The Yellow Wallpaper

In Perkin Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, main character is a woman who stays confined in an odd nursery and she begins to believe that the wallpaper is coming to life. The woman’s husband is a doctor and believes that it is best for her to stay in the room and rest. Her husband truly loves her, “He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake, and keep well” (360). Even though he cares deeply for her, he makes a wrong decision by locking her in the nursery and it leads to her delusions. I feel that Gilman is trying to change the view of marriage and that by having a husband who is there and treating his wife with respect for her humanity, it will lead to a healthy life. The ill woman feels a sense of comfort and feels better when her husband is around, “and my appetite may be better in the evening when you are here, but it is worse in the morning when you are away!” (306). The absence of her husband and people cause her to create imaginary “women” that live beneath the wallpaper. A person cannot live without the presence and compassion of people. The best cure for the woman would have been to have her husband stay with her constantly and care after her. Her isolation caused her go crazy.