Discuss the main themes of the story, in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's

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Discuss the main themes of the story, in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"

The short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a woman who is suffering from depression (probably post-natal) and a nervous breakdown. Whilst trying to recover in an isolated country house, her condition deteriorates as her paranoia takes over. Her condition is not helped by the fact that her husband has forced her to inhabit a room with irritating features, namely the wallpaper. The story contains themes of entrapment, resignation, paranoia and the male domination of the time.

The story was written in 1892, before women had gained the right to vote. Stetson was a keen women's right campaigner and felt that blatant male dominance was wrong. It was written eight years after Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Charlotte Stetson at the time) was, herself, suffering from post-natal depression. Stetson was, at the time, told to rest one hour after every meal, only have two hours of intellectual life a day and never to touch pen, brush or pencil again. This was described as the 'rest' cure. Stetson had always been a very creative person and so she felt stunted by her husband's prescribed cure. She