Female Melancholia Portrayed in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

It is very clear that the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" suffers from the mental health disorder of depression, or what was referred to as female "melancholia" or "hysteria" in the late 19th century. Throughout history, hysteria was thought to only effect females because of the uterus. It was thought that females suffered from hysteria because the womb was out of place due to the absence of male penetration. Often, females diagnosed with hysteria were not allowed to do any creatively stimulating activities such as writing, painting, or drawing. This is seen in "The Yellow Wallpaper" as the narrator says, "So I take phosphates and phosphites - whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to 'work' until I am well again"(Gilman 526). Creative activity was thought to exhaust the patient diagnosed with hysteria so it was prohibited. This had an overall negative affect on the patient because they were restricted from any creative outlet. This led them into a deeper depression and eventual insanity like the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper." Cures to female hysteria included sexual intercourse, childbirth, and the rest cure. Childbirth and the rest cure are both seen within Gilman's short story, as the narrator is prescribed the rest cure by her husband, John, and it is known that the narrator and John recently had a child. It is also worth noting that to cure the absence of male penetration in females was to bare children, more specifically males. Having a male child in the womb was replacing the male penetration and thought to fix hysteria. This can also be seen in "The Yellow Wallpaper" as the narrator says, "It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous"(Gilman 528). The narrator most likely had a baby to cure her hysteria and when that did not work she was prescribed the rest cure. It is proven that neither of these methods are affective and it does not cure depression but instead worsens it as that patient slide deeper into it. By the end of the story the narrator is crazed because she is denied any physical or mental activity and she has a baby that she probably did not want and cannot see. All of these factors contribute to her mental breakdown at the end of the story as she rips all the wallpaper from her room causing her husband, the reason of her oppression, to faint.