The brief story “Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman is a powerful, and complex apologue with several twists and turns. The psychological focus of the story is a female protagonist, who is strongly convinced that she is sick with a nervous condition based on the findings of a physician, and her supposed husband (Gilman 655). This nervous condition seemed to develop into a more serious mental disease that is portrayed by the protagonist visualizing a second woman hiding within the hideous wallpaper, which leaves the reader to consider that the mental health of the woman has deteriorated (Gilman 661). Based on the elaborating plot of the story, the female protagonist is in fact mentally ill (possibly schizophrenic) since
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In the woman’s mind, she conceives him to be on a personal relationship, rather than a professional doctor-patient connection, which correlates with Sigmund Freud’s concept: The Oedipus Complex, and Carl Jung’s thesis of transference. Freud’s theory states that a young child’s sexual development begins when the child loves the parent of the opposite sex, and hates the parent of the same gender (Freud 918). Freud believes this is a natural way of life, and will over time become repressed; however, when a person does not associate with the disappearance of these thoughts, the patient will become neurotic (Freud 918). Similarly, Carl Jung defined transference as a way the patient will relate by allowing inappropriate feelings (based off of Freud’s Oedipus Complex) toward a kin to be established onto the doctor (Jung 936). In this particular story, the protagonist is a prime example of Freud’s and Jung’s ideas; specifically, the woman appears to have a connection with doctor John that only seems to be one sided on the woman’s end. The woman has confirmed that her brother is also a physician, with identical work to John’s; therefore, perhaps her feelings of her brother are related to the ‘love’ she feels in Jung’s hypothesis of transference (Gilman …show more content…
However, it is clearly stated by the narrator that before being acquainted with the room, “...One’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is… temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency…” (Gilman 656). This contradicts the belief that the worsening of the mind happened after being relocated into the hideously covered enclosure of the misleading paper. The woman also expresses how she was recommended to utilize at home remedies such as, “Phosphates or phosphites-whichever it is, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again” (Gilman 656). In addition, the woman tells the reader that John acknowledges the fact that she has some sort of ailment, “..John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition…” (Gilman 657). In this manner, it is more apparent to consider that the woman is mentally infirm prior to being acquainted with her imminent restriction in the room. In conclusion, the woman in the short story, “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, has been mentally unstable since the beginning, even before she was placed in the room. The visualization of the trapped woman assisted in the mental deterioration of the protagonist by adding an influence to break
In the woman’s mind, she conceives him to be on a personal relationship, rather than a professional doctor-patient connection, which correlates with Sigmund Freud’s concept: The Oedipus Complex, and Carl Jung’s thesis of transference. Freud’s theory states that a young child’s sexual development begins when the child loves the parent of the opposite sex, and hates the parent of the same gender (Freud 918). Freud believes this is a natural way of life, and will over time become repressed; however, when a person does not associate with the disappearance of these thoughts, the patient will become neurotic (Freud 918). Similarly, Carl Jung defined transference as a way the patient will relate by allowing inappropriate feelings (based off of Freud’s Oedipus Complex) toward a kin to be established onto the doctor (Jung 936). In this particular story, the protagonist is a prime example of Freud’s and Jung’s ideas; specifically, the woman appears to have a connection with doctor John that only seems to be one sided on the woman’s end. The woman has confirmed that her brother is also a physician, with identical work to John’s; therefore, perhaps her feelings of her brother are related to the ‘love’ she feels in Jung’s hypothesis of transference (Gilman …show more content…
However, it is clearly stated by the narrator that before being acquainted with the room, “...One’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is… temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency…” (Gilman 656). This contradicts the belief that the worsening of the mind happened after being relocated into the hideously covered enclosure of the misleading paper. The woman also expresses how she was recommended to utilize at home remedies such as, “Phosphates or phosphites-whichever it is, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again” (Gilman 656). In addition, the woman tells the reader that John acknowledges the fact that she has some sort of ailment, “..John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition…” (Gilman 657). In this manner, it is more apparent to consider that the woman is mentally infirm prior to being acquainted with her imminent restriction in the room. In conclusion, the woman in the short story, “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, has been mentally unstable since the beginning, even before she was placed in the room. The visualization of the trapped woman assisted in the mental deterioration of the protagonist by adding an influence to break