The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis Essay

The setting of “The Yellow Wallpaper” takes place in a colonial mansion. The mansion seems very eerie; the author compares it to a haunted house. The author’s tone gives the reader a clear idea of the type of story it will be. The narrator begins the story by talking about her husband, John; she tells the audience that he is a doctor and explains that she is sick. Charlotte Gillman uses symbolism, irony, and similes to strengthen the story line of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The narrator seems to think that her illness is not as bad as she thinks it is. She thinks that she’s normal, yet her husband controls what she can and cannot do. Her illness is described as “nervous troubles”. Her husband says that she can not do some things because “nothing was worse for a nervous patient than to give way to such fancies” (Gilman 649). Specifically, her husband refuses to let her write. He advises her to be very cautious of everything that she does because of her illness that …show more content…
She is forced to stay in the room with the yellow wallpaper, and the narrator thinks that she sees a woman in the wallpaper; this is representing her being trapped by her husband. The narrator says “I lie here on this immovable bed-it is nailed down” (Gillman 650), referring to the feeling of being trapped. The woman in the wallpaper is trapped in the wallpaper, while the narrator is trapped in the room. Another example of symbolism used, is the nursery. The nursery represents the relationship between the narrator and her husband. Her husband treats her like a child, which is why she lives in a nursery. Her husband is very controlling about everything that she does, because he thinks he knows what is best for her. Not only does John treat her like a child, but he also puts himself above her. Even the greenhouses symbolize the narrator’s urge to write being rejected by her husband, because all of the greenhouses are