The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman | Summary & Analysis

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Professor Kristen Over of Northeastern Illinois University provides an in-depth analysis of the plot, themes, characters, and symbols in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story The Yellow Wallpaper.

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Charlotte Perkins Gilman's controversial and disturbing feminist parable "The Yellow Wallpaper" concerns a 19th-century woman who, having been diagnosed with a "nervous condition," is taken by her husband to a remote estate for a rest cure.

She is confined to a room on the top floor, supposedly to give her time to recover. However, her confinement isn't voluntary and the former nursery begins to take on a life of its own in her mind.

She begins finding patterns in its yellow wallpaper and eventually becomes convinced that a woman is trapped behind it, later identifying as the woman herself. This unsettling psychological investigation reveals the repressive and chauvinistic views that defined women’s mental health care up until relatively recently.

American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper was first published in 1892. Her own postpartum depression and subsequent confinement became the impetus for writing the short story. Today her story is regarded from a range of perspectives, from feminist literature to Gothic horror (a genre of literature characterized by fear, horror, and death, as well as nature, individualism, and emotion).

The short story contains many powerful symbols, such as yellow wallpaper representing confinement, the moon and womanhood, and being mentally stimulated at night. The estate represents the narrator’s isolation and confinement. Other themes include confinement, mental illness, and women’s roles in society.

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