Deterioration of Woman's Mental Health in Gilman's the Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” stands as a critical examination of thesuffocating patriarchy of its verse, one that contributes to the decreasing mental health of women.The plot of the paper centers around the narrator’s psychological decline, as the "rest cure" whichhad become a popular treatment prescribed to women who were dubbed 'nervous persons' in the19th century, took a devastating toll on her mind. The paper demonstrates, through an examinationof the narrator’s descent into madness, the ways in which restrictive gender roles, medicalmisogyny, and social conventions work together to inhibit female autonomy and intellectualexpression. The article, which proceeds to explore Gilman’s life—her suffering from depressionand her treatment by Dr. Weir Mitchell—makes a direct link between the tale and the real-life maledominated medical practices. Additionally, the paper explores the larger scope of late 19th centurysocio-cultural context surrounding marriage and work, and the restrictions imposed on women inboth areas. The diagnosis of women’s conditions as hysteria or nervous depression, mostlydetermined by their reproductive functions, provides further insight on how systematic theoppression of women was by medical practitioners. The yellow wallpaper itself symbolizes femaleentrapment, and serves as a powerful metaphor for a psychological rebellion. Approaching TheYellow Wallpaper with a feminist lens, this analysis demonstrates that Gilman provides us withnot simply the individual account of a woman driven to mental breakdown, but wider commentaryon the systemic forces of gender inequality and societal norms that render women alienated. Thenarrator's ultimate breakdown, represented by the last of her wallpaper, is an expression of tragicidentity and self-violating defiance. The story powerfully reflects the disregard for women’s voicesand the dreadful effects that stem from fertilizing the soil of their psychological and emotionalneeds.