The Theme of Madness in The Yellow Walpaper and Wuthering Heights - Essay Example

Word Count 3012 Madness and Female Oppression in Victorian Society An Examination of The Yellow Wallpaper and Wuthering Heights The problem of the state of female position in society has been one that in the last two centuries has changed dramatically. In Gothic novels, the state of oppression has often been expressed through the idea of madness or disobedience. In some ways, madness has been a reflection of disobedience where a woman could find a certain amount of power as she turned from society and looked more inward into a place of madness. The capacity of a woman to use her intellect and the inability to use it fully which came from pressures in society created a place of madness in which women struggled in this conflict between their selves and the expectations placed upon them. This struggled to deal with female position and societal expectations in conflict with the desires of women can be seen in both The Yellow Wallpaper and Wuthering Heights. In The Yellow Wallpaper the story is told by a narrator who is not supposed to be writing and yet does so to tell her story of madness as she descends in isolation. In Wuthering Heights, Catherine makes herself sick, shutting herself away and behaving feverishly as she expresses a great deal of delusion and anxiety. Because of the nature of oppression in Victorian society, the literary expression of the sublime was often a descent into madness which came from the conflict that came from a desire to be disobedient and relevant outside of the domestic space. During the 17th century the concept of the sublime gained prominence through a French translation of Peri Hypsous (On the Sublime), which is said to have been written by Longinus in the first century A.D. Edmond Burke wrote Philosophy Enquiry which defined the sublime, as related by Peri Hypsous, as something that can be “associated with grand feelings simulated by obscurity and highly dramatic encounters the world in which a sense of awe was paradoxically inspired by a feeling of incomprehension” (Smith 11). The core of Burke’s argument is that death, or the fear of death to be more precise, is the example of sublimity with the most clarity. This perspective allowed for the representation of terror that would influence Gothic literature and create the concepts through which anxiety is established. These concepts included power, obscurity, privation, infinity, and vastness in which the subject is diminished and made smaller through an omnipotent creator, such as found in the Old Testament (Smith 11-12). The feeling of the sublime is significant because it reveals a specific shift of ideologies whereas human being is no longer thinking about their place in the majesty of nature, but is thinking of themselves in a negative light based on the concept of death and the insignificance of life in time. Andrew Smith uses the example of The Italian (1797) written by Ann Radcliffe where the terror is the result of imagined terrors that come from the influence of the villain (12). Burke’s discussion of the sublime is used as an influence, the role of God being taken over by the villain. Gothic writers used the language that Burke created in order to represent fear and debate the problem of the imagination in the context of emotionally heightened states of the mind (Smith 12). The theme of madness becomes natural in this genre because of the way in which the sublime has been identified. It is evident in the theme in which the mind is challenged by the sensational or macabre events which can be seen as a method of overthrowing reason. Insanity was often a way in which make the weaknesses of women exploited by creating a contrast between the swooners and hand ringers against those committing the sins of female resistance. Madness, illegitimacy, and promiscuity were the three sins that women were often accused, their position in society challenged by the anarchic modes that came with these three states of mind and consequences of activity (Snodgrass, 240). This is highly evident as shown by Judith Halberstam, who uses the example of Frankenstein as he contemplates creating the female version of his creation. Halberstam quotes Shelley, who writes that “she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate… she might turn in disgust from him to the superior beauty of man… one of the first of the things for which the daemon thirst would be children, and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth” (45). In this case, Shelley has made clear that the power of women to propagate is strong enough that it would create a greater daemon of the female version of his ‘monster’, with its ability to have intercourse and use this as a weapon of controlling the construction of society supporting the idea that women are mysterious and dangerous. The problem of the sublime is often expressed in terms of female power versus female fragility. In Charlotte P. Gilmans expressive tail of madness and female oppression, she presents a woman who has been completely subjugated by her husband, locked away in a room filled with yellow wallpaper and becomes the representation of her madness. In the story titled The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman creates a portrait of a woman who has been oppressed by her husband by leaving her solitude of the prescription against her nervous condition. She is forbidden to write because it is too tasking, but she keeps a secret journal in which the story is told (Gilman 8). The narration of the story shows that the room issues can find in was once likely a nursery, a representation of the infantilizing of women in the Victorian era. The wallpaper pattern makes her believe that she is trapped behind bars, her madness and the oppressive behavior of her husband creating emotional state in which she begins to blend her experience into her imagination. She is obsessed with the pattern of the wallpaper and it begins to become a central part of the madness that comes as a result of her situation more than the cause of it. The