In the last half of the nineteenth century, Victorian ideals still held sway in American society, at least among members of the middle and upper classes. Thus the cult of True Womanhood was still promoted which preached four cardinal virtues for women: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Women were considered far more religious than men and, therefore, they had to be pure in heart, mind, and, of course, body, not engaging in sex until marriage, and even then not finding any pleasure in it. They were also supposed to be passive responders to men’s decisions, actions, and needs. The true woman’s place was her home; “females were uniquely suited to raise children,care for the needs of their menfolk, and devote their lives to creating a nurturing home environment.” (Norton, 108).
However, the tensions between old and new, traditional and untraditional , were great during the last years of nineteenth century and there was a debate among male and female writers and social thinkers as to what the role of women should be. Among the female writers who devoted their work to defying their views about the woman’s place in society were Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) was a social activist and theorist of the women’s movement at the turn of the twentieth century.
She developed her feminist ideals in her novels, short stories and nonfiction books such as Women and Economics. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is best known for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper, (1892) which is based on her own experience. As the story begins, the woman-whose name we never learn- tells of her depression and how it is being treated by her husband and brother who are both doctors. These two men are unable to see that there is more to her condition than just a stress and depression and prescribe for her rest as a cure. The narrator is taken to a summer house to recover form her condition where she is not allowed to do anything but rest and sleep. Furthermore, she cannot do one thing that she loves the most: writing. ” I must put this away, -he hates to have me write a word.” She spends most of her time in a room with yellow wallpaper and very little to occupy her mind with. She becomes obsessed with discovering what is behind the pattern of the wallpaper and becomes determined that the image is a woman who is struggling to become free.
The Essay on Women In Story Of An Hour And
Women in Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper Two women from two different books shared the same contrast and similarities. From the books of The Story of the Hour by Kate Chapin, and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins. These two stories had a lot in common and shared a lot of the same views about women in the late 1800 s. Both stories showed the horrifying tragic that happened to two ...
The narrator wants to set this woman free, so she peels off the yellow wallpaper. Then she locks herself in the room and throws the keys out of the window. When her husband gets to the door and wants to break in, she tells him over and over again where the keys are. After he gets in and sees her creeping on the floor, he faints, and the narrator “had to creep over him every time.” Though The Yellow Wallpaper is a fiction, it was based on Gilman’s own experience after being diagnosed as a hysteric and prescribed a rest cure which prohibited her writing. However, The Yellow Wallpaper is more than a case study in mental illness or a horror story, it is a story of a dominant/submissive relationship between husband and wife. John, the narrator’s husband, never takes her seriously.
At the very beginning of the story she says ” John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” Anytime the narrator would make a suggestion for her recovery, John would give her a ” stern reproachful look.” Although the narrator feels desperate, John tells her that there is no reason for how she feels. He treats her like a child and makes her doubt herself. John is the man of the house and he expects the narrator to trust him completely, just as small children trust in their parents. The narrator often speaks in a manner that suggests that she cannot disagree with anything her husband says. She is a typical nineteenth century submissive wife and her “What is one to do?” means that she has no authority and no control over her life. The idea of resting is not something she likes, she would rather work, but she has no choice.
The Essay on How is John’s relationship with Elizabeth different from that with Abigail?
The relationship betwen John and Abigail had more physical chemistry and lust compared to that between John and Elizabeth, who kept a more estranged and distant relationship. This is seen from Abigail’s flirtatious relationship with John, with Abigail caught admiring John physique, “absorbing his presence, wide-eyed”, in comparison with Elizabeth, who simply “receives” John’s kiss and remains ...
Still, she manages to disobey her husband and write her journal without him knowing it. There are many other evidences of dominant-submissive relationship, and one of the most convincing is when John says, ” I beg of you, for my sake and our child’s sake, as well as for your own” By placing himself and the baby first he is unintentionally saying that she is not important enough. The main cause of the narrator’s mental condition is her overbearing husband who stifles her emotional and imaginative impulses and forces her to concentrate on the objects that surround her. Furthermore, this inactivity pushes her deeper into madness. John imprisons her in a room that has no escape with bars on the windows and immovable bed which is “nailed down.” But the narrator is not just a prison of this room, she is a prison of her marriage. Her developing insanity is a form of rebellion and a way to gain her own independence.
Her struggle to set the woman in the wallpaper free symbolized her fight for independence. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899) carried out the same theme of struggling woman in a dominant/ submissive relationship. However, Kate Chopin was different from Gilman because she never joined or supported organizations though which women fought to gain political, economic, and social rights equal to those of men. At the same time they both felt that relationships founded on economic dependence and household duties had to be reconsidered. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman had very different views on women’s sexuality. Gilman spoke out strongly against eroticism in women’s life while Kate Chopin concentrated mainly on the biological aspects of women’s situation and was the first writer in her country ” to accept passion as a legitimate subject for serious, outspoken fiction.” ( Per Seyerted, 198) The Awakening tells the story of a middle class woman, Edna Pontellier, who lives in New Orleans.
The Essay on Kate Chopin 4
Who comes to mind when the term “American author” is mentioned? A lot of female authors of today would say Kate Chopin, one of the most independent writers of the nineteenth century. Although Kate Chopin didn’t live to see her work re-published, she is an important author to study because her stories are influential, her ambition arouses her readers, and her point of view supports independent ...
She is married to a man she no longer loves and she looks for excitement and passion that they don’t have in their relationship. She falls in love with a young man, Robert Lebrun, but he goes to Mexico when he discovers that his feelings toward Edna are very strong. During their separation Edna becomes involved with another man even though she doesn’t love him. After Robert Lebrun comes back from Mexico, he meets Edna and admits to her that he loves her, but their happiness doesn’t last long. Edna leaves to see her friend, Adele, and when she comes home, there is a note that is left by Robert Lebrun that says, “I love you. Good-by- because I love you.” Edna decides to take a swim and she never returns. Edna, as the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper, isn’t satisfied with her marriage which is based on dominant/ submissive relationship.
Her husband, Mr. Pontellier, doesn’t treat Edna as human being , rather he treats her like one of his possessions paying just enough attention to make sure Edna is physically well and does everything that is expected from her. Mr. Pontellier lives for his business, social respect, and a decent family. As soon as he sees Edna’s behavior changing, he seeks advice of a doctor. He is concerned about the fact that Edna “lets the housekeeping go to the dickens” and about her “some sort ….
