Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wall-Paper

When you read The Yellow Wall-Paper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the first time it gives you on one hand a feeling of compassion for the narrator; and on the other hand you feel anger for the rude way she is treated by her husband and doctor and for the injustice the narrator has to bear. Nowadays, where it would be unimaginable for a woman to accept this “destiny” you cannot understand why the narrator does not defend herself against her medical therapy and the way her husband is treating her. In the 19th century, when this story probably takes place, it was the most usual way to cure women with mental problems. To analyze the story it must be related to the context of the 19th century and not of these days. The medical knowledge and the relationship between husband and wife were just absolutely different than today. By looking on marriage and medicine in the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper” it becomes clear that neither her husband nor her medical therapy can be called “unfair” or “unjust” – at least not in the historical context.