The early 1900’s was a time when women were considered to be silent figures and feminist ideas were in full swing. One might say that women were thought only to be good for reproducing heirs to family wealth, thus leaving some women with a train of thought to do just that, and allow themselves be bound by the chains of society. “So long as their universal business is private housework they remain, industrially, at the level of private domestic hand labor, … servants of the other sex.” (Gilman, 1916). The Narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the epitome of a woman who has a child, and is bound by her husband to a house that used to be an asana asylum, causing her to eventually become insane. Insanity was not alien to the people of the early to mid 1900’s along with religious piety causing for further suppression of the female sex. However, not everyone was doomed to wind up in the same situation, for some women were strong enough to escape the claws of both the iron fisted men and the society in which they took part in everyday and unearth happiness. Jane Eyre from Jane Eyre and the Alice from Canterbury Tales: Wife of Baths are two women who followed separate paths, both full of rebellion against common belief, to ultimately
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In the end however, Jane was able to obtain her happiness and without compromising her ethics and independence. Jane, Alice and the Narrator all relate in having to face the oppressive patriarchal values that dictated their society, however the different ways in which they each handled the situation in the end determined how they came out of it. In the “Yellow Wallpaper,” the Narrator’s husband, John, is a perfect example of a man who tried to ensure the passivity and docility of his wife, while he in the mean time was cheating with Jennie. Jane Eyre for example, grew up silenced and suppressed her whole life. She argues “I know that Abraham was a holy man and Jacob too- […] yet each of them, we know, had several brides.
The word normal is defined as something conforming with or adhering to a typical, standard, pattern. Alice unlike Jane has grown up rich and noble. Religion would pacify any desires that could cause a deviation from these set standards, while submission implied a vulnerability and dependence on the patriarchal head” (Welter 373-377). The women written about in this essay stand as role models for today’s women seeking a life of happiness and status. The stories of women’s struggles continue to be passed on so others can learn from their hardships. Instead, she faces the insanity of her employer’s wife who, like the Narrator, is locked up. As her story unfolds, one can see the slow transgression towards the narrator’s final step over the line to insanity when she says “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane. He made sure that the Narrator became totally dependent on him causing for her to become upset thinking “[here] I am a comparative burden” (Gilman, pg.
“Religious piety and submission were beliefs that were more peripheral components of the ideology, yet both were borne of and a part of the ideology of True Womanhood.
Religious piety, along with the suppression of the female sex, together were major factors that led to the insanity of many women.
Approximate Word count =
1383
Approximate Pages =
6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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