The Yellow Wallpaper presents the tragic story of a woman's descent into madness and depression as a result of being oppressed by her husband.
             In the story, the narrator and her husband rent a colonial mansion for the summer to provide a place where she can recover from severe postpartum depression. The narrator's declining mental health is in part reflected by the oppression of her husband, as well as by the characteristics of the house in which she is trapped.
             The dominance of her husband, and her reaction to it, is reflected throughout the story. The narrator continues to submissively bow to her husband's wishes, even though she is unhappy and depressed. Her husband has adopted the idea that she must have complete rest if she is to recover. "So I...am absolutely forbidden to 'work' until I am well again" (Gilman, 247). Her husband does not even want her to write. "There comes John, and I must put this away - he hates to have me write a word" (Gilman, 248).
             The room her husband chooses for them to stay in is the nursery, which the narrator hates. The narrator describes the nursery as atrocious and having barred windows. The narrator's response to her husband's choice is a further example of her submissive behavior. "I do not like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened into the piazza and had roses all over the window and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it" (Gilman, 248).
             Although she is virtually a prisoner in her room, she attempts to justify John's treatment of her. "He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction. I have a schedule...I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more" (Gilman, 248.)
             Though the narrator feels that writing and socializing would help her recover more quickly, she still allows the male figures in her life to dictate her
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