A Feminist-Psychoanalytic Reading of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper: A Textual Analysis

Anthony Kwarteng  Addai-Amoah; Molebogeng  Sebesho

doi:10.36312/jolls.v6i1.3588

Authors

Anthony Kwarteng Addai-Amoah Catholic University of Ghana
Molebogeng Sebesho University of Johannesburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36312/jolls.v6i1.3588

Keywords:

Feminist theory, Gender roles, Patriarchy, Confinement, Liberation, Psychoanalytic theory

Abstract

This study approaches Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” from a feminist-psychoanalytic perspective, examining how the act of writing serves as a mode of resistance for a woman silenced by patriarchal and medical authority. Through a close textual analysis informed by Freudian psychoanalytic concepts, the paper examines how Gilman constructs a psychological portrait of female confinement and rebellion. The narrator’s descent into madness is interpreted as both a symptom of the patriarchal suppression of female desire and an unconscious revolt against it. Gilman’s use of symbolism—the yellow wallpaper, the barred windows, and the creeping woman- encodes the internalisation of patriarchal control and the protagonist’s struggle to reclaim her identity. The study also examines the gendered power dynamics between the female protagonist and her husband, a physician, situating the story within the broader social and cultural context of nineteenth-century America. In effect, this paper argues that Gilman transforms “The Yellow Wallpaper” [3] into a timeless work of psychological and feminist insight, showing how literature can illuminate the human mind and the structures that shape it.

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Author Biographies

Anthony Kwarteng Addai-Amoah, Catholic University of Ghana

Faculty of Education, Catholic University of Ghana, Catholic University Street Fiapre, Sunyani, Ghana
Molebogeng Sebesho, University of Johannesburg

Department of English, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

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