Women in the twenty-first century are privileged to have equal rights to men. It is natural for women to marry anyone they like, to have any job, to vote, to get divorced; the possibilities are infinite. American society today accepts women who do not get married, become single mothers, or are homosexual. However, less than a century ago, the world was not as understanding as it is today. Women were confined inside the home and placed in a devalued position with no respect. History is full of women who struggled in circumstances unimaginable to women and men living today in the United States or Japan.
My focus in this study is on late nineteenth and early twentieth century American society and I will look at white upper class women. This is because in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s1 fictional world African Americans and the working class are absent. Gilman concentrates on offering workable solutions to a range of American women’s problems but succeeds only in portraying an upper class wife’s life, only reflecting the immediate circumstances of Gilman herself (Shulman xxii). Therefore, in this paper the term “women” will generally refer to affluent white women. First, I will look at what was expected of women and their position in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century and make a connection to women’s madness. Then, I will inquire the exclusion of women from the workforce as a major reason for women’s insanity followed by what independent women of Gilman’s time were like and illustrate Gilman’s idea of an independent woman. Next, I will look as insanity in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the symbolisms that are connected with insanity in the story. Lastly, to whom and why “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written will be examined to clarify Gilman’s message. My purpose in this paper will be to prove that there is a fundamental alliance between “woman”, “social situation” and “madness” during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Gilman's aim in most of her writing was to show the effects upon women and upon society of the continuous debasement of women. From her stories she wanted to portray how women were belittled and encourage women to become stronger and independent (Yalom, History 289). She fought to improve women’s conditions and to stop oppressed women from being driven crazy by spreading an awareness of the patriarchal society they lived in (Ehrenreich and English, Own Good 105). Gilman wanted to contribute to women’s liberation through the power of literature. She wished to give hope to women who found their lives empty and save women from becoming insane like the protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Thus it is important to look at her work to show the connection between women’s subjugation and mental derangement.