Through the lens of Tragic Hope and Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper, readers witness the struggle for freedom within confinement.
The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story written by an American author named Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It was published a long time ago in 1892. The story is about a woman who is feeling very sad and tired. Her husband, John, is a doctor, and he believes the best way to make her better is to rest and stay in a room with yellow wallpaper. The woman stays in the room for many days, but instead of feeling better, she starts to feel worse. She begins to think that there is something strange and scary about the yellow wallpaper on the walls.
The story is written like a diary, so we get to hear the woman’s thoughts and feelings directly. She is not allowed to do anything she enjoys, like writing or reading, because her husband says it will make her tired. All she can do is look at the yellow wallpaper in the room. At first, she doesn’t like the wallpaper because it looks ugly and messy. But as time goes on, she becomes more and more interested in the patterns on the wallpaper.
As she looks at the wallpaper every day, she starts to see shapes and movements in it. She believes there is a woman trapped behind the wallpaper, trying to get out. The more she watches, the more she feels connected to the woman in the wallpaper. She thinks that if she helps the woman escape, she will feel free too.
This story shows us how important it is for people to talk about their feelings and to get the right kind of help when they are not feeling well. It also teaches us that being stuck in one place for a long time without doing things we love can make us feel even worse.
The yellow wallpaper in the story becomes a symbol, which means it represents something bigger than just wallpaper. It stands for how the woman feels trapped in her own life. She feels like she has no control over what she does, and that makes her feel very unhappy. The story helps us understand that everyone needs to be listened to and cared for in the right way.
At the end of the story, the woman’s imagination takes over completely, and she believes that she is the woman who has been trapped in the wallpaper all along. She tears down the wallpaper in a wild effort to free herself. This ending can be a little confusing, but it shows how being alone and misunderstood for too long can make people feel lost.
Even though The Yellow Wallpaper was written a long time ago, it still teaches us important lessons about mental health and how we should care for each other. It reminds us that sometimes people need more than just rest – they need to feel heard, understood, and supported.
Table of Contents
Detailed Summary:
First Entry:
The Big Summer House:
The story begins when the narrator (the woman who is telling the story) moves into a large, beautiful house with her husband. She is amazed that two “ordinary people” like them could live in such a big house. The house is so nice and fancy that she even jokes that it might be haunted because they rented it for a very low price. When she tells John her funny idea, he laughs and says that’s just how things are in marriage.
The theme of Tragic Hope and Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper reveals the complexities of the narrator’s mental state.
John, The Practical Husband
The narrator talks about her husband, John, who is a doctor. He is a very serious and practical man. She feels very sad and thinks she is sick, but John does not believe her. He says she is just a little nervous and that there is nothing seriously wrong with her. He calls it a “slight hysterical tendency,” which means he thinks she is worrying too much.
John tells her that the best way to get better is to rest and not do anything like writing or thinking too much. Even though the woman disagrees and feels upset, she doesn’t argue with him. She feels like she cannot do anything about it, so she follows his instructions.
The Strange House and Yellow Wallpaper
As the woman settles into the house, she notices that it feels very strange and old. It looks like no one has been living there for a long time. John chooses a room at the top of the house for them to stay in. The room is big and bright, but the woman doesn’t like it. She would have preferred a different room, but John insists that this one is best because it has good air that will help her feel better.
The room looks like it used to be a nursery for children. The wallpaper is torn in many places, and there are bars on the windows to stop children from falling out. The thing the woman dislikes the most is the yellow wallpaper on the walls. She finds it very ugly and confusing. The patterns on the wallpaper have odd shapes and don’t make sense to her. She thinks the wallpaper is “irritating” and strange.
Hiding Her Thoughts
Even though John told her not to write, the woman secretly keeps a diary to express her thoughts. She feels like she cannot share these thoughts with her husband because he wouldn’t understand. Whenever John comes close, she quickly hides her diary so he doesn’t see it.
Second Entry:
Feeling Worse After Two Weeks
Two weeks pass by, and instead of feeling better, the woman feels much worse. Her husband, John, is away most of the time for work, so she spends her days alone in the big room that she doesn’t like, which used to be a nursery for children. She feels sad and frustrated because John doesn’t understand how much she is suffering. She even has a baby, but because she feels too nervous and upset, their nanny, Mary, takes care of the baby for her.
The Wallpaper That Bothers Her
The woman really doesn’t like the yellow wallpaper in the room. She asked John if they could change it, but he just laughed and said it was silly to worry about something like wallpaper. He even called her a “blessed little goose,” meaning he thought she was acting funny, and refused to change anything because they would only be staying there for a short time.
