ENG 1120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: The Yellow Wallpaper

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: English
• Course: ENG 1120
• Professor: Gaye Taylor

Document Summary

Analysis of charlotte perkins gilman"s, the yellow wallpaper . Structure is somewhat flawed in terms of credibility: she writes about her husband trying to open the door, but she cannot be writing this as it is happening. Gilman tries to put us in current mindset of narrator: sentences become choppier, mind/mental state deteriorates, things become more intense. This can be considered an expression of her own psychological stress. It is possible she is mad, or the house is haunted, or there were horrific events that occurred before they became residents: bed is nailed down, windows are barred, wallpaper is torn down, rings are on the walls. Maybe she was there for a long time, or someone was there before her. Narrator is passive, non-confrontational: wants to believe in supernatural, very imaginative but has a rational capacity. Conflict of power between man and wife: rationalism vs romanticism, power vs supressed.