Husband-Doctor: A Stifling Relationship In Gilman's "the Yellow Wallpaper"
At the beginning of "The Yellow Wallpaper", the protagonist, Jane, has just given birth to a baby boy. Although for most mothers a newborn infant is a joyous time, for others, like Jane, it becomes a trying emotional period that is now popularly understood to be the common disorder, postpartum depression. For example, Jane describes herself as feeling a "lack of strength" (Colm, 3) and as becoming "dreadfully fretful and querulous" (Jeannette and Morris, 25). In addition, she writes, "I cry at nothing and cry most of the time" (Jeannette and Morris, 23).
However, as the term postpartum depression was not in the vocabulary of this time period, John, Jane's husband and doctor, has diagnosed Jane as suffering from "temporary nervous depression [with] a slight hysterical tendency" (30).(Colm) It may be more accurate to view the symptoms she develops later in the story—visual hallucinations, delusions,......
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Approximate Word Count: 1544
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