Following the suffragette movement, the communal expression of women was liberated as a result of social cohesion. Whilst the attained ability for women to voice has seen refinement to previously confined gender roles, acculturated issues regarding gender equality further stimulate women to embrace their voice. The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s response to the patriarchal society of the nineteenth century, and the Australian Human Rights Commission 2017 document, A Conversation in Gender Equality, reflect the issues important to women. Differing in context, both texts present criticism of society from a female perspective, representing the oppression of women and prolonged gender inequality through language and stylistic features.
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Inundated by the patriarchal society of the nineteenth century, Gilman presents controlled, exquisitely poised criticism of society; maintaining a clean, insouciant style. The language within the text adopts a melancholic, but revengeful tone, allowing Gilman to confront her target audience of men. Employing the narrator to conceal her resentment through creative diction, she describes, “the dead paper looks to [her] as if it knew what a vicious influence it had!” (Gilman, 8), however, “is a great relief to [her] mind” (Gilman, 3). Significantly, through the hyperbolic embellishment of anthropomorphism and macabre adjectives, Gilman uncovers that men in society repress the artistic and vocal expression of women. “I must put this away, – he hates to have [me] write a word”, demonstrates submission of the narrator to her physician husband. Effectively, Gilman voices the controlling nature of men, repeating, “And what is one to do?… But what is one to do?” (Gilman, 4), to accentuate the oppression of women. Furthermore, the use of cacophony, antithesis, and simile, to unveil the wallpaper, “slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you…like a bad dream” (Gilman, 15), effectively provokes a pessimistic feeling from the audience, influencing their understanding of the issues important to the narrator and Gilman alike. Due to the constricting context of The Yellow Wallpaper, figurative language is precisely selected by Gilman to serve as an overtone to her dismantlement of patriarchal
Inundated by the patriarchal society of the nineteenth century, Gilman presents controlled, exquisitely poised criticism of society; maintaining a clean, insouciant style. The language within the text adopts a melancholic, but revengeful tone, allowing Gilman to confront her target audience of men. Employing the narrator to conceal her resentment through creative diction, she describes, “the dead paper looks to [her] as if it knew what a vicious influence it had!” (Gilman, 8), however, “is a great relief to [her] mind” (Gilman, 3). Significantly, through the hyperbolic embellishment of anthropomorphism and macabre adjectives, Gilman uncovers that men in society repress the artistic and vocal expression of women. “I must put this away, – he hates to have [me] write a word”, demonstrates submission of the narrator to her physician husband. Effectively, Gilman voices the controlling nature of men, repeating, “And what is one to do?… But what is one to do?” (Gilman, 4), to accentuate the oppression of women. Furthermore, the use of cacophony, antithesis, and simile, to unveil the wallpaper, “slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you…like a bad dream” (Gilman, 15), effectively provokes a pessimistic feeling from the audience, influencing their understanding of the issues important to the narrator and Gilman alike. Due to the constricting context of The Yellow Wallpaper, figurative language is precisely selected by Gilman to serve as an overtone to her dismantlement of patriarchal