Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” has been praised for its accurate depiction of madness and symptoms associated with mental breakdowns (Shumaker 1985). While these symptoms may seem evident from a contemporary psychological perspective, Gilman wrote this story in the late 19th century when psychology was still evolving from a basic psychiatric approach to treating the mentally ill. Throughout history, there have been various popular depictions of madness that may have hindered the development of a medical understanding of mental illness, including viewing it as wild irrationality, an imaginative and corrupt gothic horror, a violent cruelty requiring confinement in asylums, and simply a nervous disorder.Annette Kolodny suggests that readers of Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” most likely learned how to understand her portrayal of mental breakdown by reading Edgar Allen Poe’s earlier stories. The historical representations of mental illness can be seen in both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” However, while Poe’s depictions reinforce negative stereotypes of madness, Gilman moderates her portrayals using the emerging psychological model, which foreshadows the 20th century’s belief in the possibility of curing mental illnesses through psychological expression.
Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” portrays the mental breakdown of a 19th-century housewife who undergoes the Rest Cure. She becomes increasingly fixated on a disturbing pattern in the wallpaper. While contemporary readers may have viewed the story as a study of madness similar to Poe’s works, modern critics tend to focus on a feminist interpretation. In this reading, the wallpaper symbolizes the oppressive patriarchal social system. Jane Thrailkill argues that this feminist perspective may hinder the story’s ability to challenge 19th-century medical practices related to mental illness. Gilman herself stated that her writing served a purpose beyond entertainment and that “The Yellow Wallpaper” aimed to highlight the dangers of specific medical treatments. She specifically wanted to convince Weir Mitchell, who devised the Rest Cure and whom Gilman had unsuccessfully undergone treatment with, to change his methods for nervous ailments. According to Gilman, her story successfully achieved its intended purpose of preventing people from going insane.
Both Gilman and Poe may have suffered from mental illness, but while Gilman focuses on how madness is represented and its impact on society, Poe is more interested in creating aesthetic effects. In Poe’s tale, the only mention of a cure is the idea that reading a book might relieve excitement. Gilman’s portrayal of madness is clearly influenced by Poe. They both use an “inspired manic voice,” unnamed narrators, characters with no diagnosable illness, and a focus on the imagination. They also share a haunting mood with rational design, which is considered Poe’s signature style. Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” published sixty years earlier, foreshadows elements found in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” such as the setting and characterizations of madness. This makes it a starting point for tracing the cultural and scientific representations of madness in the 19th century that ultimately lead to Gilman’s tale. Analysis
The unnamed narrator in “The Fall of the House of Usher” attempts to convey Roderick Usher’s madness through various external and internal signs of irrationality. Roderick’s hair is described as “wild” and possessing an “Arabesque expression,” which the narrator cannot link to any simple human concept. Likewise, Roderick’s behavior appears inconsistent and incoherent, and his voice resembles that of a lost drunkard or habitual opium user, all highlighting his inability to fit into society’s understanding.
After his sister’s burial, Roderick’s outward signs of madness intensify: he ambulates with unsteady and purposeless steps, his face takes on a more horrifying pallor, his eyes show a crazed joyfulness, his entire demeanor displays a restrained hysteria, and he speaks in an unintelligible mutter. However, the narrator dismisses these manifestations as mere inexplicable eccentricities of insanity.
In terms of portraying the internal process of mental deterioration, Poe only describes Roderick’s irrationality from an external and stereotypical perspective in this particular story.According to Roderick, his condition is described as a “deplorable folly” that will lead him to “abandon life and reason.” He feels “enchained by certain superstitious impressions” and is afflicted with “melancholy” and “hypochondria,” which were once misunderstood as signs of madness (Poe 2003). The only instance where we witness his irrational thought process is through Roderick’s monologue about burying his sister alive. This monologue utilizes dashes, italics, and capitalization to convey a sense of nervous desperation, similar to Poe’s style in “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
In comparison, the story by Gilman diverges from these conventional and stereotypical portrayals of madness. Instead, it primarily focuses on an accurate portrayal of irrational thought processes, specifically the narrator’s increasing fixation on the yellow wallpaper. Initially, the narrator expresses dislike for her room except for the wallpaper, but soon her feelings towards the room change due to the wallpaper’s influence on her mind. The wallpaper gradually dominates the narrator’s thoughts, interrupting other observations without a clear transition. For example, while looking out of her window, the narrator sees a beautiful country with elms and meadows but digresses to focus on the wallpaper’s sub-pattern. As time passes, there are few parts of the text that do not revolve around the wallpaper. As her obsession intensifies, the narrator becomes paranoid that her husband and stepsister are secretly impacted by it and attempts to keep the pattern discovery to herself. Despite initially despising the wallpaper pattern, by the end of the story, the narrator’s obsession becomes all-consuming as she is determined to uncover its secrets before leaving.The text demonstrates that the narrator is enslaved by her irrational impressions similar to Roderick Usher, instead of simply being informed about it. These impressions are portrayed more realistically in the mind.
