“The Yellow Wallpaper”
An opinion on the critical essay “Haunted House/Haunted Heroine: Female Gothic Closets in “The Yellow Wallpaper”” by Carol Margaret Davison

Rebecca Olds
V00698066
English 125
Y. Levin
April 2nd, 2009 “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story written in the late 1800’s about a woman with post-partum depression who becomes increasingly mad because of society’s, as well as her husband’s, repression. The critical essay “Haunted House/Haunted Heroine: Female Gothic Closets in “The Yellow Wallpaper”” by Carol Margaret Davison is an analysis of the short story, focusing on the genre of female gothic and the themes of loss of identity, self discovery, the dark side of marriage, and …show more content…

I believe that the narrator’s identity is becoming lost in this novel because of John’s dominance. The theme of self discovery introduces a theme of transformation. I believe the transformation is the narrator’s descent into madness.

Another theme the author brings up several times is that of the dark side of marriage. The author explains the dark side of marriage as being when a woman loses her respect and identity and is thought of as her husband’s property. Davison explains that, “Under such circumstances, marriage signalled a figurative death for women.” (Davison, 9). In this short story, the ideas of marriage and having children are thought of negatively. The author states that part of the reason the narrator loses her sanity is because she believes the world to be full of men like her husband. I believe that because of Jane’s repression, she becomes fearful of her husband, and believes him to be conspiring against her.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” focuses largely on gender issues and stereotypes. Davison explains that there is a sense of hierarchy in John and the narrator’s relationship. I believe this is exemplified by his treatment of her, for example, the way he addresses her with pet names. The author explains the polarities between John and the narrator by stating “Various historically established, gender-inflected oppositions are drawn upon as the creatively imaginative, fanciful narrator suffering from “temporary nervous depression” and “a