“They get through and then the pattern strangles them off and turns them upside down, and makes their eyes white!”
The quotation above may seem horrific if looked at simply, as it states that the wallpaper shows heads been violently strangled off and turned upside down revealing dead eyes, making the reader feel disturbed and sickened. However, there are no heads and strangling in the wallpaper’s pattern, as these are the result of the narrator’s descent into madness. This supports the idea that the Yellow Wallpaper may simply be a gothic horror story about a woman going insane. However, there is yet another theory behind this quotation. The narrator’s hallucination here symbolises oppression of women in the 19th century again. The women desperately attempting to break out of the pattern/bars and the strangled heads represent a jail that the narrator herself feels to be trapped in. The pattern and its distraught figures are a symbolic reference to the women in that period of time, who were desperate to break out of the female standards society has determined for them.
Another example, which may seem like a quotation from a gothic horror story, implies the same concept behind it:
‘It slaps you in the face knocks you down, and tramples upon you.’
The words ‘slap’, ‘knock’, and ‘trample’ are vital to the concept of the story, as the description here is not just of a pattern, but rather a hint about the real conviction of Gilman – the oppression of women. The verbs used here to describe the wallpaper’s pattern effectively symbolise the suppression of women, as they may feel knocked, or trampled on by men, which implies that men show little respect for them, thus alluding to the theme of oppression more than horror again.
Furthermore, the absence of the narrator’s name is great significance and is intentional. The hints are provided for the readers in the dialogues that Gilman has specifically written to show how women were unreasonably a less dominant sex. Throughout the story, the narrator is being addressed as ‘darling,’ ‘dear’, ‘little goose’, and other silly names by her husband. The word, ‘little’ which is used numerously, emphasises how low the narrator’s status is compared to her husband, who as described by her is a physician of ‘high standing’.
‘What is it, little girl?’
‘Bless her little heart!’
‘Blessed little goose’
These demeaning names that John uses to address his wife allude to the idea that he is actually more of a rigid, conceited sexist rather than a caring, dear husband. Evidence of this is also shown in other sentences such as:
‘It is a false and foolish fancy. Can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so?’
This adds on to the fact that John – used as a symbol for men in the 19th century- denies to believe or listen to anything the narrator –who is a woman- says, for she holds a lower and less significant status than him, and is believed to be weaker, naïve, and less intelligent. This is overall the same for all spouses back in the olden days, where the wife is given undignified names by the husband, to be treated like a child, but never the other way round as Gilman hints in this story, suggesting that The Yellow Wallpaper is a theme of oppressed women even more.
Moreover, although the tone of the whole story seems to fit perfectly into the gothic horror genre for its isolated setting, gloomy tone, insane hallucinations from the narrator such as the creeping woman and heads, the story seems to have a lot of unnecessary details that have no effect on building to a horror story. In the beginning of the story there is a significant line:
“John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.”
The words ‘of course’ have a bitter tone to it, as if the narrator doesn’t want to expect it in marriage. (The ideology of men having full power over woman) This line is completely unnecessary for a horror story of a woman going mad, but is proof that men have always repressed women back in the narrator’s days. Another significant example that has finished off the story:
“Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall so I had to creep over him every time.’
This final sentence indicates that the narrator has not gone completely insane, as she mocks her husband for fainting – something that a stereotypically 19th century female would have done. This ending is ironic, as the narrator who is a woman did not faint as expected, but rather her soothing, masculine figure of a husband.
In conclusion, although The Yellow Wallpaper could be seen as a horror story in many ways for its isolated setting, horrid wallpaper, and its disturbing hallucinations and madness from the narrator in which Gilman uses to create a sense of spine-chilling atmosphere, her story contains a much deeper concept than just a simple horror story. Gilman uses elements in her story as symbols, such as the setting, dialogues, words etc in order to convey the reader about the oppression on women in her period of time, which is an effective technique as the symbols create much memorable imagery.