Essay About Oppressive Husband And Slight Nervous Condition

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, there is a
dominant/submissive relationship that exists between an oppressive husband and
his submissive wife. This oppressive husband leads his wife from a state of
depression to a state of insanity and finally, to a state of isolation. Had the
husband not been so oppressive upon his wife, he could have realized her problem
and resolved it without tearing himself away from her. The woman does not
become insane because of the wallpaper alone; rather, it is the strict
guidelines her husband sets for her that prompt her eventual insanity and
isolation.
As the story begins, the woman — whose name we never learn
— tells of her depression and how it is dismissed by her husband and brother.
“You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician
of high standing, and ones own husband, assures friends and relatives that
there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression —
a slight hysterical tendency — what is one to do?” (Gilman 658). These two
men, both doctors, are apparently unable to admit that there might be more to
her condition than just stress and a slight nervous condition. Even when a
summer in the country and weeks of bed-rest dont help, her husband refuses to
accept that she may have a real problem.
Throughout the story there are examples of the
dominant/submissive relationship. She is virtually imprisoned in her bedroom,
supposedly to allow her to rest and recover her health. Her husband does not
allow her to work, “So I . . . am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well
again” (Gilman 658). She depicts his control over her actions when she states,
“There comes John, and I must put this away — he hates to have me write a
word”(Gilman 659).
She has no say in the location or decor of the room she is
virtually imprisoned in: “I dont like our room a bit. I wanted . . . But John
would not hear of it” (Gilman 659). He also doesnt allow her to have visitors:
“It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work .
. . but he says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me
have those stimulating people about now.” (Gilman 660).
Probably in large part because of her oppression, her health
continues to decline. “I dont feel as if it was worthwhile to turn my hand
over for anything..” (Gilman 661). Her husband is apparently oblivious to her
declining condition, since he never admits she has a real problem until the end
of the story, at which time he faints. He does talk of
taking her to an expert when she states “John says if I dont pick up faster he
shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall” (Gilman 660), which she took that as
a threat since Mitchell was even more domineering than her husband and brother.
Not only does her husband fail to get her help, but by virtually
keeping her a prisoner in