The Yellow Wallpaper: A Discussion of Mental Healthcare, Feminism, and Gender Roles Under the Guise of the Supernatural

Abstract

This presentation is a discussion of literary research pertaining to the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story is a tale of madness and, to some readers, even supernatural horror but it is clear that Gilman meant it to be read as a piece that would discuss women and the way they were treated in her society. The clearest examples of the author\u27s radical focus in the piece are: the autobiographical elements of the story that make it an honest discussion of mental healthcare for women in the late 1800\u27s, the narrative told about the woman the narrator sees in her wallpaper and all that woman represents, and the traditional gender roles apparent in the narrators relationship with her husband and the other men in the story. The presentation includes both ideas put forth by literary critics and evidence from the work supporting those ideas