Role and Status of Women in 19th & 20th Century Western Cultures - Essay Example

Role and Status of Women in 19th & 20th Century Western Cultures in the light of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Nineteenth century is rightly viewed to be the age of responsiveness and knowledge, which turned out to be significantly productive one with regards to getting various social strata conscious about making strive for obtaining their rights and privileges as the member of the enlightened social establishments. Consequently, condemning the ethno-racial, religious and gender-based prejudiced behaviour by raising strong voice against the biased attitude displayed by the dominant groups and societies remained an effective subject of interest among the intellectual circles. Since human nature does not allow the imposition of restrictions and confinements in any way, they always raise revolt against the norms and values that are challenging freedom of their thought and action. As a result, elucidation of the challenges experienced by the women folk has also been one of the most imperative issues in the works created by the late nineteenth and twentieth century writers, poets and social scientists alike. The same is also applied to the short story under the title “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Created by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1899, the story under-investigation served as one of the masterpieces of the above-mentioned author. The story concentrates upon the exploitation of the women at the hands of the male-influenced nineteenth century Western society by portraying their vulnerability at domestic and social scales partly because of the discrimination widely observed by the male members. The story revolves around the narrator, who equally serves to be the protagonist-character of the short story, and describes her confinement into a small apartment of the hereditary mansion (1) for the last several years to which she views to be the haunted house (1). The confinement she observes has been inflicted upon her by her husband John, to whom he views to be physician. Somehow, the protagonist ridicules over John’s being a physician, for he is such an incompetent professional that he is unable to diagnose her health problem as well as to recommend proper treatment. On the contrary, he has just imprisoned her into a room instead of making wise steps for her complete convalescence from her purported nervous depression leading to the ultimate mental retardation has been suggested by John. The walls of the room she is bound to stay the long summer have been covered with the yellow wallpaper, which does not allow the narrator to bring a second thought in her mind other than thinking of the wallpaper from dawn to dusk. Hence, instead of entering into interaction with her natural and social environment and getting involved into different domestic chores, which must be congenial and beneficial for her health, she remains viewing the yellow wallpaper that has been suggested to be supportive for her recovery (2). The protagonist’s remaining restricted to one single thought does not reflect her profound inclinations towards the same; on the contrary, since she does not have anything other than the wallpaper to look at, her keeping it as her focus point could be viewed to be the Hobson’s choice for her in life actually. As a result, the story elucidates the miserable plight of 19th century woman of America, which had been imprisoned within the four walls of domestic life, and had least opportunities of having encounters with the natural and social phenomena altogether. The narrator admits to be getting rude towards John out of sheer anger, which is, according to her spouse, an outcome of her nervous breakdown; though the same may actually be the reflection of her being isolated from the members of her family and society as well. In other terms, John’s keeping her into the state of loneliness and isolation has resulted into her getting intolerant and annoyed towards others. The protagonist views her spouse to be caring and loving, and takes care of her and their baby, though she seldom acknowledges his services, and hence feel basely ungrateful not to value it more (2-3). Hence, there is irony in what she accounts, where she is well-acquainted with the bitter reality of her loneliness and confinement at the hands of her husband. The narrator could find the patches on floor and walls of the upstairs room she resides in, where she also detects the circles of the wallpaper moving and hence slowly changing their position. The mutation is comparatively fast during the moonlit nights, making the wallpaper more impressive and forceful. The protagonist also explores the image of another woman in the wallpaper creeping on all fours and committed to cause patches in floor and walls on the one side, and tearing the wallpaper on the other. Since the incarceration of the other woman reflected in the wallpaper adversely tells upon the weak nerves of the protagonist, she intends to strip the entire wallpaper with the aim of liberating that woman from her forced imprisonment (3). To conclude, it becomes evident that the story strongly reflects the women’s longing for leading the life of their own without keep on wearing the shackles of male domination anymore. The act of refusing to unlock the room on the part of the protagonist reflects the development of women’s thought as well as intimacy with the circumstances they had been leading life during 19th and early 20th century, where coming out of the same state of affairs looked very difficult task to them those days. It is therefore, the protagonist does not allow her husband to enter the room, and liberate her from the four walls at the end of the story (4). It partly reflects the sense of revolt and resistance the woman folk had observed against the limited freedom being offered by the male stratum to them. Hence, they considered it better to choose confinement rather than accepting the freedom of men’s choice actually. Thus, the story mirrors the fast altering socio-cultural scenario of late 19th century scenario of the western societies. It was the era when the struggle of women for obtaining equal social status and the right to cast vote was being witnessed by the female stratum; and the writers and intellectuals also looked adding their valuable share in creating awareness among them through their ideas and works. Hence, the story states that slavery serves to be absolutely an acceptable phenomenon and is strictly against the human nature, where it also witnesses rebellion and revolt for the pursuit of liberty and freedom sooner or later. Work Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 1899/2011 Web. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/wallpaper.html Story title and author “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman General subject and topic Feminist elements in the story under-examination Answer the question from hand-out thesis Role and Status of Women in 19th & 20th Century Western Cultures in the light of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Urge for freedom is an essential part of human nature The story demonstrates the protagonist’s desire to set the woman free from confinement, image of which was detected by the protagonist in the circles of wallpaper (3). It manifestly reveals that she herself seeks liberty from the small she has been locked up by her husband. The protagonist’s antipathy towards confinement The refusal observed by the protagonist-narrator to the request made by her husband regarding her setting free from the lock up demonstrates her determination to lead the life of her choice (2-3). It is therefore, she looks interested to liberate the imaginary woman from the circles of the yellow wallpaper before her she obtains freedom from her husband’s established confinement. As a result, she would leave the room at the moment when she finds herself liberated both physically and mentally from the male domination. 20th century western women’s attempt to break the shackles of submission The story under analysis also endorses the changing socio-cultural scenario of the western countries, where women were making struggle to win the rights for them on the foundations of justice and equality. Consequently, they underwent trials with the pursuit of obtaining the role and status in society attributed to the male members of the US culture. Overall theme/summary/overview The story created by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1899, revolved around the protagonist woman, who has been confined to a room by her physician husband John. Since her husband maintains serious reservations regarding her mental health and fitness, he does not allow her to take part in domestic chores and social activities of any kind. The room contains patches in floor and wall, where the walls have been covered with the yellow wallpaper. The protagonist does not have anything to look at other than the circles of wallpaper, which seem to be moving and changing. It is partly because of her continuously watching the same panorama that displays different things and images for her sight as delusion. She is so absorbed in her imprisonment that she does not want to leave the place even her husband insists her to come out of the room. Thus, the story carries feminist elements in it, where women have been demonstrated to be submissive and oppressive creatures, which are leading the life of prisoner and slave under the male dominated societies of the west. Work Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 1899/2011 Web. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/wallpaper.html Read More