Two different women experience imprisonment in more ways than one. In W;t, Margaret Edson has simulated the journey of Vivian Bearing, a Ph.D. professor of Seventeenth-Century Poetry. Vivian is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer and is undergoing intensive treatment. Her participation in experimental chemotherapy prompts her to reevaluate her life as it is. As a result of this, her history of being an unemotional professor begins to fade. Similarly, in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells a story about the protagonist and her husband John, who are spending the summer away as a treatment for her mental illness. Loneliness strikes and the protagonist finds herself becoming obsessed with the wallpaper in their temporary home.
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After deciding to be considered DNR or Do Not Resuscitate if her heart gives out, she tells herself “ (Slowly) Now is a time for simplicity. Now is a time for kindness” (Edson 69). Her experience of a loss of control due to her illness enables her to accept the truth of death. She shows a surrender not of death, but of change which allows rebirth. Proceeding her last moments, Jason walks in and begins to examine her while she sleeps “Uh-oh. That 's it. Kidneys gone” (Edson 81). The kidneys no longer functioning shows the final loss of power, death. Following the miscommunication of the DNR that is called on Vivian, Susie yells for everyone to get out of the room and we see “The instant she is naked, and beautiful, reaching for the light-Lights out.)” (Edson 85). The light symbolizes the life that is being taken away as she reaches rebirth through death. She voluntarily reaches for the light in acceptance in order to experience the rebirth she has been longing for. In opposition, the protagonists rebirthing is through a gain of control despite her mental illness. Her confinement drove her to become obsessed with the wallpaper in their home. On the last day of their stay in the home she states “I then peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor” (Gilman 655). The paper she peels symbolizes the “fragile substitute for reality” (Chevalier 735) she has been experiencing. Her deliberate feelings towards the wallpaper is actually her deflecting feelings about herself. She is getting back to reality and is becoming reborn through this ritual of peeling the paper. She finds comfort in gaining control of her life by freeing herself from imprisonment of John. He takes advantage of her in her vulnerable state of illness. When seeing what she had done she confesses “Now why should that man have fainted?” (Gilman 656). John fainting portrays his loss of control of
After deciding to be considered DNR or Do Not Resuscitate if her heart gives out, she tells herself “ (Slowly) Now is a time for simplicity. Now is a time for kindness” (Edson 69). Her experience of a loss of control due to her illness enables her to accept the truth of death. She shows a surrender not of death, but of change which allows rebirth. Proceeding her last moments, Jason walks in and begins to examine her while she sleeps “Uh-oh. That 's it. Kidneys gone” (Edson 81). The kidneys no longer functioning shows the final loss of power, death. Following the miscommunication of the DNR that is called on Vivian, Susie yells for everyone to get out of the room and we see “The instant she is naked, and beautiful, reaching for the light-Lights out.)” (Edson 85). The light symbolizes the life that is being taken away as she reaches rebirth through death. She voluntarily reaches for the light in acceptance in order to experience the rebirth she has been longing for. In opposition, the protagonists rebirthing is through a gain of control despite her mental illness. Her confinement drove her to become obsessed with the wallpaper in their home. On the last day of their stay in the home she states “I then peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor” (Gilman 655). The paper she peels symbolizes the “fragile substitute for reality” (Chevalier 735) she has been experiencing. Her deliberate feelings towards the wallpaper is actually her deflecting feelings about herself. She is getting back to reality and is becoming reborn through this ritual of peeling the paper. She finds comfort in gaining control of her life by freeing herself from imprisonment of John. He takes advantage of her in her vulnerable state of illness. When seeing what she had done she confesses “Now why should that man have fainted?” (Gilman 656). John fainting portrays his loss of control of