Throughout the 19th and 20th century there was a widespread belief that women suffered from an illness called hysteria. Its definition states that it is a “psychological disorder” in which mental stresses can turn into physical symptoms such as “attention-seeking behavior[s]”. The origin of this word comes from the Greek word “hystera,” which literally means uterus. Thus this disorder was linked to women, specifically women whom men considered to be disturbed in some way if they did not conform to society’s standards of domesticity such as motherhood or housekeeping. So it is no wonder that during this time period many stories were published with critiques on this so-called women’s illness. One such story was Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper,
…show more content…
The novel’s main protagonist Edna Pontellier is introduced as not “motherly” in fact she is the opposite of what a traditional “mother-woman” was at the time in the late 1800s. Her negligence with her two sons is a source of disdain for her husband and is a cause for ridicule from her friend and perfect mother-woman, Mrs. Ratignolle. Adele Ratignolle does absolutely everything for her children but Edna states, “‘I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself’” (Chopin, 90). If Edna’s husband had forced her to see a medical professional, she would have been deemed hysterical for rejecting her roles as devoted mother and wife and wishing to find herself beyond those …show more content…
As the narrator’s sense of reality slowly deteriorates as the rest cure progresses, she begins to see images in the wallpaper starting with what appears to be, “absurd, unblinking eyes…the eyes go all up and down the line, one a little higher than the other” (Gilman, 650). The eyes she sees in the yellow wallpaper represent the eyes of those around her watching her every move. They represent her husband and by proxy the physicians who administer the rest cure and dominance over “hysterical” women. The narrator describes feeling, “positively angry with the impertinence of it and the everlastingness” (Gilman, 649-650), repeating again her inner disagreement with needing the rest
The novel’s main protagonist Edna Pontellier is introduced as not “motherly” in fact she is the opposite of what a traditional “mother-woman” was at the time in the late 1800s. Her negligence with her two sons is a source of disdain for her husband and is a cause for ridicule from her friend and perfect mother-woman, Mrs. Ratignolle. Adele Ratignolle does absolutely everything for her children but Edna states, “‘I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself’” (Chopin, 90). If Edna’s husband had forced her to see a medical professional, she would have been deemed hysterical for rejecting her roles as devoted mother and wife and wishing to find herself beyond those …show more content…
As the narrator’s sense of reality slowly deteriorates as the rest cure progresses, she begins to see images in the wallpaper starting with what appears to be, “absurd, unblinking eyes…the eyes go all up and down the line, one a little higher than the other” (Gilman, 650). The eyes she sees in the yellow wallpaper represent the eyes of those around her watching her every move. They represent her husband and by proxy the physicians who administer the rest cure and dominance over “hysterical” women. The narrator describes feeling, “positively angry with the impertinence of it and the everlastingness” (Gilman, 649-650), repeating again her inner disagreement with needing the rest