Husband of the Protagonist of the Novel, Charlotte Perkins

Trapped in a mental prison of her husband’s schemes, the main protagonist of Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the manifestation of the struggles faced by woman during that period seeking freedom of independence and thought. While People would look at this story as a psychological thriller of sorts, it is understandable from a feminist standpoint that this is an analysis on the state of women in the late 1800s, and maybe even the personal issues of the author with a society ran by males.

The theme is made clear by the protagonist husband (John), the surroundings in which she is placed. The actions thoughts and writing of the protagonist. Combined, these elements are an example of the confinement of women, and the authority held over them men.

The protagonist husband is a prime example of a dominating spouse, a husband that has absolute authority over his wife. He treats her as a subordinate, as seen here:” John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” ().

John views his wife’s thoughts and ideas as irrational, never taking the situation seriously until it is too late from them to be saved from madness. It is also understandable that john laughs at his wife because it is expected by society. Later, when jane takes more control over her emotions and thoughts, his role as a powerful, protective husband and figure head is switched, and he becomes much less masculine himself: ‘Now why should that man have fainted?” ().

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Witnessing his wife in a state of delirium, but the chains are broken and the power he has over her is faded, he faints, much like the common woman. In accepting her delirium, Jane permanently reverses the traditional role of husband and wife; John’s shock at this switch of dominance further shows the need for him to control his wife, for fear that he has been seen as a “woman” by society.

Aiding the authors feminist point of view are the emotions thoughts and dialogue of the protagonist. The protagonist’s desire to express her thoughts breaks through society’s thickest barriers placed on her: “I did write for a while in spite of them” (). As an individual woman, she feels she is not able to speak for herself or express herself, so she must do it through writing, at that point though she is so tired due to the fact she most hides all her emotion and thought from society and most importantly her husband. On the other hand, she feels pressured from what society would say if she did not stay in her husbands care: “he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more” (). The fact that her husband has removed all responsibility and control from her hands, makes her feel imprisoned and useless, she is compelled by society to appreciate and thank her husband for getting rid of all thought of her thinking for herself in life.

The majority of this story is taking place in a room that leads to nothing but scorn and madness from the female protagonist, it is obvious the feminist view are further emphasized through the protagonist’s surroundings. Her environment makes her fell like she is really in a prison; when jane pleads for the walls to be repapered, her husband turns her down, stating “that after the wall- paper was changed it would be a heavy bedstead, and then barred windows, and then the gate at the head of the stars, and so on and so forth”().Though Jane is obviously repressed by the bars and gates, her husband does not acknowledge her voice to make a change to her environment; he wishes to hold her captive. But maybe the clearest use of setting to emphasize the view of the feminist is present in the walls itself: “At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars!” (). The paper on the wall’s itself, though not physically appearing to be restraining her like the gates and bars, represents a enclosed psychological prison. All of her feelings she thoughts and emotions are devoted entirely to the paper; she is held captive by it, she is incapable of pulling her mind from the strange attraction of its pattern. All of these things connect the image of how women are trapped behind the paper; jane’s mind is not freed until when she finally makes a decision at the end of the story, when she removes most of the paper.