wallpaper takes on a life of its own and becomes another world for her to see her own position in society. It is just as likely that the Jane, the narrator, is mad because of her confinement under the oppression of her husband as she is from mental illness. Her mind grows chaotic as she sits in confinement, the wallpaper the only thing stimulating thing in the room. She thinks that writing would maintain her sanity but it too is subject to her husband as Gilman writes “there comes John, and I must put this away-he hates to have me write a word’ (9). Without her writing she has nothing to keep her busy rather than to stare into the wallpaper where she eventually becomes fixated. Her isolation and the ability of her husband to choose for her the circumstances in which she will live shows the oppressive relationships between men and women of this time period. She believes that he loves her and that what hes doing his or her best interest, but she writes “it is so hard to talk to John about my case, because he is so wise and because he loves me so” (Gilman 9). In this instance, she is not only oppressed by her husband, but she has come to believe that he is doing what is best. His professional authority makes her feel afraid to speak about her condition, and she thinks that he understands it because of that education and authority. She writes “I have scheduled a prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care for me, and I feel basically Im grateful not to value it more” (Gilman 10). The solution that he has provided makes a condition deteriorates, however, and this is the perfect environment for her madness to flourish. The only thing that she had control over was her imagination which led her to the fixation on the wallpaper. Gilman has exploited madness in order to create a metaphor for the way in which oppression can affect the female spirit. Madness is often used in literature as a way of creating a symbol for superior cognition the world or deeper sensitivity to its structures. Women were expected to be submissive, obedient, and docile, and therefore the oppression of women is often resisted through the presence of what appears to be mental illness (s. In this case, the conflict that the woman undergoes is represented by how she cannot defy society in dispute her husbands decisions, but she still finds a way in which to express herself by defying his order not to write. This conflict could be considered at the core of her madness rather than an affliction that existed before she was confined. This is confirmed by Gilman herself who wrote a treatise on why she wrote this particular story. After years of suffering from depression and also taking a stand as a womens rights advocate, she wrote the story in order to explain how society was having an effect on the mental health of women. The story could be described by a quote from Gilman that states “Life is growth” (Gilman The living xxvii). Reflecting on her story of The Yellow Wallpaper it is clear that the isolation that the narrator goes through is in conflict with this particular statement. She writes in her treatise that “for many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia – and beyond” (Gilman Why I n.p.). She quotes the prescriptions of two healers, one seeking to put her to bed and apply rest and the other telling her that there was nothing wrong and that she should domesticated her life as much is possible. She was told to have only two hours of intellectual life each day and that she should never again touch a pen, brush or pencil. This occurred in 1887, and for three months. She did what she could to obey this particular prescription and it sent her into her own mental ruin (Gilman Why I n.p.). This prescription resulted in the eventual work that she titled The Yellow Wallpaper because of her own narrow escape from the same and that occurred to her protagonist. Gilman shows that one woman was saved by her novel that she knows of and was let out by her family to continue normal activity so that she could recover more naturally after the same kind of confinement written about in the book. Another report she gives is that a physician changed his treatment of neurasthenia after reading The Yellow Wallpaper (Gilman Why I n.p.). Through her own personal experiences, she was able to become aware of the problems of oppressing the intellect and the spirit of any human being and that this was becoming acutely common where women were concerned. This can be tied to the concept of the sublime, as women became subjugated so that the death of their minds and spirits was even more threatening than the death of their bodies. The interesting thing that can be noted is that the sublime becomes a part of the control that men do not seem to understand about women. This misunderstanding about the female soul is often at the core of the way in which the Gothic novels were written. In the novel Wuthering Heights illness and madness combine as the older Catherine has the ability to make herself ill. Her repeated demonstration of his power provides her with the means with which to blackmail other members of the household so that her wants and desires can be met. Even though she does not get what she wants in the end, she does use this ability to make herself ill as a way in which to control the situation in which she has no other control. Catherine tells Nelly that “These three awful nights I’ve never closed my lids; and oh, I’ve been tormented! I’ve been haunted, Nelly!”, as she had shut herself away in order to experience the emotions that she has had about Heathcliff and Isabella running away to get married (Bronte and Dulac 120). Her madness comes because she cannot bear what she knows to be true; that she will never be with Heathcliff. Creativity is important because it makes people busy, as their minds are not enclosed in one place. However, the creativity of the narrator is writing where she notes down her feelings, but this are repressed when the husband denies her the freedom to do it. For people who cannot express themselves orally they find it easy to express their feelings