Misunderstood “hysteria” and its inhumane treatments can easily be seen in “The Yellow Wallpaper”by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The main character is suffering from what is now recognized as post-partum depression and her husband/ doctor, considers her “hysteric” and prescribes bed and mental rest, which in the end, drives her mad. The main character examines the pattern in the wallpaper of her room, as well as ripping the wallpaper, to give herself something to do, in direct defiance of her rest and isolation treatments. Charlotte Perkins Gilman went through a similar experience in her life as she too, was institutionalized and suffered from post-partum depression. However, unlike her main character, Gilman eventually overcame her depression, but continued to suffer from the treatments inflicted upon her.“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows how the treatment for “hysteria” was detrimental to the middle-class white woman of the 19th century.
For many mentally ill middle-class white women in the 19th century, hysteria was a common diagnosis. Today, “hysteria” patients would often be diagnosed with a variety of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, etc. or in some cases, no mental illness. Some women were diagnosed with “hysteria” due to sexual liberation or for the husband’s own needs or wants. In the Bedford introduction to “The Yellow Wallpaper” it is stated, “Female sexuality in particular was pathologized and linked to mental illness” (14). Therefore, the 19th century equivalent of slut-shaming was diagnosing or accusing a woman of “hysteria”. Surprisingly, “hysteria” did have some medical merit. Though her paper focuses on hysteria in Enlightenment France, Elizabeth A. Williams sheds light on hysteria when she writes:
The issue of what to call this malady (or these maladies) was directly tied to the much discussed matter of whether it (or they) constituted one disease afflicting both sexes, or whether there two different diseases—usually differentiated as ‘hysteria’ and ‘hypocondria’—that afflicted the two sexes while sharing certain superficial similarities…A good deal of evidence does suggest that from the 1750s to the 1780s, French observers tended more and more to define hysteria as an exclusively ‘woman’s’ malady (248).
Williams goes on to argue that hysteria—while often attributed to women—still had male sufferers. However, that does not disregard that in the late 18th century, tides were beginning to turn in the medical profession towards regarding hysteria as a female disease. Later in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Weir Mitchell, the doctor who treated Gilman herself, and who the main character’s husband threatens to take her to, discusses what he believes causes “nervousness” and how he treats it.
The time taken for the more serious instruction of girls extends to the age of nineteen, and rarely over this. During some of these years they are undergoing such organic development as renders them remarkably sensitive. At seventeen, I presume that healthy girls are as well able to study, with precautions, as men; but before this time overuse, or even a very steady use, of the brain is in many dangerous to health and to every probability of future womanly usefulness. (137-138).
Here, Mitchell argues that the education of girls and women should not go over the age of nineteen, and conducted with precautions, which as the footnote says, is a reference to works that suggested women could only be educated if their feminine bodies and reproductive systems were considered. These ideas about education and womanhood led to misconceptions about a woman’s mental health and led to Mitchell creating the “rest cure” which is inflicted upon both Gilman and her protagonist, ultimately causing their conditions to worsen, and in Gilman’s case a lifelong struggle with anxiety and depression brought on by the treatments Mitchell inflicted.
The argument against Mitchell’s is seen in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the main character is forced to hide her writing from her husband as he believes any academic venture, will be too much for her to handle, “I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal—having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (42). This opposition feeds into the narrator’s obsession with the wallpaper. The wallpaper gives her something to focus on, something to project the frustrations and stories in her head onto. Towards the end of the story, the narrator rips down the wallpaper, freeing the woman inside of it, and releasing her from the expectations which ensnare her. Her obsession gives her a job, something worthwhile, and the creeping at the end of the story, is just a continuation of this job. Since the narrator is taken away from all of duties—caring for the child, entertaining guests, etc.—she is forced to find one for herself. The wallpaper is her duty and one—when finished—will eventually cause her insanity because the narrator is prescribed Mitchell’s “rest cure”. The “rest cure” doesn’t allow the narrator to write, care for her baby, or visit with guests; all fulfilling activities that would’ve helped the narrator overcome her depression.
