Female predicament in the novel the yellow wallpaper

Abstract

The study deals with “Female Predicament in The Novel the Yellow Wallpaper”.  The Yellow Wallpaper is a semi-autobiographical short story by an American author Charlotte Perkins Gillman.  The New England Magazine published the short story in 1892. After suffering a severe case of postpartum psychosis, she wrote this work. Through her work, Gillman reveals the way she was treated by her husband. According to some interpretations, the story is both a critique of patriarchal medicine and an opposition to the rest cure. Her idealistic feminist thinking served as a role model for future generation feminists. The major objective of feminist literature is to determine what kind of voice women have or do not have in a world dominated by men. The study aims to find the predicaments faced by the heroine in The Yellow Wallpaper. The fundamental motive of any work based on literature is to provoke unfathomable sensibilities and thoughts that the readers can associate with their own personal experience. The anonymity of the heroine helps the female reader to identify themselves with her.  Charlotte Perkins Gilman reveals the oppression of women and the lack of freedom in The Yellow Wallpaper that highlights the patriarchal society’s restriction on women’s choices and desire. There are number of literary devices like simile, imagery, symbolism and dramatic irony used by Gilman to illustrate the idea of feminism and violated human rights. The heroine deals with discrimination and abandonment that leads to physical and mental collapse. As a result of inside and outside imprisonment, she became insane and herself identity was shattered.