Similarities Between The Yellow Wallpaper And Plath

Great Essays
In the literary works of Chopin, Gilman and Plath, marriage remains the predominant motif of the plot, all of which put forth the idea that marriage is a device of “entrapment” of the female sex. Arguably, all three authors adopt “feminist bias”. They are presented from the viewpoint of the female protagonists without any true male interjections; the protagonists struggle to express themselves within restrictive conventions of the patriarchal society which they live in. Finally, the protagonists flee the restraints of society through avenues which are detrimental to themselves; via suicide in both “The awakening” and “The collected works of Sylvia Plath” and insanity in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Arguably it is not the restraints of society which lead to their demise but the intrinsic flaw within the characters and speakers.
The matter of female liberation and individualism is brought to attention in
…show more content…
The narrator of “The Yellow Wall-paper” begins as a stable individual; she describes the “garden--large and shady, full of box-bordered paths”, the “pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings”, and even “those sprawling flamboyant patterns” of the wallpaper in a reasonable manner, suggesting that she possesses clarity of mind. Furthermore, she asserts that her migration to the countryside is not a result of the mental instability but because her husband has diagnosed her with depression. The speaker also suggests that her condition would improve if she “had less opposition and more society and stimulus,” clearly highlighting her opposition to the restraints she is placed in by “John”. In “The awakening” Edna, is unhappy despite her husband being described as “the best husband in the world”. Similar to the husband of the speaker in “The yellow wallpaper” Edna’s husband Mr. Pontellier consults with Doctor Mandelet because he

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Chopin and Gilman do not only use the setting to present the profound desire of freedom and autonomy of their main female protagonists; they also employ irony to criticize and to change the misogynistic society. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” uses many deep ironies to express the desire of freedom and selfhood. For example, as other characters (Josephine and Richard) think that Louise is “making [herself] ill in her room” (Chopin 426), after her husband dead she is “she was drinking the very elixir of life through [the] open window” (Chopin 426). There is no grief and no pain associated with the loss of her husband. The irony is indicative of the need to suppress patriarchal oppression.…

    • 864 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chopin and Gilman stories about the attitudes of marriage and the role of woman are extremely realistic according to the social organization of their era. At that time, the marriage was a rigid institution and very organized. Each member had a clearly defined role. Thus, the husband was the head of the family and enjoyed great authority over his wife. The atmosphere and the climate in the home were totally dependent on his mood and his goodwill.…

    • 177 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The duration of the Yellow Wallpaper’s conclusion compared to the Story of an Hour’s is tied within its severity in which the woman Is periodically getting worse mentally while Louise envisions her future. “Beyond bitter moment- years belong to her absolutely” (SH) Her grief is shattered because what she wants, but never realizes until the death of her husband, was a life of her own. For the yellow wallpaper, the woman restricts her actions of freedom. “Less opposition and more society - but John says”.…