Looking Out the Window
When she looks out the window of the room, she can see the overgrown garden, the bay, and a small path shaded by trees. Sometimes, she imagines she sees people walking down the lane, but John warns her not to let her imagination get carried away. He says she shouldn’t make up stories in her head because it will make her nervousness worse. She wishes she could have visitors or be allowed to write, but John thinks that these activities will make her more anxious, so he tells her not to do them.
The Mysterious Wallpaper
The woman can’t stop thinking about the wallpaper. She says it feels like the wallpaper knows it has a bad influence on her. She starts to see strange things in the wallpaper, like different faces and crawling eyes. She even remembers how, as a child, she used to imagine the furniture in her room had expressions or faces.
The room itself seems worse to her now. The floor is scratched up, and the wallpaper is torn in many places. There’s a big, heavy bed in the room, and it was the only piece of furniture there when they first moved in.
A Strange Figure in the Wallpaper
When the light hits the wallpaper in a certain way, the woman starts to see a mysterious shape hidden in the wallpaper’s patterns. It looks like someone or something is hiding, trying to stay out of sight. Just as she is staring at the wallpaper, she sees John’s sister, Jennie, walking toward the house. Jennie helps take care of the home and is described as a “perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper.”
Before Jennie comes up the stairs, the woman quickly hides her diary so no one will see that she has been writing.
Third Entry:
Feeling Worse After Two Weeks
After staying in the house for two weeks, the woman starts feeling even worse. John is often away at work, so she spends most of her time alone in a big room she doesn’t like. This room used to be a nursery for children. She feels sad and upset because John doesn’t really understand how much she is suffering. Even though she has a baby, the woman doesn’t spend time with the baby because she feels too nervous. Instead, their nanny, Mary, takes care of the baby.
The Yellow Wallpaper
The woman really dislikes the yellow wallpaper in the room. She asked John if they could change it, but he laughed and told her not to worry about something as small as wallpaper. He called her a “blessed little goose,” meaning he thought she was being silly. John didn’t want to make any changes because they were only staying in the house for a short time.
Looking Out the Window
When the woman looks out the window, she sees an overgrown garden, a bay, and a shady path. Sometimes, she imagines seeing people walking on the path. But John warns her not to let her imagination run wild because it will make her feel more nervous. He tells her not to think too much or make up stories. The woman wishes she could have visitors or write, but John says that writing or seeing people will make her anxiety worse.
The Mysterious Wallpaper
The woman can’t stop thinking about the wallpaper. She feels like the wallpaper has a bad effect on her. She starts to see strange things in the pattern, like faces and crawling eyes. It reminds her of when she was a child and used to imagine that the furniture in her room had expressions or faces.
The room itself feels worse now. The floor is scratched, and the wallpaper is torn in some places. There is also a large, heavy bed in the room that was there when they first arrived.
A Strange Shape in the Wallpaper
One day, when the light shines on the wallpaper in a certain way, the woman sees a mysterious shape hiding in the pattern. It looks like someone or something is sneaking around in the wallpaper. Just then, John’s sister, Jennie, walks toward the house. Jennie helps take care of the home and is described as a “perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper.”
Before Jennie comes upstairs, the woman quickly hides her diary so that no one can see that she has been writing in it.
Watching the Wallpaper
While John is away, the woman sometimes walks in the garden, but most of the time, she lies in her room, staring at the wallpaper. She is determined to understand its strange and confusing pattern. She talks about how the shapes in the wallpaper don’t make sense, describing it as “slanting waves of optic horror.” The pattern also changes depending on the light. The more she watches it, the more tired she becomes. Eventually, she ends her diary entry and takes a nap.
Fourth Entry:
Feeling Too Weak to Write
The woman in the story feels very weak and tired, but she needs to write down her thoughts to feel better. She has lost a lot of her strength, and John gives her many different treatments to try and help her. One day, she tries to ask John if she can leave the house and go visit her cousins, but she feels so sad and weak that she starts crying and can’t finish what she wants to say.
John’s Care for His Wife
John sees how upset she is, so he gently picks her up and carries her upstairs to her room. He reads to her until she becomes too tired to stay awake. John tells her that she must use her self-control and not let her imagination take over. He says he loves her too much to see her feeling so unwell, so she should stop worrying about silly things.
Protecting Her Baby from the Wallpaper
Even though she doesn’t like living in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the woman finds one good thing about staying there: it means her baby doesn’t have to be near the strange wallpaper. She believes that her baby is safe and happy because he’s not exposed to the terrible wallpaper. She has stopped talking about the wallpaper with John and Jennie because they don’t understand why it bothers her so much.
