No matter what one thinks happened at the end of Charlotte Stetson's, The Yellow Wallpaper, there is no argument needed to be made that it would indeed make for a great modern day horror film. As compelling and bizarre as this story is, the ending left nothing to be desired with the exception of many unanswered questions.
As we read and progressively watch this narrator, presumably Jane, go down a path of insanity it truly is both haunting and frightening from a reader's perspective. In my opinion as a reader, I believe that the woman, whatever her name may be, was schizophrenic. This severe mental condition leading her to what I believe was a murder of her husband and as the definition of this condition states "failing to acknowledge what is real world" from what the narrator is perceiving. As she is conceptually not in her right mind, she sees upon John entering the room in the last scene and states "Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him
every time!"
Much of this is due to the behavior of her husband towards her, never acknowledging her mental instability when saying "He said we came here solely on my account,that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get."Your exercise depends on your strength, my dear," said he," and your food somewhat on your appetite; but air you can absorb all the time."So we took the nursery at the top of the house," and imprisoning her in what is basically a jail cell, barred windows included.
A lot of what I believed also contributed to the narrator's impending insanity is the time period that she is living in, the pre-women's rights movement era. In this time period, women were not looked upon to express themselves individually and were viewed as a way to have children and nothing more. This narrator especially struggles with this gender bound social class inequality throughout the novel as she is not allowed to write, leave the room or house, or see this conspicuous "baby" mentioned only twice. I believe that this combined with the actions of her husband, and of course whatever predisposition she was born with to have acquired this condition all lead to her downfall at the end of the novel.
Great post Parker. I really like your acknowledgment how the husband never really address's her illness, and when he does, never brings about any change. Since John believed Jane's illness was more physically related rather than a mental illness, it is not surprising to see him make Jane do exercise with hopes of finding a cure. If only John had been more willing to listen to his own wife when it came to her condition, then there might have been a better chance of saving Jane.
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