by Melanie Mosby<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d like to unpack the idea that People are not only born mad but they can also be driven to madness, and The Yellow Wallpaper is a perfect example of this. In my own readings of this piece, I am always pushed towards the idea that the narrator was not always mad, but that John induced this madness in her <\/a>by depriving her of her creative outlets and social contact, gaslighting her, and making her feel guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The narrator and her husband\u2019s relationship is founded on frequent banter and teasing; however, the teasing only ever seems to come from John. There are many instances in which the narrator tries to have a serious conversation with John, and he turns it around on her, making the subject into a joke or dismissing her concerns altogether. We can see the first hints of John\u2019s manipulation and how this affects the narrator\u2019s perception of herself while she thinks about her husband. \u201cYou see he does not believe I am sick,\u201d says the narrator. Since he is a \u201cphysician of high standing,\u201d the narrator dismisses her own feelings in favor of John\u2019s (Gilman 647). Even in instances when the narrator does start to admit to herself that John may be wrong, he uses this as an excuse to blame what he thinks of as her lack of sense<\/a> and resulting hysteria. \u201cI get unreasonably angry with John sometimes\u2026 But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control\u201d (Gilman 648). John uses his belief that the narrator is not in the right state of mind as an excuse to manipulate her into thinking and feeling how he wants her to think and feel. When our narrator wants to leave her country home and go back to the city, John tells her, \u201cyou really are better dear, whether you see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know\u201d (Gilman 652). In this moment, John uses the fact that he is a doctor to justify his controlling tendencies toward his wife and to prove his rightness in every argument. Even if the narrator seemed completely well, her husband would still use the ambiguity of her mental stability as a tool in arguments to assert his opinion of what is right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next tactic John uses to induce madness in his wife is depriving her of her creative outlets. The narrator laments, \u201cPersonally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good\u201d (Gilman 648). She explains that she is forbidden to \u201cwork\u201d until she is well again (Gilman 648). Though both her physician brother and husband recommend this, the narrator continues to feel longing for writing, and even begins to write in secret. One theory we may entertain is that John wishes for his wife not to write so that no one may find out that she is sane, because she\u2019s being monitored and manipulated by her husband under the guise that she needs professional help. As most creatives will attest, creating is an outlet for stress, and the deprivation of creativity could have been a contributing factor to our narrator\u2019s unhappiness and eventually her madness. Another instance of John\u2019s monitoring his wife\u2019s thoughts appears on page 648 when the narrator states, \u201cJohn says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition\u201d (Gilman). This is a red flag for me, as it gives me the sense that John doesn\u2019t want his wife to think about her treatment or how she is feeling, and he only wants her to be a submissive catalyst for whatever behaviors he deems as acceptable for her to partake in. If she thinks about her condition too much, she may find that John is wrong and\/or that his treatment isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are only three characters in this story \u2014 not including the woman in the wallpaper \u2014 and this leads to envisioning a very lonely life in this mansion for our narrator. She longs for company in the same way that she longs to write, asking John for permission and being denied, much like a child or a hospital patient. John and his wife discuss having their cousin Henry and Julia to visit, to which our narrator says, \u201che says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillowcase as to let me have those stimulating people about now\u201d (Gilman 649). This is one of the first examples of John using the narrator\u2019s condition as an excuse to not have company, despite his wife\u2019s loneliness. Another example of this occurs later, when the narrator tries to have a serious talk with John and practically begs him to let her visit Henry and Julia. After their conversation concludes, the narrator states that \u201che says I wasn\u2019t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there\u201d (Gilman 651). Not only is John completely dismissing the narrator\u2019s feelings in this instance and making false statements that he cannot prove, but he is also essentially cutting her off from her family. This will only contribute to her feelings of isolation and depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n