    • 1431 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” was written in 1894 and explores the position of women within the 19th century society. An interesting aspect of this short story is that it is an early example of feminism in literature. Chopin is subtle, but very effective, in criticizing marriage and the role and position of women during the Victorian Era. The purpose of this essay is to make an approach into the mythic constructions of femininity in this Kate Chopin’s story but also to explore how the author influences the reaction of the reader by using several literary techniques. This essay analyzes the literary techniques employed by Chopin in “The Story of an Hour”.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “the Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator and her husband are on vacation in a secluded edifice. The narrator’s husband, John, is also her doctor and diagnoses her with an illness which he calls ‘temporary nervous depression’, and tells her rest. As they live in the house, the narrator starts to become more and more debilitated and starts saying demented things, indicating that the house may be haunted. Also the narrator gets extremely attached to ‘ the yellow wallpaper’ and begins to see shapes that form a picture; a picture of a lady trying to escape from bars. this picture relays an unnerving feeling in the reader.…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All by Herself During the writing of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, she goes to great depths and lengths to describe the young, upper-middle-class woman who is newly married to a physician named John and a mother yet a nameless narrator who has a character of what she describes herself as, “a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 64). How would one expect the personality and character of a woman who is sent to a quiet and empty house, by her husband, be? A character analysis of the narrator and wife of John, reveals throughout this writing her depression, how she overcomes it while she is being isolated from the world, and how she regains her freedom of thoughts and actions.…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The yellow wallpaper is a story about women who is depressed by her husband and society. The style of the both writers with almost the same art of characterization makes them similar. The both writers were successful in making the object of their stories. The use of syntax and personification were almost the same. The narrator of the respective stories can be assumed as the persons, who are facing the mental instability.…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Yellow Wallpaper was Charlotte Perkins Gliman 's reaction to the rest cure that psychiatrist Silas Weir Mitchell had prescribed to her when she became depressed after the birth of her first child. Gilman believed that the cure had not only been ineffective, but had caused her depression to worsen. Gilman wrote the story to challenge Dr. Mitchell to alter his treatment of neurasthenia. Charlotte Perkins Gilman used symbolism within the yellow wallpaper to challenge the effects that the treatment for neurasthenia was having on women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman makes the setting in which the narrator lives symbolic of the oppression of women who were prescribed the rest cure for hysteria in the 1800 's in order to challenge the efficiency of…

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    A Wife’s Escape Kate Chopin 's novel The Awakening and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” have a similar story involving a woman narrator overcoming, or escaping from, her predetermined role. However, both stories end in a negative manner for the women, with a suicide in The Awakening and insanity in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” So although the struggle for freedom is inherently feminist, it is possible that the endings could be seen as the women realizing that they will never be able to truly escape the restraints of patriarchal society. Edna’s desire to escape her life starts to come about after she has an emotional awakening from her relationship with Robert.…

    • 1890 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Research Topic The Yellow wallpaper is a short story that was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The short story engages in stereotypes of women in society. The fact that Gilman introduces a woman in the story and how she goes crazy because the role she is able to play in the society is limited, and also the ability for her to express herself creatively is constricted, simply points out how Gillman is making a Feminist statement by critiquing society’s view of women in general and the limitation society places on women.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Woman in the Wallpaper “The Yellow Wallpaper” is set at a time when women could not easily flourish. Treated as less then men, many suffered at the hands of medicine as the narrator does. Her husband, her brother and even her husband’s sister who “thinks it is the writing which made [her] sick”(481) have more control over her recovery than she does.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman about a mentally ill woman and her husband’s time at a vacation home. The story details his attempts to nurse the woman back to health. The story is set in Victorian times and the themes of the story reflect that. While staying in the home, the narrator is often cooped up in one bedroom. This isolation, coupled with society’s expectations of women at that time, cause her to dissolve into a complete nervous breakdown.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This essay attempts to compare the paralysis and repression of two women with different social statuses in male-domineered societies. The first of which is Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, a short story which takes place in the late 19th century America and follows a repressed Mrs. Mallard who, upon being falsely informed of her husband’s death, sets out to gain a sense of self-assertion. Her short period of rejoice – and her life – are, however, put to an end when her husband returns. The second is “Eveline”, one of the fifteen stories written in the 20th century by James Joyce under the heading Dubliners. “Eveline” is about a young woman named Eveline who cannot decide whether to continue living in patriarchal Dublin, or to escape with…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Leaving a person with depression in a lonely house, with very few people is deleterious for the person. Depression can cause a person to breakdown to a point where the individual starts doubting about her health and her thoughts as well as the other people’s thoughts. To prevent a breakdown from occurring, people around them need to be very cautious and give the affected one freedom. This caution is not taken within the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. As a consequence the affected character, the narrator, has a mental breakdown.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “If I Were a Man,” a woman, Mollie Mathewson, imagines what it would be like if she were a man for a day and subsequently ends up in her husband’s body. Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” follows the journal of a woman who is going through a psychological breakdown. These seem like different plots, however, they share a common theme of the repression of women by men. In Gilman’s…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays