The short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a tale of female oppression and a woman whose fate is ultimately determined by both internal and external madness. There are many reasons for the narrator's ill fortune but the main one being the yellow wallpaper. This element that is hardly given a second glance by any other individual is the sole cause for the narrator's psychosis.
Often times what is intended to help can hinder. Positive intentions do not always bring about desirable effects. The narrator is forced into an abandoned and dull room in an attempt to have herself freed of her ailment. This short story was written in an era in which these practices would be considered beneficial. The narrator's husband, a doctor adheres to this belief and prescribes his wife a summer of isolation and seclusion. Rather than curing the narrator of her mental disorder, the therapy only adds to its effects, pushing her into a state of terrible depression.
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