Essay Database

Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wall-Paper gives readers insight of the oppressive standards Victorian era woman were expected to uphold to and the emergence of the then nascent feminist movement. Gilman's account of one woman's transformation is intriguingly symbolic and illustrates a universal theme very well known to women still: The struggle for recognition, to be viewed as capable against male counterparts and the need to be separate, but also equal. Although Gilman's clues are subtle, …

…of her days endlessly circling a locked (and padded) room, or is this transformation incomplete? Will she "recuperate" and emerge courageously capable, independent of her husband's thoughts and confident in her newfound freedom? Is she free? Did her madness give her wings? By ending the Yellow Wall-Paper in this fashion, Gilman addresses the "confusing and chaotic pattern" women have struggled to make sense of and the intricacies of our identity we have yet to unravel.