About the Author
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, to Frederick Beecher Perkins, a noted librarian and magazine editor, and his wife, Mary Fritch […]
The Yellow Wallpaper
Setting
“The Yellow Wallpaper” takes place in a country house located about three miles from the nearest village. Although the large house is surrounded by hedges, […]
Themes and Characters
“The Yellow Wallpaper” examines the role of women in 19th-century American society, including the relationship between husbands and wives, the economic and social dependence of […]
Literary Qualities
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is an example of a first-person narrative because it is told exclusively from the viewpoint of the unnamed protagonist, and the reader […]
Social Sensitivity
“The Yellow Wallpaper” was written and published in 1892. The last three decades of the 19th century comprised a period of growth, development, and expansion […]
Topics for Discussion
1. Imagine how you would respond to the rest-cure. What would be the most difficult aspect of it? Why? 2. Discuss the limited role women […]
Ideas for Reports and Papers
1. Research literature on hysteria and other “women’s problems” published at the end of the 1800s and relate them to “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 2. Read […]
Related Titles and Adaptations
In her nonfiction work Women and Economics (1898), Gilman argues that men and women are more similar than different, and that women should have the […]