Tomar & Chhabra 1

Kajal Tomar

Dhairya Chhabra

English Honors, Ram Lal Anand College

22 March 2025

The Symbolism of the Wallpaper in The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) is a seminal text in feminist

literature, using the motif of the yellow wallpaper to explore themes of psychological oppression,

gender roles, and resistance. The wallpaper is a central symbol in the story, reflecting the

protagonist’s mental deterioration, societal expectations, and the broader struggles of women in a

patriarchal society. Through an intricate interplay of colour, pattern, and shifting imagery, the

wallpaper transforms from a mere decorative element into a powerful representation of

imprisonment, rebellion, and self-identity. This paper examines the symbolism of the wallpaper

through feminist, historical, and psychoanalytic perspectives, contextualising it within debates on

gender roles, mental health treatment, and repression.

From the outset, the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper is confined to a nursery, prescribed the

infamous “rest cure” by her husband, John, a physician. The wallpaper in her room, with its chaotic

and “debased” patterns (Gilman 647), reflects her own sense of entrapment. The wallpaper

functions as a metaphor for the narrator’s entrapment within a male-dominated discourse that denies

the validity of her own perception. The narrator’s inability to engage in intellectual or creative

pursuits forces her to project her frustrations onto the wallpaper, which becomes a tangible

manifestation of her confinement.

The specific choice of yellow for the wallpaper is significant, as yellow has historically been

associated with illness, decay, and weakness. As literary scholar Susan S. Lanser notes, yellow “is a

colour of both sickness and illumination, signalling both the narrator’s mental decline and her

heightened awareness of her oppression” (Lanser 424). The faded, peeling nature of the wallpaper
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further reflects the narrator’s weakening mental state, as well as the disintegration of her prescribed

role as a submissive wife. Additionally, yellow was commonly associated with hysteria in the 19th

century, reinforcing the contemporary medicalisation of women’s psychological distress.

As the story progresses, the narrator becomes increasingly fixated on the wallpaper’s pattern,

which begins to shift and take on new forms. Initially, she describes it as “confusing” and

“pointless” (Gilman 648), but as her mental state deteriorates, she perceives a trapped woman

within its lines. The changing patterns symbolise the narrator’s progressive identification with the

woman behind the wallpaper, a figure of all oppressed women struggling to escape their prescribed

roles. This shifting imagery suggests both the fluid nature of female identity and the constraints

placed upon women’s self-expression.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, the narrator’s projection of her inner turmoil onto the

wallpaper can be linked to Sigmund Freud’s theory of repression. The woman she perceives within

the wallpaper represents her own repressed desires, autonomy, and intellect, all of which have been

stifled by her husband’s authority. As Freud argues, repression can lead to neurosis when

subconscious thoughts are unable to find a direct outlet (Freud 146). In this context, the narrator’s

obsession with the wallpaper serves as a displacement mechanism, allowing her to externalise her

internal struggles. Jacques Lacan’s theory of the “mirror stage” is also relevant, as the narrator

ultimately identifies so completely with the trapped woman that she loses the distinction between

self and other, culminating in her psychological breakdown.

The trapped woman that the narrator sees in the wallpaper is a direct reflection of her own

entrapment. As she descends into madness, she actively seeks to “free” the woman by tearing the

wallpaper down, a metaphor for rebellion against patriarchal constraints. This act of destruction

signifies both resistance and self-liberation, though it ultimately leads to a complete psychological

breakdown. Literary critics have compared this moment to Virginia Woolf’s notion of the “Angel in

the House” that must be killed for women to achieve autonomy (Woolf 132). By physically
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removing the oppressive symbol, the narrator symbolically rejects the constraints placed upon her

by her husband and society.

Gilman’s story also serves as a critique of Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell’s “rest cure,” a widely used

19th-century treatment for women diagnosed with hysteria or nervous conditions. Mitchell’s

approach involved isolating women, prohibiting intellectual activity, and enforcing complete rest.

Gilman herself underwent this treatment and later wrote that it nearly drove her to madness (Golden

97). The narrator’s growing obsession with the wallpaper highlights the detrimental effects of

forced inactivity and the medical profession’s failure to acknowledge women’s autonomy. This

aligns with Michel Foucault’s theories on the institutional control of madness, where “the

suppression of speech and agency exacerbates psychological suffering rather than alleviating it”

(Foucault 218).

By the end of the story, the narrator fully identifies with the woman she has been attempting

to free, crawling around the room in a state of psychological collapse. John’s dramatic fainting at

the sight of his wife in this state reverses traditional gender roles, as it is typically the woman who

is depicted as weak and fainting in literature of the time. This subversion reinforces the idea that

patriarchal dominance is not as stable as it appears. The narrator’s madness is her ultimate rebellion,

a refusal to participate in the language of male authority (Treichler 69).

The yellow wallpaper remains a potent symbol of female oppression, psychological distress,

and the dangers of silencing women’s voices. Gilman masterfully weaves together historical

realities, feminist critique, and psychological exploration to create a text that remains relevant in

contemporary discussions of gender and mental health. The story warns against the consequences of

denying women autonomy, both in their personal lives and in the medical sphere. The wallpaper’s

transformation—from a mere decoration to a site of struggle and resistance—encapsulates the

broader feminist critique of domestic and societal oppression, making The Yellow Wallpaper a

cornerstone of feminist literary analysis.

Works Cited

Foucault, Michel. “Madness and Civilisation: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason”.

Vintage, 1988.

Freud, Sigmund. “The Interpretation of Dreams”. Avon Books, 1980.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories”. Dover Publications,

1997.

Golden, Catherine. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”: A Dual Text and

Criticism. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1998.

Hedges, Elaine R. “Afterword.” “The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories”, by Charlotte

Perkins Gilman, The Feminist Press, 1973, pp. 41-56.

Lanser, Susan S. “Feminist Criticism, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ and the Politics of Colour in

America.” Feminist Studies, vol. 15, no. 3, 1989, pp. 415-441.

Showalter, Elaine. “The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980”.

Pantheon, 1985.

Treichler, Paula A. “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in The Yellow

Wallpaper.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, vol. 3, no. 1/2, 1984, pp. 61-77.

Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. Harcourt, 1929.