1. The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman

2. AUTHOR – CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN
• Published on 1892
• Written on 6th and 7th June 1890
• Committed suicide on 17th August 1935 after she discovered about
her inoperable breast cancer
Wrote this story to
  
To adjust society’s
mind regarding the
role of women in
society
Highlight the lack of
women’s autonomy
that might cause
damage to their
mental and physical
health

3. THEME – DOMESTIC CIRCLE AS PRISON
• The narrator is trapped in a prison-like nursery.
• It is a symbol of the narrator’s misery as a continuous reminder of her
responsibilities to keep the house clean and take care of their
children.
A number of secured windows and a
bed that cannot be moved also
symbolize a room in the past that
was used to keep an insane person.
The narrator feels like the disturbing
wallpaper is following her and
keeping a close observation on her
like a prison cell.

4. THEME - Status of Women during the 19th
Century
• Narrator  seems to unable to fulfil her role as a wife and a new
mother.
• Women was expected by the
society eyes to be in the role of
wife and mother and nothing
more; whereas, John as the
husband who seem dominant in
the story, actually reflect the other
side of the society. the author reflects on how the she
actually wanted to get out of the strict
status quo and the society expectation
through the character of the Narrator

5. PLOT
• the narrator tells how uneasy she is with the house that
her husband has rented for the summer. John is making all decisions
for her including when and what she is suffering from.
• narrator wants to write and socialize but forbidden by
her husband that tells her to rest. Jane is repressed because of John
not taking her seriously at that time.
• the wallpaper scares Jane and she starts to imagine that
there is a woman trapped in that wallpaper.
EXPOSITION
CONFLICT
COMPLICATION

6. PLOT
• the wallpaper scares Jane and she starts to imagine
that there is a woman trapped in that wallpaper.
• The narrator tears down all the
wallpaper in her room as a sign of her rebellion
which she takes to achieve her freedom. to free the
woman in the wallpaper as if she tries to free herself.
COMPLICATION
CLIMAX

7. PLOT
• when her husband faints because he is too surprised
and shocked of Jane’s craziness.
• Jane goes on tearing the wallpaper down, thinking that
she has finally achieved her freedom.
FALLING
ACTION
CONCLUSION

8. SETTING - TIME
• This story takes place during a summer
• The time when the story was written and published is in the late 19th
century
• The story was written in 1890 but was published a year and a half
later in 1892.

9. SETTING - PLACE
• In an isolated countryside estate.
• In a home that is rented by Jane’s husband so that she can rest and
get well sooner.
• The house, through the narrator’s description, is more like a colonial
mansion.
• Happened in a rural area surrounded by beautiful gardens and woods
with a lovely winding road towards the house.
• The major setting is in the room lived by the narrator herself with the
yellow wallpaper.

10. The three main characters in this short story are
Jane (the narrator), John, and Jennie.
CHARACTERS - JANE
• Jane is the main character and she is dissatisfied with being a
housekeeper.
• the main protagonist
• an upper-class wife and mother

11. CHARACTER - JOHN
• John is Jane’s husband
• a successful physician
• treats Jane more like one of his patients than a wife.
• very strict and controlling towards his wife with excuse that it was as
part of her treatment
• seems to love and care about his wife but he did not realize the effect
of his treatment on her

12. CHARACTER - JENNIE
• Jennie is Jane’s sister-in-law.
• described as a perfect housekeeper.
• happy to help Jane to keep the house clean and let Jane rest all day.
• Her existence grows the narrator’s guilt over as the she’s unable to
act as a proper wife and mother.

13. LANGUAGE AND STYLE
• First person point of view.
• In a journal form.
• Enable the readers to feel sympathy.
• not sure whether the narrator’s perceptions really reflect about what
was going on