The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Gilman is a chilling portrayal of a womans downward spiral towards madness after undergoing treatment for postpartum depression in the 1800s. The narrator, whose name remains nameless, represents the hundreds of middle to upper- class women who were diagnosed with hysteria and prescribed a rest treatment. Although Gilmans story was a heroic attempt to save people from being driven crazy (Gilman p 1) by this type of cure it was much more. The Yellow Wallpaper opened the eyes of many to the apparent oppression of women in the 1800s and possibly the only way they could (unconsciously) resist or protest their traditional feminine workor over-work (Chesler p 11) by going mad. In order for the reader to understand the psychology of the story, they must understand this type of diagnosis of women in the 1800s and the supposed cure. This treatment, created by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, was a prescription of almost total inactivity and isolation. Passivity was the main prescription, along with warm baths, cool baths, abstinence from animal foods and spices, and indulgence in milk, and puddings, cereals, and mild sub-acidfruits (Ehrenreich and English p 49). Gilman, herself, was treated by Dr. Mitchell and underwent the same treatment as the heroine of the story. This wise man put me to bed and applied the rest cure, to which a still good physique responded so promptly that he concluded there was nothing much the matter with me, and sent me home with solemn advice to live as domestic a life as far as possible, to have but two hours intellectual life a day and never to touch pen, brush or pencil again as long as I lived. (Gilman p 1).Many women underwent this type of treatment, which was prescribed for a host of problems but usually diagnosed as a nervous disorder. It was thought that reproductivity was central to a womens biological life and a woman must concentrate their physical energy internally,...