The suffering seen in the lives of Gilman and her narrator are not uncommon among their demographic of the middle-class white woman of the 19th century America. Gilman never names her protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Some believe that the “Jane” at the end is the main character. Regardless of if this is true or not, the effect of keeping her protagonist nameless or giving them an extremely common name like “Jane” is to insinuate that every woman is ensnared by the yellow wallpaper, even if perfectly sane. The yellow wallpaper represents men’s expectations for women as described by, “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide—plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions” (43). This description of the wallpaper represents those contradicting expectations women faced every day. The woman behind the wallpaper was not only representative of the protagonist and her struggle, but also every middle-class white 19th century woman and their struggle. “The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out” (50). The protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper” was unable to live up to the standards of a “perfect wife”, which as the descriptions of the wallpaper show is nearly, if not entirely, impossible. These expectations often led to domestic cures, such as Mitchell’s “rest cure”. Gilman, also suffered from depression as a young girl, and no treatment appeared to help, upon the birth of her daughter, Katharine, her depression only worsened (14). The main character in “The Yellow Wallpaper” also seems to be struggling with the birth of her new baby. “It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous” (44). Gilman’s protagonist wanted to take care of her baby, but her post-partum depression, made it difficult, as it does any new mother suffering from it. Her inability to care for her new baby while keeping up with the expectations she faced as a woman and wife led her to not only feel guilty for her depression, but also, believe that her husband was ultimately right in his treatment, at least until she creeps over him at the end of the story. Her husband kept her isolated, away from her baby, and prohibited her from partaking in social events; this only made the protagonist feel even more alienated, therefore, causing her to focus more and more on the wallpaper to give her life meaning.
It wasn’t until 1962 with the publication of Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest—a male focused and male centric novel—that real mental health reform took place. However, even with this overdue mental health reform, misdiagnosis and mistreatment of mentally ill patients is still common. Many modern mentally ill women still feel like the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, confined failures of a system they neither invented nor asked to be a part of. Post-partum depression is still a large issue that is often misdiagnosed or mistreated to the extent the women feel compelled to kill themselves or their children. Luckily, post-partum depression is becoming more recognized and is often treated with medicine, therapy, and ironically for the character of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, journaling. Despite the problems, we still have, misdiagnosis and mistreatment often lead to a worsening condition or the development of a new one, in fact, per “Postpartum Progress” a nonprofit organization dedicated to tracking the overall progress of postpartum depression, “Only 15% of women with postpartum depression ever receive professional treatment This means 850,000 women each year are not getting the help they need” (Postpartum Progress Inc.). In Gilman’s day, misdiagnosis and mistreatment were due to misinformation circulated in the medical community, which advocated for a girl’s education to be cut short to protect her “usefulness”. These ideas, while outdated and no longer accepted, still resonate today. Women are often told about their bodies and minds, rather than getting to tell about them; much like the protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, who believed her husband’s diagnosis and treatments were honestly helping her, when they were only driving further and further into insanity.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, and Dale M. Bauer. “Introduction: Cultural and Historical Background.” The Yellow Wallpaper, Bedford Books, Boston, 1998, pp. 3–27.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Yellow Wallpaper, edited by Dale M. Bauer, Bedford Books, Boston, 1998, pp. 41–59.
Mitchell, S. Weir. “Invalid Women.” Wear and Tear, or Hints for the Overworked, edited by Dale M. Bauer, Bedford Books Boston, 1998, pp. 134-141.
“The Statistics.” Postpartum Progress, Postpartum Progress Inc., 18 Dec. 2013.
Williams, Elizabeth A. “Hysteria and the Court Physician in Enlightenment France.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 35, no. 2, 2002, pp. 247–255.
Alisan Keesee 