more

Summary edit see section history

The narrator and her physician husband, John, have rented a mansion for the summer so that she can recuperate from a “slight hysterical tendency.” Although the narrator does not believe that she is actually ill, John is convinced that she is suffering from “neurasthenia” and prescribes the... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The narrator and her physician husband, John, have rented a mansion for the summer so that she can recuperate from a “slight hysterical tendency.” Although the narrator does not believe that she is actually ill, John is convinced that she is suffering from “neurasthenia” and prescribes the “rest cure” treatment. She is confined to bed rest in a former nursery room and is forbidden from working or writing. The spacious, sunlit room has yellow wallpaper – stripped off in two places – with a hideous, chaotic pattern. The narrator detests the wallpaper, but John refuses to change rooms, arguing that the nursery is best-suited for her recovery.

Two weeks later, the narrator’s condition has worsened. She feels a constant sense of anxiety and fatigue and can barely muster enough energy to write in her secret journal. Fortunately, their nanny, Mary, takes care of their baby, and John's sister, Jennie, is a perfect housekeeper. The narrator's irritation with the wallpaper grows; she discovers a recurring pattern of bulbous eyes and broken necks, as well as the faint image of a skulking figure stuck behind the pattern.

As more days pass, the narrator grows increasingly anxious and depressed. The wallpaper provides her only stimulation, and she spends the majority of her time studying its confusing patterns which, as she asserts, are almost as “good as gymnastics.” The image of the figure stooping down and "creeping" around behind the wallpaper becomes clearer each day. By moonlight, she can see very distinctly that the figure is a woman trapped behind bars. The narrator attempts to convince John to leave the house for a visit with relatives, but he refuses, and the narrator does not feel comfortable confiding in him about her discoveries in the wallpaper. Moreover, she is becoming paranoid that John and Jennie are also interested in the wallpaper and is determined that only she will uncover its secrets.

The narrator's health improves as her interest in the wallpaper deepens. She suspects that Jennie and John are observing her behavior, but her only concern is that they become obstacles to her and the wallpaper. She also begins to notice that the distinct "yellow smell" of the wallpaper has spread over the house, following her even when she goes for rides. At night, the woman in the wallpaper shakes the bars in the pattern violently as she tries to break through them, but she cannot break free. The swirling pattern has strangled the heads of the many women who have tried to break through the wallpaper. The narrator begins to hallucinate, believing that she has seen the woman creeping surreptitiously outside in the sunlight. The narrator intends to peel off the wallpaper before she leaves the house in two days.

That night, the narrator helps the woman in the wallpaper by peeling off the wallpaper halfway around the room. The next day, Jennie is shocked, but the narrator convinces her that she only stripped the wallpaper out of spite. Jennie is able to understand the desire to peel off the ugly wallpaper and does not tell John that anything is out of the ordinary. The next night, the narrator locks herself in her room and continues stripping the wallpaper. She hears shrieks within the wallpaper as she tears it off. She contemplates jumping out of a window, but the bars prevent that; besides, she is afraid of all of the women that are creeping about outside of the house. When morning comes, the narrator has peeled off all of the wallpaper and begun to creep around the perimeter of the room. John eventually breaks into the room, but the narrator does not recognize him. She informs him that she has peeled off most of the wallpaper so that now no one can put her back inside the walls. John faints, and the narrator continues creeping around the room over him.

Characters edit see section history

  • John: The husband of the narrator, John is a practical physician who believes that his wife is suffering from nothing more than a “slight hysterical tendency.” He prescribes the “rest cure,” confining the narrator to the nursery and forbidding her to exercise her creative imagination in any way. His antagonism toward her imagination stems from his own rationality and personal anxiety about creativity; he scoffs openly at the narrator’s fancies and is incapable of understanding her true nature. Throughout the story, he treats her in an infantile manner, referring to her as his “blessed little goose” and “little girl.” Moreover, when the narrator attempts to discuss her unhappiness with the situation in a mature manner, he refuses to accept her as an equal and simply carries her back up to the nursery for more bed rest. He is fixed in his authoritative position as husband and doctor and cannot adapt his strategy to account for her opinion on the matter. He believes in a strict, paternalistic divide between men and women; men work outside of the home, as he does, while women like Jennie, his sister, and Mary, the nanny, tend to the house.
  • Dr. S. Weir Mitchell: The actual Dr. who used the "resting cure" to treat Charlotte Perkins Gilman. After reading Gilman's book Mitchell abandoned the "resting cure."
  • Jennie: John's sister.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “I don’t like to look out of the windows even—there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did?”
    the narrator
  • “Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be.”
    the narrator
  • “There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!”
    The narrator
  • “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house.”
    This section appears near the beginning of the story, and it helps characterize both the narrator’s dilemma and the narrator herself.
  • “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? . . . So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas . . .”
    The narrator

First Sentence edit see section history

It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.