Seeing a Figure in the Wallpaper
The woman, however, is watching the wallpaper more closely every day. She now sees something strange inside the pattern of the wallpaper. It looks like a shadowy figure of a woman who is bent over and creeping around. This makes her even more uncomfortable, and she wishes John would take her away from the house so she wouldn’t have to see the wallpaper anymore.
Fifth Entry:
Talking to John About Leaving
One night, while the moonlight was coming through the windows, the woman was awake, watching the light on the yellow wallpaper. She saw the strange figure behind the wallpaper moving. She got up to check if the wallpaper really moved, and this woke up her husband, John.
Asking John to Leave the House
The woman tried to talk to John about leaving the house. She told him that she wasn’t feeling well and thought they should go. But John didn’t agree. He thought it was a silly idea because they only had three more weeks left to stay there. He also thought she was getting better, so there was no need to leave.
The Woman Feels Sad About Her Mind
The woman tried to explain that even if her body was feeling a little better, her mind was not. She was suffering and feeling worse inside her head. But John didn’t take her seriously. He first spoke to her like she was a little child, telling her not to think about such silly things. Then, his tone became more serious, and he firmly told her not to believe such foolish ideas.
Staying Awake and Watching the Wallpaper
After their conversation, the woman couldn’t sleep. She lay in bed for hours, staring at the strange patterns in the wallpaper, still seeing the mysterious figure moving behind it.
Sixth Entry:
The Strange Wallpaper
The woman is still thinking a lot about the strange yellow wallpaper in her room. She says that the wallpaper is like a bad dream and looks like a weird fungus growing. She discovers something strange about it: the wallpaper changes when the light changes. During the day, it looks different, but at night, the pattern looks like bars, and behind the bars, she can see the shape of a woman trapped inside. This mysterious figure makes her curious, and she spends a lot of time thinking about it while lying in bed.
Resting More but Pretending to Sleep
The woman has been staying in bed more often because John keeps telling her to rest. He even makes her lie down for an hour after every meal. But she doesn’t always sleep. She only pretends to sleep, so John won’t know she’s awake. She is starting to feel a little afraid of her husband, John, even though he acts like he cares about her.
Distrusting John and Jennie
The woman is also beginning to feel like she can’t trust John and his sister, Jennie. She thinks they are keeping things from her, and she even believes that the strange wallpaper is making her feel this way. One day, she saw Jennie touching the wallpaper, and now she wonders if Jennie is also trying to figure out the secret of the wallpaper. Jennie noticed yellow stains on the woman’s clothes and said she was just trying to find out where the stains were coming from.
Seventh Entry:
Feeling Better
The woman is starting to feel a little better. She thinks that her improved mood is because of the yellow wallpaper, but she doesn’t want John to know this. She keeps it a secret from him and plans not to tell him about it.
Fascinated by the Wallpaper
She is now very interested in the wallpaper’s strange patterns and mysteries. The more she looks at it, the more she thinks there’s something hidden behind it. With only one week left before they leave the house, she feels sure that she will figure out the secrets of the wallpaper before they go.
Eighth Entry:
Feeling Better, But Staying Awake at Night
The woman says she is feeling better, but now she sleeps during the day and stays awake all night. She spends her nights watching the yellow wallpaper, waiting to see if anything changes. The wallpaper still bothers her because of its ugly color, and now she also notices a bad smell coming from it.
The Creeping Smell
The bad smell from the wallpaper seems to be spreading everywhere in the house. She feels like it follows her into every room. Even when she goes outside for a ride, she imagines she can smell it if she turns her head quickly. The woman finds this yellow smell very strange and disturbing.
Thinking About Burning the House
At one point, the woman even thinks about burning down the house to get away from the smell. However, she’s gotten used to it now, even though she still finds it unpleasant. She calls it a “yellow smell.”
The Mystery of the Long Streak
While looking at the wallpaper, the woman notices something else: a long, straight mark that goes all the way around the room. It looks like someone has rubbed the wallpaper over and over in the same spot. She wonders who could have made this strange mark and why.
Ninth Entry:
A New Discovery About the Wallpaper
The woman has made an exciting discovery about the yellow wallpaper. She realizes that the front pattern of the wallpaper moves! She believes this happens because of the mysterious figure of a woman that she keeps seeing. This woman seems to be crawling around quickly and shaking the shadows that look like bars.
The Struggle to Escape
The mysterious woman is trying very hard to climb through the wallpaper and escape. The narrator feels sad for her because it seems like she is stuck and cannot get out. The pattern of the wallpaper is too strong and keeps holding the woman back, almost as if it is choking her.
Tenth Entry:
A Secret Confession
The narrator shares a secret with the reader: she has seen the mysterious woman from the wallpaper escape into the outside world during the day. This woman is creeping along the shaded lane, moving quietly and secretly. The narrator knows it’s the same woman because most women would feel embarrassed to be seen creeping around in the daylight.
