The Yellow Wallpaper Patriarchy Analysis

In a feminist vein, Gilman (2015) offers a critique of the societal conditions that led to the life of Jane as portrayed in The Yellow Wallpaper. As tragic as the ending is, it serves to illustrate the criticism of the hegemonic patriarchy that Gilman (1898) found prevalent in society. Within the confines of the story, Jane’s husband perceives her mad, to the extent where he faints from seeing what she has done. Let us for a moment or two assume that fainting is a sign of illness, as it is in some cases, and that Jane’s husband was taken into the emergency room and made to see a physician. Imagine if the cause of the fainting were not addressed in the context of what husbands had been conditioned to expect from their wives, but as a sign of …show more content…
Rather, it is the domestic economics of the time that determined these gendered social roles. In a capitalist society and nuclear family, men are socially conditioned to be the breadwinners while women are guided towards motherhood. This then forces women to rely on men for their sustenance. For without the same training as men have, women would be at a disadvantage when going into the workforce, ill prepared for jobs that men have been trained for their entire lives. Men on the other hand rely on women for domestic chores, as they have never been conditioned to do …show more content…
For one thing, capitalism requires a continuous supply of workers. And being that women are the ones bearing children, raising them to think of childbearing as their lives’ mission seems quite pragmatic. Giving women the responsibility of childbearing and men the responsibility to provide for them ensures that having children remain a central part of the family, perpetuating the capitalist society that requires it if it is to survive. Just as women are excuse from financial responsibility so that they can concentrate all their energy on childbearing and rearing, so too are men excused from most, perhaps any emotional attachment with their children. This allows them to focus on work without distraction, an ideal capitalist puppet. Secondly, having women cook and clean furthers capitalism’s goal, for now men need not concern themselves with timely chores. Instead of needing time to do these chores, men now have more time to dedicate to work, making efficient use of their time in accordance with capitalism’s ideal. With this in mind, Gilman’s statement that “the labour of women in the house, certainly, enables men to produce more than they otherwise could” rings true, for by having all their needs attended to they can focus solely on work, making them more productive than if they had to be busy with household