Glossary edit see section history

  • ancestral: relating to or inherited from an ancestor or pre-existing group
  • arabesque: an elaborate spiraling line or motif
  • arbor: a latticework shelter intertwined with vines and leaves
  • atrocious: dreadful or revolting; extremely tasteless
  • bloated: swollen or puffed
  • breadth: width
  • bulbous: bulging roundness
  • canvas: a woven cloth of linen or cotton
  • : chintza printed cotton fabric
  • companionship: fellowship between two individuals
  • congenial: pleasant or agreeable
  • conscientiously: meticulously or carefully
  • conspicuous: obvious or easily noticed
  • convolution: a shape made up of coiling and rolling curves
  • creep: to move slowly, close to the ground; often on hands and knees
  • debase: to reduce in terms of value and significance
  • cultivate: to encourage the growth or development of something
  • defiance: to challenge or strive to resist
  • delirium tremens: a phrase literally meaning "shaking delirium" or "trembling madness"
  • derision: mocking scorn or contempt
  • draught: the British form of the term "draft," meaning "a current of air"
  • enduring: lasting
  • fancy: a fantasy or illusion
  • felicity: happiness
  • flamboyant: marked by elaborate curves and decorations
  • : floridornate or elaborate
  • flourish: an embellishment or additional ornament
  • fretful: restless or irritable
  • frieze: an ornamented band on furniture or architecture
  • fungus: a spore-producing organism that decomposes and absorbs the material surrounding it
  • galore: plentiful
  • gnarly: full of knots
  • gouge: to create a hole by chiseling or scooping
  • grotesque: bizarre or atypical
  • hedge: a dense row of low shrubs
  • hereditary: passed from parent to offspring
  • hovering: suspended over an object or area
  • hysterical: emotional excitability and mental disturbance; from the Greek word "hystera" meaning "uterus"
  • impertinence: being insolent or inappropriate
  • impressionable: easily affected
  • inanimate: not alive
  • infuriating: causing outrage or anger
  • inharmonious: conflicting or incompatible
  • interminable: endless
  • lease: rent
  • loll: to droop or hang
  • lurid: shining with an unnatural and ghastly glow
  • neglect: to disregard
  • nervous: easily excited; characterized by overly-sensitive nerves
  • neurasthenia: a psychological disorder characterized by nervous exhaustion
  • odor: smell
  • optic: visual
  • peculiarity: oddity
  • perplexing: confusingly complicated
  • perseverance: persistence or hard work in the face of obstacles
  • phosphate: a form of phosphoric acid used for medical treatments
  • piazza: porch
  • plantain: a plant from the genus Plantago, characterized by large, oval leaves
  • plunge: to throw oneself violently forward
  • provoke: to cause or stimulate purposefully
  • queer: odd
  • querulous: whining or complaining
  • radiate: to extend or spread from a central point
  • ravage: to damage seriously
  • recurrent: appearing again or periodically
  • renovate: to restore or revive
  • repellent: repulsive; arousing disgust
  • reproachful: disapproving
  • restrained: held back or reserved in emotions and behavior
  • riotous: enthusiastic and boisterous
  • Romanesque: relating to an architectural style popular in Europe between the 9th and 12the centuries; characterized by arches, columns, and ornamentation
  • scoff: to mock
  • skulk: to move sneakily
  • smooch: a smudge
  • smouldering: to exist in a state of suppressed activity
  • spite: hatred or malice
  • sprawling: spread out awkwardly
  • stimulus: something that causes action or emotion
  • stir: to move slightly
  • subdued: lacking in strength or intensity
  • sulphur: the British form of the term "sulfur," meaning "greenish-yellow"
  • temperament: the mental, physical, and emotional qualities that make up an individual
  • tint: a lighter shade of a color; hue
  • tonic: a medicine meant to strengthen and invigorate
  • trample: to stamp or step on heavily
  • untenanted: not currently occupied or leased by a tenant
  • vicious: savage or spiteful
  • waddle: to move awkwardly
  • wallow: to roll or flounder in a clumsy manner
  • wharf: a dock or pier
  • whim: a sudden desire or turn of mind
  • whitewash: to whiten with whitewash, a liquid composition of water, lime, and whiting
Show all 92 glossary entries

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • Subjection of Women: The yellow wallpaper can be seen as a symbol for the subjection of women. The wallpaper remains in the home unchanged as women were seen and placed by society/ their expectations were to remain in the home. The wallpaper is expected to remain in one place as women were expected to remain in the home.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 801 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: The New England Magazine
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1892
ISBN: 0-486-29857-4
Page Count: 15

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS1744 G57 Y 1973
  • Dewey: 813.4

Movie Connections edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
  • The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls

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