The Yellow Wallpaper

“The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) is a work of Gothic horror by writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman; it is thought to have been inspired in part by Gilman’s experience of postpartum psychosis. The short story’s exploration of feminist themes has made it a classic of American literature, and it has been anthologized many times, while also inspiring film, theater, and radio adaptations. Though “The Yellow Wallpaper” is by far Gilman's most famous work, she also penned nonfiction, novels (including her 1915 utopian work Herland), and poetry (including her 1884 “An Obstacle”).

These citations for “The Yellow Wallpaper” reflect the 2009 compilation American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps, pages 131-147.

Plot Summary

An unnamed narrator presents her story to the reader over a series of 10 diary entries. She writes from her bedroom located on the top floor of “[a] colonial mansion” that she and her husband John are renting for the summer with their infant son and two members of staff (131).

In the first diary entry, the narrator introduces her husband John, a pragmatic man who “scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (131). John is a physician, as is the narrator’s brother, and though the narrator accepts that her brother and her husband believe “there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression” (131), she feels they are wrong in barring her from most activity. Although the narrator writes in secret, she finds working around John’s wishes exhausting and often grows “angry” with him.

The narrator describes her temporary home, marveling over the garden, the paths, and the “grape-covered arbors” (132). Although the surroundings are beautiful, “there is something strange about the house” itself (132), and the narrator dislikes the room—“the nursery, at the top of the house” (133)—that John has chosen for their own. The windows in this room have bars on the windows, and the “sprawling flamboyant” wallpaper is peeling off the walls. The color of the wallpaper as well as the pattern offend the narrator, and she empathizes with the children who must have “hated” the room. The entry closes abruptly with a brief mention of John’s approach.

The second diary entry takes place two weeks later. The narrator enjoys a sense of freedom when she is able to write while John is away working. The narrator laments not being able to do more to contribute to the household, expressing gratitude for Mary, who “is so good with the baby” (134), as well as affection for the baby, who is “dear” but a source of anxiety. She also writes of John’s reactions to her complaints about the wallpaper and other details of their living situation, like “that gate at the head of the stairs” (134). John reacts by dismissing her and calling her “a blessed little goose” (134).

The narrator describes the qualities of the house and the garden she does like, mentioning John’s warnings to keep her “imaginative power and habit of story-making” in check lest she tire herself (135). John has also decided that they will not receive visitors to avoid overstimulating the narrator.

The narrator again discusses the wallpaper, writing of her anger at the “impertinence” of the pattern and remembering her childhood imaginings about the furnishings in her old room. She writes of the marks on the floor of her current room and the damage done to the plaster; the nursery appears “as if it had been through the wars” (136). Another description of the wallpaper includes the narrator’s observation of “a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure” lurking inside the ugly pattern (136).

The third diary entry takes place just after the Fourth of July, and the narrator, as well as John and John’s sister, Jennie, have just finished hosting some family members who have left after a weeklong visit. John is threatening to send the narrator to “Weir Mitchell in the fall” if she doesn’t improve more quickly (136), and the narrator dislikes the plan. She admits to crying frequently when she is alone, which she often is. She describes lying down on her bed, which is nailed to the floor, and staring at the pattern in the wallpaper for extended periods. At the end of the entry, the narrator expresses a feeling of tiredness and a desire to nap.

The fourth diary entry begins with the narrator acknowledging that she must write what she feels and thinks to experience a sense of relief, especially as her “[d]ear John” reminds her not to “not let [her] silly fancies run away with [her]” when she is emotional (138). The narrator takes comfort in the fact that the baby is in a different room and that John insists that she herself stay in the unpleasant nursery because she “can stand it so much easier than a baby” (138). The shapes in the wallpaper have begun taking the form of “a woman stooping down and creeping about” (139). The entry concludes with a wish that “John would take [her] away from here” (139).

The fifth entry describes another fruitless and futile conversation with John. The narrator requested to leave early, but John refused, ignoring her claims that her health was not improving. John embraced her and insisted that she was better, though he also said she could be “as sick as she please[d]” (140). The narrator specified that despite her physical health, her mental health had not improved. John responded by looking at her critically and refusing to take her “false and foolish fancy” seriously (140).

The narrator remains fascinated by the wallpaper, feeling the need to “watch it always” (140), in all kinds of light. As well, the narrator describes feeling a sort of paranoia toward her husband and Jennie; this paranoia accompanies a new sense of appreciation for the wallpaper, which gives her “something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch” (142). The narrator notes that she only has one week left at the house.

The sixth diary entry contains an admission: “I don’t sleep much at night, for it is so interesting to watch developments” (142). The narrator also complains of a powerful smell that has appeared with damp weather; the odor “creeps all over the house” (142). To get rid of the smell, the narrator considers setting fire to the building. The entry closes with a description of a mark on the wall, “[a] streak that runs around the room” and “makes [her] dizzy” (143).

The seventh diary entry marks the narrator’s discovery of a woman behind the wallpaper who causes the pattern to move by “crawl[ing] around fast” and attempting “to climb through that pattern” (143). The narrator states that she sees heads that the wallpaper “strangles […] off and turns […] upside-down, and makes their eyes white” (143).

In the eighth diary entry, the narrator claims that the woman in the wallpaper can escape in the daytime, asserting that “she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight” (143). The narrator goes on to explain that she has seen the woman in the garden and on the road before describing her own experiences “creep[ing] by daylight” (144); at these times, the narrator locks her door so that her husband cannot enter the room while she is behaving like the woman in the wallpaper.

The narrator writes the ninth diary entry two days before she is due to leave the house, explaining that she has only “two more days to get this paper off” after nearly three months of living with the wallpaper (144). She doubts John’s sincerity and love when he asks her questions, certain that the wallpaper has affected John and Jennie in some secret way.

The tenth and final diary entry is written the day before the narrator, John, and Jennie will leave the house and move back home. The night before, John was away, and the narrator rebuffed Jennie’s offer to stay in the room with her, knowing that the woman in the wallpaper would keep her company. The narrator helped the woman out of the wallpaper, and together, they “peeled off yards of that paper” (145). The next morning, Jennie observed the torn wallpaper and warned the narrator not to tire herself before the long boat ride home the next day. To avoid more discussion, the narrator told Jennie she needed to rest.

All the furniture has been moved out of the room except for the bed, and after locking the door and throwing the key “down on the front path” (145), the narrator tries to move the bed. She ultimately gives up, focusing her energy instead on peeling off more wallpaper with “[a]ll those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths [that] just shriek with derision” (146).

When the narrator hears John at the door, she notices his panic and tells him where to find the key. When he finally unlocks the door, the narrator continues crawling around the room, telling John that she has “got out at last” (147). She continues, “And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” (147). The diary entry concludes with the narrator wondering why John has fainted and fallen onto the floor, right into her path so that she must “creep over him every time” (147).