Essay On Power In The Yellow Wallpaper

What is power? Power is often known as an essentially contested concept. “Although the word power would definitely be controversial, a lot of work in feminist theory is devoted to the tasks of critiquing women's subordination, analyzing the intersections between sexism and other forms of subordination such as racism, heterosexism, and class oppression, and envisioning the possibilities for both individual and collective resistance to such subordination.” (Stanford University, Plato Stanford EDU) The concept of power is central to each of these theoretical tasks; power is most defiantly a branch off for the well-known feminist theory as well. The idea and concept of the word power has evolved over the past centuries. How women as a whole are thought to have power has also changed and evolved as a whole. A woman’s status in the family, society, and in the work force has been an issue of controversy. “The writers of the Enlightenment most often took a traditional stance on "the women question"; they viewed …show more content…
John, her husband, feels a state of power over his wife. By him not only being her husband but also her doctor, his own superior wisdom and maturity leads him to misjudge, patronize, and dominate over his wife, all in the name of supposedly helping her. (Sparknotes, The Yellow Wallpaper – Symbolism and Analysis) The narrator acts as though she is unable to stand up for herself without seeming unreasonable or disloyal to her own husband. When the narrator would make a statement or state her opinion her husband would talk down to her and in a childlike way. The narrator “Jane” has no input on even the smallest details of her life, and she goes into her other world, the only place she can retain some control, exercise the power of her mind, and have a say in the things she thinks and