Grief as a Political Matter: An Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper

Abstract

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an American writer of the 19th century who was committed to the feminist cause and struggle. After her marriage, she suffered for many years severe depressive episodes under the “rest cure” treatment from Dr Seir Weir Mitchell. When she recovered, she wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, a semi-autobiographical short story created in part to help other women in her same situation, since depression was a widespread and often misdiagnosed illness amongst women of that century. This dissertation aims to demonstrate that the grief suffered by the protagonist, reflecting that of many other women, is not only personal but also political. To do so, I will analyse the protagonist’s description of the control and absolute submission to which she was subjected by her husband and relatives. I will also address her obsession with her grief as the only resource to fight against it. Finally, I will study the end of the short story in which the protagonist gets rid of so much grief and impose her own will. This ending allows to glimpse some hope for all those women who still have to live with so much grief.