How is Madness presented through the protagonist in The Yellow Wallpaper compared to The Bell Jar?

by danniellewilliams (student)

How is Madness presented through the protagonist in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ compared to ‘The Bell Jar’?

The protagonist is extremely important within a novel, they give the reader a focus and a bond to someone they know so much about, in this case Esther and the Narrator. The protagonist is explained within the novel which the reader may interpret in their own way; this gives the effect of a personal closeness to the book, so that the reader can relate to the protagonist, although the effect of post natal depression in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and suicidal depression in ‘The Bell Jar’ also distances the reader from the protagonist because insanity is a world away from a ‘normal mind’.

‘The Bell Jar’ is written in the first person, displaying to the reader personal closeness to the novel, thus making the reader feel a bond to the protagonist, the reader develops an intimate relationship to the narrator due to them reading the novel as themselves as they become the ‘I’ of the novel. Esther narrates her life from her descent into madness and her climbing back out; it's a vivid picture of the inside of a mind through insanity as well as the healing of Esther’s mind. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is also written in first person narrative; this lets us feel closer to the Narrator, although we never do find out her name, so it could be argued that it makes the reader feel like they’ve found the diary that she has been writing in which also separates us from the Narrator. The Narrator decides to keep a secret diary, and from that point on it’s as if all her thoughts are secret and not visible to the outside world, although it’s not just her mind that is confined in the diary, she is also physically confined, the Narrator represents this through her character and explains this to the reader by saying things such as “there are hedges and walls and gates that lock” this powerfully emphasises the protagonist being trapped not only physically but emotionally and how she is also very much alone and closed off from everyone.

The protagonist of ‘The Bell Jar’ we first see as an educated and independent woman, and we slowly see her deteriorate throughout the book; we understand that Esther is educated and independent as she has been offered an all expenses paid internship at a fashion magazine. The reader sees Esther’s sane self deteriorate through the book whereas we see the Narrator’s madness from the beginning. Although it could be argued that we see Esther underlying depression from the start, she says in reference to the coverage of the Rosenburgs execution “I thought it must be the worst thing in the world” our first impression of Esther must be that she already is slightly depressed considering she is obsessed with the worst things in the world, although it could also be seen as Esther saying that she is frightened of death, contrasting to the middle of the book where she is contemplating suicide.

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We learn a lot about Esther from the first chapter of the book, we find out about what she does, who her friends are and what she’s like. Whereas in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ all we find from the Narrator is her gender, class and marriage, this all makes it into the first sentence of the books but her name doesn’t, suggesting that these general characteristics could be more important to the plot than her actual identity; this can be contextualised from women’s roles in earlier times. It could also suggest the parallel of the women’s imprisonment in the home, although they’re meant to be better suited to this role and this is why they enjoy marriage, the Narrator says “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” We can see the Narrator is not happy, and she has not chosen to be tied to the household as women were expected, the reader knows that she has not chosen this because she has been trapped inside the room with the yellow wallpaper. However it could be interpreted that she is there for her own good and the reader can notice that she is perhaps not the sweet innocent protagonist we see in the beginning of the novel, we see the Narrator differently as the book develops due to her post natal depression. When the book was published the reader would have probably had no sympathy for the protagonist because of how different the views were.

As a narrator, Esther is very self critical, which contrasts with the other characters in the book who seem very complacent; none of the other characters talk about politics and seem to just wipe the bad things in the world away from sight, for example the reader notices how Doreen is much more preoccupied with men and doesn’t think of the outcome, she acts very different from Esther “Lenny stooped, and Doreen went flying up on to his shoulder” this is not something we would ever see Esther doing, the girls other than Esther seem more preoccupied with material life; This also seems the case with the people around the Narrator in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, they seem obsessed with other things and ignoring things such as the Narrator’s illness, her husband says there is nothing wrong with her apart from a slight “nervous disposition”. This typically describes women’s roles in 1890, women were not important, they didn’t know anything, and her ‘nervous disposition’ is part of a woman’s personality, because of their gender. Within both of these novels we see the other characters, other than the narrators, ignore importance whether its politics or illnesses, suggesting that perhaps madness is better than sanity. Although if we looked at the Narrator’s post natal depression from a modern perspective she would be understood and treated for her illness, showing how the treatment of mental illnesses have developed over time.