in writing, when their mode of expression is taken away their imagination is repressed and they fall into a psychotic breakdown as was in the case of the narrator. Therefore, John would have allowed and accepted the nature of his wife and take her as she was rather than force her into adhering to the prescriptions of his own personality. According to Elaine Showalter in The Female Melody, she noted, “Biographies and letter of gifted omen who suffer mental breakdowns have suggested that madness is the price women artist have had to pay for the exercise of their creativity in a male-dominated culture” (Showalter 22). Therefore, according to her even though women wanted to be creative there was a price they had to pay and it was not a good price as they had to suffer for the rest of their lives. However, according to the narrator the only way that she could remain sane was by writing although this argument is not taken into consideration as she is supposed to sleep and rest for a couple of months to help with her condition. Even when her sister in law comes, she hides her writing, as she does not want anyone to know ‘there comes John’s sister. Such a dear girl as she is and so care full of me! I must not let her find me writing (Gilman 25).” Disobedience of women is the converse side of the moral of these stories. Even though they are written with the idea that women are trying to deal with the oppressive nature of their society, the use of illness is a way in which to overcome their situation even if this results in a dire results for the woman. Although Jane in The Yellow Wallpaper goes mad, it can be said that this occurs because of disobedience. It is through desire to be disobedient that Cathy goes mad in Wuthering Heights. Both women have no recourse in order to create control over their lives, so their minds slip and they become a part of a solution that is no solution. Although they both find a way in which to assert some control over their lives, they lose the substance of their lives in those moments rather than gaining what they were trying to establish. Even after Cathy has asserted her need to fulfill desires that she has about her life, she still does not get what she wants. Although John thinks that he has held Jane’s mind hostage it is clear that a creative mind always find a place to express their creativity. Jane uses the wallpaper as a way of finding meaning to her life. Through her wild imagination she manages to free the woman on the wall, as well as herself from constrains of male dominance. She finds it easy to be without any companion than to live with a person who manages to ensure that she feels insecure. Although before she thought that the husband loved her, she later comes to realize that she was just being put down, as the husband did not want her to have independence. It is clear that the genesis of the narrator’s madness is through the lack of her husband’s understanding on how to take care of his wife. For Catherine, the development of her despair into an illness which robs her husband of her presence and takes her out of the household is a way in which to express her sadness and sorrow in not having the ability to act. Because she needed to continue her position in society, she had to fulfill the expectations of her family and marry Edgar. Although she makes the choice to do this, it is not a choice based on her own desires. When Heathcliff leaves her to marry someone else she faces the consequences of her decision to adhere to the norms of society. She loses her love because she could not defy the expectations that were placed upon her. In essence, she had no choice and the lack of that choice made her take to her bed so that she could express that conflict in madness. Both of these women were trapped within a society that placed certain expectations on them that were in conflict with their own desires for life. The problem of a lack of decision-making power and an inability to express themselves led to a conflict within their own minds that resulted in madness. The Yellow Wallpaper was written in order to expressly explore this problem that women had in terms of their position in society. As well, it was written as a way in which to inform the world that locking women away had a consequence that was undesirable. Wuthering Heights was a tragedy of conflicting desires. The desire to be with a person who was unsuitable was in conflict desire to live within society and within its rules. Catherine suffered because she could not reconcile her own desires with those of society just as Jane suffered in a confinement that stripped her of her creative spirit. These novels stand as a testament against the oppression of individuals, showing through the literary metaphor of madness that a conflict of desires and an inability to control ones own destiny has terrible results. The Gothic novel and the appearance of female madness is intended to show how this conflict has dire consequences to the female experience. Works Cited Brontë, Emily, and Edmund Dulac. Wuthering Heights. London: J.M. Dent, 1905. Print. Gilbert, Susan M. and Sandra Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic. The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. London: Yale University Press, 2000. Print. Gilman, Charlotte P. “Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper”. The Forerunner, October 1913. Web. 26. December 2014. Gilman, Charlotte P. The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: An Autobiography. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991. Print. Gilman, Charlotte P. The Yellow Wall-Paper. Montana: Kessinger Publisher, 2000. Print. Halberstam, Judith. Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. Print. Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own. British Women Novelists from Brontë to Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984. Print. Smith, Andrew. Gothic Literature. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013. Print. Snodgrass, Mary E. Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature. New York: Routledge, 2005. Print Read More