Diagnosis of Mental Illness in the Narrator of Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" Using the DSM-5 (2024)

FAQs

What was the narrator's diagnosis in The Yellow Wallpaper? ›

The story is told as a series of diary entries written by a first-person narrator using first-person perspective. The narrator is a woman who has recently been diagnosed with a temporary nervous depression or hysteria after giving birth to a child.

In 'The Yellow Wallpaper,' Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the character of Jane to describe the adverse effects of the rest cure. This woman, who goes unnamed for most of the story, is suffering from a mental illness. Most likely, she is suffering from postpartum depression.

In addition to narcotics, Mitchell prescribed a rest cure to calm them and limit movement that would keep them from healing. The cure involved four basic elements: bed rest, force-feeding and overfeeding, massage, and electrical stimulation of the muscles.

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the female narrator goes through a temporary nervous depression due to childbirth; in an attempt to help, her husband prescribes for her a treatment where she is confined to an old nursery room with yellow wallpaper for three months.

The Yellow Wallpaper is the fictional diary of a narrator who, suffering from postnatal depression, is under orders to remain in the upstairs nursery. Writing is banned, as are exer- cise, visitors and even seeing her baby. This remedy, known as the rest cure, is disastrous.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

She suffered from serious postpartum depression after giving birth to their daughter, Katharine. Her battle with postpartum depression and the doctors she dealt with during her illness inspired her to write "The Yellow Wallpaper."

The most significant symbol, the yellow wallpaper, symbolizes the inner most desires of the narrator and her interactions with the wallpaper throughout the story. It allows the reader to understand more about the psyche of a woman in the house and how she decent into madness.

The narrator—whose name may or may not be Jane—is highly imaginative and a natural storyteller, though her doctors believe she has a “slight hysterical tendency.” The story is told in the form of her secret diary, in which she records her thoughts as her obsession with the wallpaper grows.

Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" explores mental illness, freedom, and the faults of the rest cure by exploring the life of a wife who has been diagnosed with neurasthenia.

The Yellow Wallpaper is written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This story is about a young woman by the name of Jane who is a wife, trapped in a room. Jane suffers from depression following the birth of her child. Her husband, John, diagnoses her behavior as melancholia.

What was the woman suffering from in The Yellow Wallpaper? ›

The story describes a young woman and her husband. He imposes a rest cure on her when she suffers "temporary nervous depression" after the birth of their baby. They spend the summer at a colonial mansion, where the narrator is largely confined to an upstairs nursery.

The narrator's identity isn't revealed in "The Yellow Wallpaper," but she can be identified as a woman with a mental illness. John, the narrator's physician husband, describes her mental illness as "temporary nervous depression," but she feels her illness is more serious.

Jane is a victim of a nervous disorder of the brain called hysteria. She is aware that she suffers from a series of mental and physical disturbances. She says that she has a " temporary nervous depression: -- a slight hysterical tendency- what is one to do?"(2).

John is the narrator's husband and her physician. He restricts her activity as a part of her treatment. John is extremely practical, and belittles the narrator's imagination and feelings. He seems to care about her well-being, but believes he knows what is best for her and doesn't allow her input.

Central to the story is the wallpaper itself. It is within the wallpaper that the narrator finds her hidden self and her eventual damnation/freedom. Her obsession with the paper begins subtly and then consumes both the narrator and the story.