Locking the Door
To keep her own creeping a secret, the narrator locks her door whenever she decides to do it during the day. She wants to make sure that John doesn’t suspect anything unusual. This makes her feel safe, and she can enjoy her secret without worrying about being caught.
Longing for Privacy
The narrator wishes that John would leave their room for a while. If he did, she could be alone with the creeping woman at night. She feels a connection to this mysterious figure and wants to understand her better. Being alone with the woman would allow her to explore this strange friendship without any interruptions.
Eleventh Entry:
A Strong Determination
The narrator has made a big decision: she wants to remove the top layer of the wallpaper. She believes there is something special underneath that she needs to uncover. Even though she has found something important, she decides not to tell the reader because she thinks it’s not wise to trust people too much.
John’s Worries
John, her husband, seems a bit worried or suspicious about how she is doing. He asks Jennie, his sister, if the narrator is okay. But the narrator feels like she can see through John’s caring attitude. She believes that he is not really as loving as he pretends to be.
The Wallpaper’s Influence
Now, the narrator thinks that the wallpaper is secretly affecting both John and Jennie. She feels that it has some sort of power over them, just like it has over her. This makes her even more determined to figure out what is going on with the wallpaper and why it is so important to her.
Twelfth Entry:
The Last Day in the House
On the last day of their stay in the house, the narrator decides she wants to be alone in her room all night. As soon as the moon comes out, she starts to peel away the wallpaper to free the mysterious figure that she believes is trapped inside. She tears off long strips of the wallpaper, working hard to uncover what lies beneath.
Jennie’s Surprise
The next morning, when Jennie, her husband’s sister, sees the mess, the narrator cheerfully tells her that she did it just to be spiteful. Jennie laughs and warns her not to get too tired, but the narrator is too focused on her mission to listen.
The Obsession with the Wallpaper
The narrator is obsessed with removing the wallpaper. She won’t leave the room, even as everyone else is moving everything out. The only thing left is the old bed. When she’s finally alone again, she locks the door, throws the key outside, and gets to work.
Struggling with the Wallpaper
As she tries to remove the wallpaper, she realizes she can’t reach the top of the walls. Frustrated, she even bites at a corner to tear it off. It feels like the wallpaper is laughing at her efforts, and she writes that she is so angry she could jump out of the window. But the bars are too strong, and she thinks that doing something like that would be seen as improper.
A Shift in Perspective
Then, something strange happens. The narrator begins to talk as if she is the mysterious woman from behind the wallpaper. She feels free to creep around the room and doesn’t want to go back inside the wallpaper or outside in the garden. She can crawl along the wall and fit her shoulder into the long mark on it.
John’s Arrival
Suddenly, John comes to the door, calling for an axe to break it down. The narrator calmly tells him that the key is outside, under a plantain leaf, and she repeats it until he opens the door. When he comes in, she excitedly tells him that she has “got out at last” and will not go back. But when he sees her crawling along the wall, he faints in shock!
Continuing the Circle
Even though John has fainted, the narrator keeps creeping in circles around the room. Each time she goes around, she has to go over his body, showing how much she has changed and how free she feels now.
Conclusion of the Story
In the end, the narrator breaks free from the wallpaper and her feelings of being trapped. She discovers her strength and finds a new identity as the mysterious woman who had been hiding inside the wallpaper all along. Even though John faints in shock when he sees her, she feels happy and free.
The story shows how important it is to express ourselves and not to feel stuck or controlled by others. The narrator’s journey teaches us that sometimes, we need to find our own way to be happy, even if it means going against what others think is best for us. It reminds us to listen to our feelings and to be brave in finding our own voices.
What is the main conflict in The Yellow Wallpaper?
How does the wallpaper affect the narrator?
Why does the narrator want to leave the house?
What does the woman behind the wallpaper symbolize?
What is the significance of the ending of the story?
____________________
Critical Analysis of the novel “Things Fall Apart”
Critical Analysis of the novel “The Shadow Lines”
Critical Analysis of the novel “The Woman in White”
Critical Analysis of the novel “The Hound of Baskervilles”
Detailed summary of the novel “The Color Purple”
Detailed summary of the novel “Things Fall Apart”
Detailed summary of the novel “The Shadow Lines”
Detailed summary of the novel “The Woman in White”
Detailed summary of the novel “The Hound of Baskervilles”
Q&A of the novel “Things Fall Apart”
Q&A of the novel “The Shadow Lines”
Q&A of the novel “The Woman in White”
Q&A of the novel “The Hound of Baskervilles”
Tragic Hope and Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper illustrates how societal expectations can lead to a decline in mental health.
