In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, there is a dominant / submissive relationship that exists between an oppressive husband and his submissive wife. This oppressive husband leads his wife from a state of depression to a state of insanity and finally, to a state of isolation. Had the husband not been so oppressive upon his wife, he could have realized her problem and resolved it without tearing himself away from her. The woman does not become insane because of the wallpaper alone; rather, it is the strict guidelines her husband sets for her that prompt her eventual insanity and isolation. As the story begins, the woman — whose name we never learn — tells of her depression and how it is dismissed by her husband and brother. ‘You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? 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?’ (Gilman 658).
These two men, both doctors, are apparently unable to admit that there might be more to her condition than just stress and a slight nervous condition. Even when a summer in the country and weeks of bed-rest don’t help, her husband refuses to accept that she may have a real problem. Throughout the story there are examples of the dominant / submissive relationship. She is virtually imprisoned in her bedroom, supposedly to allow her to rest and recover her health. Her husband does not allow her to work, ‘So I… am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again’ (Gilman 658).
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She depicts his control over her actions when she states, ‘There comes John, and I must put this away — he hates to have me write a word’ (Gilman 659).
She has no say in the location or decor of the room she is virtually imprisoned in: ‘I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted… But John would not hear of it’ (Gilman 659).
He also doesn’t allow her to have visitors: ‘It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work… but he says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now.’ (Gilman 660).
Probably in large part because of her oppression, her health continues to decline. ‘I don’t feel as if it was worthwhile to turn my hand over for anything. .’ (Gilman 661).
Her husband is apparently oblivious to her declining condition, since he never admits she has a real problem until the end of the story, at which time he faints. He does talk of taking her to an expert when she states ‘John says if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall’ (Gilman 660), which she took that as a threat since Mitchell was even more domineering than her husband and brother. Not only does her husband fail to get her help, but by virtually keeping her a prisoner in a room with nauseating wallpaper and very little to occupy her mind, he forces her to dwell on her problem without any kind of mental stimulation.
Prison is supposed to be depressing, and she is pretty close to being a prisoner. Perhaps if she had been allowed to come and go and do as she pleased her depression might have lifted: ‘I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me’ (Gilman 660).
Perhaps if she had just been able to tell someone how she really felt, she could have eased her depression. The lack of an outlet caused her depression to worsen: ‘…
I must say what I feel and think in some way — it is such a relief! But the effort is getting to be greater than the relief’ (Gilman 662).
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Meanwhile her reaction is to seek to prove him wrong. ‘John is a physician, and perhaps… perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?’ (Gilman 193).
It seems to me that while putting on an appearance of submission she was frequently rebelling against her husband’s orders.
She writes when there is nobody around to see her, she tries to move her bed, but always keeps an eye open for someone coming. Instances such as this are obvious throughout the story. I also feel that probably because of her husband’s domineering behavior, she wants to drive her him further away. ‘John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious.
I am glad my case is not serious!’ (Gilman 659).
As her breakdown approaches, she literally locks him out of her room: ‘I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path. I don’t want to go out, and I don’t want to have anybody come in, till John comes. I want to astonish him’ (Gilman 668).
I see no reason for this reaction other than to force him to see that he was wrong, and, since she knew he couldn’t tolerate hysteria, to drive him away.
