Short Summary of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The story focuses on a young mother who, after giving birth to her child, begins to experience difficulties with her mental health. There is a controversial “rest cure” that her husband, who is a physician, feels she should follow. He wants her to spend the entire day by herself and do nothing. As a result, he leases a large mansion that is vacant and compels her to remain there by herself in an ancient nursery room that is eerie. The room is adorned with hideous yellow wallpaper that is flaking off the walls and has windows that are blocked.
At the beginning, the woman is dissatisfied with the yellow wallpaper because it is ripped and faded. However, after being confined to the room by herself for a seemingly endless amount of time with nothing to do, her mind begins to play games on her. In her mind, the unattractive wallpaper is a place where she sees unusual forms and patterns. Her belief grows to the point where she is persuaded that there is a desperate lady who is attempting to escape from behind the wallpaper.
There are times when the lady is left alone, and she spends hours staring at the yellow wallpaper, her attention completely concentrated on the fictitious woman who is captive. In the course of time, she begins to lose her firm grasp on what is actually true. During the night, she moves stealthily, touching the walls and walking in circles. She is resolute in her mission to rescue the lady who is trapped behind the yellow wallpaper.
After everything is said and done, the woman has utterly lost any sense of reality. When it comes to the wallpaper, she is unable to differentiate between what is actually there and what she imagines it to be. As soon as her husband eventually unlocks the door, she appears to be completely insane, as she crawls all over the furniture and circles the room in an unending loop. In a terrifying moment, she announces that she has liberated the fictitious woman from the “yellow wallpaper prison.” The husband passes out from shock after witnessing the mental illness that has developed in his wife.
A woman’s descent into insanity is shown in the terrifying story, which takes place under the mistaken care of her commanding husband. The article is critical of the way in which the era frequently dealt with the mental health of women. The most essential takeaway from the narrative is that it highlights the significance of personal independence and awareness concerning mental health.