Social Criticism in The Yellow-Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Social Criticism in The Yellow-Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gil partTraditionally, men claim held the power in society. Women have been treated as a second class of citizens with neither the legal rights nor the respect of their male counterparts. Culture has contributed to these gender roles by conditioning women to accept their subordinate status while encouraging young men to lead and control. Feminist criticism contends that literature either supports societys patriarchal structure or provides social criticism in order to change this hierarchy. The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts one womens struggle against the tralatitious female role into which society attempts to force her and the societal reaction to this act.From the beginning of this work, the woman is shown to have gone mad. We are given no insight into the past, and we do not know why she has been driven to the brink of insanity. The beautifulEnglish place that the woman sees in her minds eye is the way men have traditionally wanted women to see their role in society. As the woman says, It is quite alone standing well back from the roadIt makes me think of English placesfor in that respect are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the tenders and people. There is a delicious garden I never saw such a gardenlarge and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them. This lovely English countryside picture that this woman paints to the reader is a shallow view at the real likeness of her prison. The reality of things is that this lovely place is her small living space, and in it she is to function as every other good housewife should. The comment of her cell, versus the reality of it, is a very good example of the restriction women had in those days. They were free to see things as they wanted, but there was no real relegate at a woman changing her roles and place in soci ety. This is mostly attributed to the small amount of freedom women had, and therefore they could not bring ab away a drastic change, because men were happy with the position women fil conduct.This creates a despair, of hopelessness and of downheartedness. The woman, on multiple occasions, wrote down, And what can one do? This lets the reader know that women as a whole were very oppressed in ... ...er rebellion.In the final moments of this story, the womans husband returns to see her. She writes, He stopped short by the door. What is the liaison? he cried. For Gods sake, what are you doing I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder. Ive got out at last, said I, in spite of you and Jane. And Ive pulled off most of the paper, so you cant put me back 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 This final characterization shows that, when this woman rebels, an d escapes the wallpaper, it is not highly looked upon. The woman made a power statement, by telling her husband that she had, in essence, found a brisk role in life, and he can not push her back. When he can not handle her actions, she continues her new ways right over him.In conclusion, this story, The Yellow Wall-Paper, provided a great social and psychological criticism. It shows the reader how women have progressed so far in the recent years. This woman was the start of many, which finally led to making men and woman more equal, and this is the society that this woman wanted.