The Yellow Wallpaper Summary

Charlotte Perkins Gilman had addressed an issue of society’s pressures, specifically the authority of men over woman. The author sells the idea in a manor where she portrays the setting of the room, the behaviour of the husband and the role of the maid. Firstly, we see that the woman hates the room. She had been forced to stay in the room by her husband. Some parts of the room that are described are the metal bars, a bed bolted to the floor and the yellow wallpaper. All these things show how she is held back by her husband. The metal bars represent how she is held back by norms and expectations. The bed bolted to the floor shows that she is viewed as a sexual object in which she is used for sexual pleasure. What she hates the most about the room is the yellow wallpaper. The yellow colour represents disease and …show more content…
The husband had treated the woman as an animal and is held back by the husband. In the end she had overcome her husband’s authority and is free from him. Secondly, we see how men have treated woman in this time period in this male dominating setting. We see this in the actions that the husband had done. He told his wife she was sick and had locked her up in the room. Yet she wasn’t sick. She just hadn’t followed the expectations of a woman and shows the dominance that he has over his wife. During that time period men would go out and work while the woman would stay home and do housework. This is what the woman didn’t want. Another thing that the husband did was isolate the woman. He did not want her to go out to see any people. On the other hand he would be free to do whatever he wants. “John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious.” Her husband was free will on his actions which no one else controls except him. The author sells did idea by showing that woman have no choice over their life. She had been placed in the room by men because they wanted to fix