The Yellow Wallpaper - Journey into Insanity

In "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the dominant/submissive relationship between an oppressive husband and his submissive wife pushes her from depression into insanity. Flawed human nature seems to play a great role in her breakdown. Her husband, a noted physician, is unwilling to admit that there might really be something wrong with his wife. This same attitude is seen in her brother, who is also a physician. While this attitude, and the …

…and I don't want to have anybody come in, till John comes. I want to astonish him." (Gilman 203). I see no reason for this other than to force him to see that he was wrong, and, since she knew he couldn't tolerate hysteria, to drive him away. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." 1892. The New England Magazine. Reprinted in "Lives & Moments - An Introduction to Short Fiction" by Hans Ostrom. Hold, Orlando, FL 1991.