Although there is a tragic side of Esther’s self critical attitude this is that she is so ruthless with herself it makes her self destructive; this makes Esther feel like she’s a stranger to herself, even when Esther looks into a mirror she doesn’t see herself; she sees a distorted face. Esther literally takes on a different personality, especially around men, for example Elly Higginbottom, so we must ask ourselves as the reader, is she hiding her identity for them or for herself? For example when in the bar Esther states “I felt myself melting into the shadows like the negative of a person I'd never seen before in my life” this shows us that Esther feels socially invisible and is jealous of Doreen, which presents her to be shy and nervous. Also the fact that Esther actually does take on another personality could be a link to multiple personality disorder reinforcing the idea of madness through the protagonist. Through a modern perspective there would be more sympathy for the protagonist as we understand mental illnesses better.

When looking at the titles of the novels we can see how significant they are to the novel itself. It could be argued that Esther is saying that her life is distorted like it would be if you were looking through a bell jar, this gives us the idea that she can not see herself or her life for what it truly is which leads her on to suicidal depression. Although on the other hand Esther is commenting on the fact that she feels like she is trapped inside a bell jar, which reinforces the notion that she feels enclosed within her own mind. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ also holds significance in its name but for a different reason, the yellow wallpaper is a significant part of the book, it’s what explains to us how the Narrator feels and how she has lost her insanity, without it there would be no symbolism of her madness without the wallpaper and the woman behind it.

The theme of madness is strongly represented through Esther and the Narrator of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’s’ eyes; we see both of their descent into madness. Esther seems to ‘lose her mind’ due to suicidal depression, but it could be seen that she has given in to madness because of her reaction against the social pressure of convention; it could be seen as a form of protest. Esther comments “the silence depressed me. It wasn't the silence of silence. It was my own silence” this is a deep insight to Esther’s suicidal depression, considering she works for a magazine the idea of silence terrifies her showing how frightened she is of being alone. The Narrator of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ could be seen as going into madness due to her confinement, this makes her begin to lose her sanity. The fact that she is confined also represents her loneliness and therefore silence, similarly to Esther’s.

‘The Bell Jar’ challenges the idea that in 1950 women were seen as inferior to and dependent upon men, Esther feels that this is wrong, so could be interpreted as a feminist view, she comments on this contextual idea “the trouble was, I hated the idea of serving men in any way. I wanted to dictate my own thrilling letters”. The Narrator we see in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is meant to find fulfilment in the home, in tasks such as cooking and cleaning while the men hold positions such as physicians, although we see John’s sister doing the household work because the Narrator is not capable. The fact that the Narrator doesn’t have a name reinforces the idea that she is speaking as the voice of women collectively, rather than as an individual, also furthering this point is that the only reason she is confined is because of her gender.

When looking at the imagery of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ we can interpret the wallpaper in different ways. At first we only see the wallpaper as something ugly, and not very nice, this immediately although we do not realise at first could be a comment on the Narrator’s life, it is possible that she views her life as vile and ugly, the author has done this to present the protagonist’s madness through symbolism, and not just telling the reader what she is like the narrator comments on it by saying “I never saw a worse paper in my life”. On the other hand however it could be seen as representing the idea that the narrator feels trapped in the tradition that women are in, the wallpaper is domestic and Gilman skilfully uses this hideous and ugly paper as a symbol of the domestic life that traps many women; this is how the Narrator feels. In the middle of the book the Narrator tries to rip off all of the wallpaper because she believes that this will set the woman behind the wallpaper free, the wallpaper is there as a metaphorical meaning to mirror the Narrator’s life; this can be seen when the Narrator remarks "I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" conveying perhaps the Narrator can see herself within the paper. When looking at the wallpaper we understand that Gillman has presented madness in the wallpaper, which represents the protagonist.

In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and ‘The Bell Jar’ another similarity can be drawn from the writing style and structure; at the beginning of both of the novels the first person narrative is calm and both of the protagonists are logical in their writing, however nearing the end of the novel their writing becomes abrupt, representing the protagonists slowly losing their minds while they write giving us subtle hints to how they descend into madness. This affects the reader by giving them a personal closeness to the protagonist. In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ as the Narrator’s prose becomes more urgent for example the Narrator says “Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be. You see I have something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch. I really do eat better, and am more quiet than I was” we can see through this quote that the narrator truly has lost her sanity because she has accepted that something is wrong with her, and that she has changed. Whereas Esther’s narrative becomes bemused for example “I wondered what terrible thing it was that I had done” showing there is a difference in their madness which presents the protagonists as alone, because we don’t understand the texts as easily, showing they are slowly being cut off from the world. Whilst the protagonists are cut off from the world they focus on other things, for example the narrator in the Yellow Wallpaper states “on a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind” showing that she has nothing else to concentrate making her lose her mind, it should be noted that she says a “normal mind” explaining to the reader that she understands that she has lost her sanity.

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