The Yellow Wallpaper Literary Analysis

Register to read the introduction… Mallard's distress caused by heart problems. Chopin leads the reader to believe that such stated inflictions are physical, though the disease was never properly named. Throughout the story the plot thickens and the reader can deduce that Mrs. Mallard's disease is not a physical one. Chopin uses expressions such as "no powerful will bending her" (Chopin 524) and "she did not hear the story . . . with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance" (523) to convey Mrs. Mallard's true dislike of her husband. Chopin prolongs the suspense by ending the story on the same note that she began it – she names Mrs. Mallard's death that of "heart disease – of joy that kills" (525). Mrs. Mallard's death by heart failure was truly misunderstood and mistaken for what it really …show more content…
Mallard show obvious signs of psychological and emotional issues. When Jane first moves into her bedroom at the top of the mansion, she despises the yellow wallpaper. She constantly complains to John about it, and he decides that she must overcome her feelings of the wallpaper to get better. As the story advances, Jane disputes her liking of the wallpaper; one day the wallpaper is "vicious" (Perkins Gilman 427) and another Jane is defensive about John "looking at the paper!" (431), though most sane people wouldn't become so emotional over an inanimate object. The reader easily discerns Jane's agitated narration when she jumps from subject to subject. It even becomes hard for her to "think straight" (429) because she is too psychologically detached from reality. Jane habitually sees a lady underneath the wallpaper that is trying to get out. She thinks this same lady sneaks around and spies on the residents of the mansion. Jane drifts so far away from reality that she comes to believe that she is the woman under the wallpaper and has finally ripped her way …show more content…
Mallard's internal concerns are mainly emotional, but she displays mental challenges, too. The narrator boldly states that Mrs. Mallard "had loved him [her husband] – sometimes" (Chopin 524). This information is greater supported by Mrs. Mallard's notion that just the day before she thought that "life might be long" (524). Mrs. Mallard feels free when she learns of her husband's unsuspected death and celebrates by chanting, "Free, free, free!" (524) "Body and soul free!" (524). She even comes so close to the brink of insanity that she believes that she is victorious because she can more easily keep up her reputation and not allow her friends and family to know that she did not serve in a happy marriage.
Thus Mrs. Mallard and Jane convey an intriguing theme of madness that living in an inner life can cause. They are good examples of mental and emotional problems to come for one who lives a diseased and distrusted life. As Jane loses touch with the outside world, she comes to a greater perception of the inner reality of her life. Mrs. Mallard also forgoes this understanding, except she dies rather than live the remainder of her life in suffering, an answer that no one should have to