The Unreliable Narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper"
The narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a woman who has a belief that she is not well. She acts several roles while narrating the story. Her direct role is pretending that she is a patient by demonstrating that she is suffering from temporary nervous depression with a slightly hysterical tendency. She chooses to boycott work by staying at home with an excuse that she feels some illness. However, her physician distresses with her self-diagnosis. The narrator's actions that include frequent shifts in her state throughout the story proves that she is an unreliable narrator.
The Condition of Postpartum Depression
Throughout the story, we notice that what the narrator portrayed as nervous is a condition of postpartum depression, a mental disorder which causes the narrator to have a nervous breakdown. Moreover, the narrator displays the horror charisma when she sees the woman in the yellow wallpaper of the room where she spends her time inside where she becomes obsessed when trying to free the woman (Martin 736). Such actions from the narrator and her mental disorder make her unreliable. The psychological condition of the narrator makes us question if what she utters is reliable or unreliable. In fact, at the start of the story, the narrator acknowledges that she gets unreasonably angry at times with John. She even adds that she is never sensitive which she blames on her nervous condition. She feels that she is very sick. In reality, it is difficult to believe someone who admits openly that he or she feels sensitive due to their conditions hence making her unreliable.
Inconsistency in Emotions
More evidence of the narrator being unreliable is due to her inconsistency in her emotions towards people and things in her life. At the beginning of the story, she talks of her husband in very high regard pronouncing that he is very loving and careful. She has a belief that her husband loving through his caring charisma and thus her husband wants her to get well soon (Gillman 84). Furthermore, she praises her husband's sister whom the narrator says that she is so dear to her and that she is caring (Gillman 87). Abruptly, the narrator's feeling towards her husband and her sister changes. She articulates that her husband's sister Jennie possess an inexplicable look while her husband John is extremely queer. At this point, the narrator feels the sense of horror in which she states that she caught both the two looking at the wallpaper and Jennie touched it. Her becoming fond toward the wallpaper is misleading; hence she is unreliable.
The Narrator's Actions
The narrator adds to her story through a series of deeds. In the article, the narrator becomes depressed and further went mental following her limited role in the society. She narrator acts sensitive to the fact that her husband John viewed her as a second-class citizen and that his job as physician rated as a high standard. She narrator feels suppressed by her husband through confining her in the room with the yellow wallpaper (Martin 736). She develops nervous disorder to cover up the suppression although the physician distressed her diagnosis report. She decides to take phosphates with journeys and tonics, and she chooses to forbid herself from working until she gets well again.
The Suppressed Housewife
The extremely depressed narrator communicates her story of how she was a suppressed housewife. She adds to her story through demonstrating the extreme male dominance and expresses the inequality of women in marriage which was displayed during her period in which she articulates that the act makes women insane and depressed. She developed a mental disorder while in her marriage in which her husband, the physician distresses the claim by convincing the relatives and the family with a contrary diagnosis report showing that she is not insane (Gillman 85). Furthermore, the narrator retreats into fantasy through exercising the power of her mind and controls her thoughts. The narrator makes up the story through demonstrating feminism theme and its role by expressing how women experience madness due to her limited role in the society. She explains that women have limited chances to communicate themselves both verbally and thoughtfully in their marriage.
The Power of Perspective
If the story were told by a different narrator's viewpoint, it would bring a more detaching view on the narrator's pedigree of madness (Martin 736). A different narrator would assume that medical treatment offered by John, the physician was correct. Not only would the perspective from a different narrator add a dimension to the madness of the woman, but also make him develop sympathetic charisma. The first-person view of the story is critical since it consents the readers to experience and understand the descent of the madness at an extreme individual level. The second-person perspective only presents a detached view of the narrator's insanity at every stage. The first person perspective makes the story ultimately more disconcerting and powerful.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the narrator in the Yellow Wallpaper portrays many instances of being unreliable throughout the story. She fakes into the descent of madness in which her husband John disclaims through a contrary diagnosis report which convinces the family and relative. The narrators own perspective gives the viewer a clear understanding of the situation.
Works Cited
Gillman, Charlottes Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. Custom Portable Edition. New York: Norton, 2013. 83-97. Print
Martin, Diana. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wallpaper” American Journal of Psychiatry 164.5 (2016): 736
