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In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the narrator's relationship with her husband, John, is marked by patriarchal dominance and lack of understanding. John, a physician, dismisses his wife's mental illness...
4 lip 2019 · The story ends with her husband banging on the door to be let in, fetching the key when she tells him it’s down by the front door mat, and bursting into the room – whereupon he faints, at the sight of his wife creeping around the room. That concludes a summary of the ‘plot’ of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.
21 lis 2021 · In Gilman's short story on the example of John the reader can observe an image of an unsuccessful husband, whose overprotection and caution leads to a woman's mental disorder.
Gilman uses suggestive symbolism to dramatise the complex relationship between husband and wife in the story. Take that final dramatic scene where John is about to break down the door to his wife’s chamber with an axe.
The narrator writes almost immediately that John, who does not believe she is truly sick, often laughs at her, admitting that “one expects that in marriage.” These details depict an unequal relationship in which the husband is undoubtedly in control, leaving the wife with no choice but to submit herself to his every whim.
He cares for his wife, but the unequal relationship in which they find themselves prevents him from truly understanding her and her problems. By treating her as a “case” or a “wife” and not as a person with a will of her own, he helps destroy her, which is the last thing he wants.
John faints at the end of the story because the narrator’s erratic and destructive behavior shocks him. He cannot believe that his wife, whom he presumed was improving in her condition, has fallen into such animalistic behavior.