Both of these stories present a method of representing irrationality by contrasting it with a more rational perspective. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the narrator, who claims to be rational, tries to explain the strange events occurring in Roderick’s house. He insists that the peculiar atmosphere, his nervousness, and the storm can all be rationally explained. However, the uncertainty and unreliability of the events suggest that the narrator himself might be going mad. He is influenced by Roderick’s superstitions and eventually flees in terror when the house collapses, rather than seeking help. According to John Gruesser, Poe challenges the dichotomy between reason and the supernatural in this story, blurring the line between Gothic and Fantastic genres where supernatural events are more likely than rational explanations. This idea becomes even more important in Gilman’s story, as it raises the question of whether madmen can speak the truth or if they are always delusional.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the character of John, who is both the protagonist’s husband and physician, is depicted as practical and rational. He dismisses any belief in faith or superstition and explains away the unsettling elements of the house as a draught. Likewise, he tries to rationalize the protagonist’s mental illness as a temporary nervous depression or slight hysterical tendency. This approach to madness as a purely neurological condition reflects the scientific realism prevalent in 19th century discussions on mental illness. The protagonist herself also attempts to rationalize her own madness, starting the story by claiming to be ordinary and attributing her mental deterioration to nervous weakness. Unlike Edgar Allan Poe’s unreliable explanations for madness, Gilman’s story rejects supernatural explanations and presents a more realistic perspective.
Despite its ultimate lack of medical effectiveness, the term “nerves” serves as a clear literary representation of madness, attempting to elucidate or deny its mental nature. In Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator declares, “True! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am;” but questions why he is labeled as mad (Poe 2003). Similarly, the madness within the Usher family in “The Fall of the House of Usher” is also depicted through this concept. Roderick tries to portray their condition as a mere “nervous affection,” masking their inherent “constitutional and…family evil” (Poe 2003). He experiences an extreme “nervous agitation…and acute bodily illness,” along with a hypersensitivity to food, clothing, smells, light, and sounds (Poe 2003). Madeline’s condition is diagnosed as a “settled apathy” and gradual physical decline, as her physicians struggle to understand the true nature of her ailment (Poe 2003). Whether these characters are truly mad or not, Poe employs the term “nerves” to provide an explanation or comprehension of the Usher family’s state for readers in the mid-19th century. This suggests that their condition may be attributed to a biological disorder rather than moral or supernatural causes.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator also describes her state as nervousness. However, during the late 19th century when madness was often equated to just nerves, this term seems to imply an excuse or a denial of any underlying mental issue rather than an explanation. The narrator, seemingly flippant, mentions, “I never used to be so sensitive, I think it’s because of this nervous condition” and that her actions require more effort because of “only nervousness” (235). Although her husband assures her that her nervous condition is not serious, she becomes dissatisfied with this diagnosis and states that these nervous troubles are incredibly depressing (236). This portrayal of nervous disorders, which is almost ironic but clearly critical, distinguishes itself from Poe’s story and highlights Gilman’s own struggle against the evolving perception of mental illnesses within the American medical industry.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” was intentionally written to critique the Rest Cure and challenge the focus on the patient’s physicality rather than their words (Thrailkill 2003). Throughout the story, the narrator is restricted from writing, while her husband dismisses her objections and only acknowledges her physical improvements (240). However, writing is the one thing the narrator believes would make her feel better, as it allows her to express her thoughts and feelings (Thrailkill 2003). Thrailkill also suggests that the narrator initially approaches the wallpaper from a physiological perspective but eventually creates a narrative around the woman in the paper, likening herself to a medical text (Thrailkill 2003). Despite struggling with writing, the narrator continues to document her mental breakdown in a diary-like manner, reflecting the belief that madness can have moments of clarity (Davison 2004).The journal of a mentally unstable individual can serve as a therapeutic and relevant narrative that is comprehensible to empathetic readers. It represents a genuine psychological experience of someone who is no longer marginalized or seen as insane. As a result, while Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” may appear to be merely an enjoyable tale involving typical mentally ill characters, Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is ultimately a genuine depiction of the personal journey into madness.
References
Davison, Carol Margaret. (2004). “Haunted House/Haunted Heroine: Female Gothic Closets in The Yellow Wallpaper.” Women’s Studies 33: 47-75.
Gruesser, John C. (2004). “Madmen and Moonbeams: The Narrator in The Fall of the House of Usher.” The Edgar Allan Poe Review 5.1: 80-90
Poe, Edgar Allan. (2003). “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings. Penguin Books, London.
Shumaker, Conrad. (1985). Too Terribly Good to Be Printed: Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper.” American Literature.
Thrailkill, Jane F. (2002). “Doctoring The Yellow Wallpaper.” Harvard University Press: Boston.
