Men and Women in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour

Women’s role in society has always been a widely-discussed topic. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin are two stories that explore this issue. Do you want to compare and contrast The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour? Check out the following essay and find helpful information for you.The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour reflect the realism of men’s and women’s relationships. These two stories reveal the problem of women’s desire for freedom. The main characters deal with inner conflicts trying to fit society’s standards. The problem is intensified by the insensitive attitude of men towards the main characters. The stories have both: correlations and discrepancies. They play a crucial role in figuring out the key theme of each story. This essay will examine the similarities and differences between these pieces of literature.The stories are not identical, of course. The main characters of both pieces of literature are married women. However, they have different backgrounds and life stories. Louise Mallard, the protagonist of The Story of an Hour, is a young woman with a weak heart. The action of the story happens within an hour. That is why this writing has such a name. In contrast, The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of three months. Its main character, the narrator, is a young woman who recently gave birth. Her husband, John, assumes that she has postpartum depression. Thus, he decides to take care of his wife’s health and apply isolation therapy. The differences between The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour are significant. However, the similarities between the two stories play a more crucial role. The related patterns of The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour provide a solid ground for literary criticism. Moreover, they help to highlight the issue of gender roles in society.The first shared feature of the stories is women’s attempts to gain the desired freedom. In a desperate search for private space, the ladies contradict their husbands on the one hand. On the other hand, they do not express their opposition to men explicitly and loudly. The social standards of that time do not let them do it. The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of a young woman locked in a disgusting room. Being in an unstable mental state, the narrator spent three months in isolation. Her husband decided lockdown was the best way to overcome the challenging postpartum period. Thus, the young woman spent the entire summer lying in bed and viewing the irritating yellow wallpaper. The isolation even deepened the depression. The woman was seeking freedom. Nevertheless, she did not achieve it. Similarly, The Story of an Hour covers the topic of the lack of a woman’s freedom. Mrs. Mallard, the story’s main character, is a delicate lady living an everyday life. That is what the readers may feel at first sight. She has a husband that she kind of loves. Furthermore, he seems to love and care about her too. However, deep inside, Louise Mallard wants to live to the fullest. She desperately desires to be independent of her husband. Louise wants freedom. She even repeated the word “freedom” over and over again after she knew about her spouse’s death (Andrea 3). Thus, the woman that seeks private space is the first common theme of The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour.In addition to a lack of freedom, both women suffered from patronizing husbands. These two aspects are closely connected. Basically, husbands were those people who limited the main characters’ independence. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is suffering from being isolated from the inner world. But it was her husband’s decision. Being a respected physician, John diagnosed his wife and assigned therapy. Besides locking her in a room, he did not let her write. The narrator was passionate about writing. It brought her pleasure. However, her arrogant husband deprived the woman of her joy of communicating and writing. As a result, the woman’s mental health worsened after her patronizing husband’s “therapy.” John did not let his wife become the person she deserved to be. The Story of an Hour has a similar pattern. Generally, the family of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard seems to be happy. However, if we dive deeper, we can see many pitfalls. Louise Mallard only pretends to be a joyful wife of Brently. Living under the strict control of her husband, the woman fears to say something against him. She indeed wants to be free and self-sufficient. However, malign Brently’s character only lets her stay home and lay out her silk stockings.Another parallel that can drown between the two stories is the doctoral perspective. Both main characters were under the medical treatment of doctors. However, in both cases, the approach was wrong. The woman from The Yellow Wallpaper was suffering from depression. The recent giving birth caused it. Her husband, John, decided that the most effective way of dealing with the problem was to apply the rest cure. However, in the 19th century, this method was only tried on men. Due to male and female psychological systems being different, the approach did not help. Instead, it only hurt the narrator (Schilb and Clifford 95). Mrs. Mallard from The Story of an Hour was also diagnosed wrong. The doctor suggested she died because of being overwhelmed with feelings. The sense of endless joy led to a heart attack. However, the real cause of Louise’s heart attack was different. She could not manage to accept the fact that she was not free. Her husband did not die. It meant that her desperate desire to become independent would never come true. The realization of this fact hit Louise Mallard hard, and her heart stopped.Settings are essential in The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper. Similarities in women’s cases help the readers to investigate the characters’ states of mind. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator spends the entire time in one room. Initially, she wanted to live in another room. However, her husband put her in a room with yellow papers that irritated the woman. While spending much time at that place, the woman’s mental health was gradually destroyed. Finally, she started having illusions. In the pattern of the wallpaper, the narrator viewed a creeping woman. She decided she needed to release that woman, so she ripped off the wallpaper. The narrator wanted to free herself from her husband’s cage. However, she interpreted her thoughts through the settings because of her mental disorder. In The Story of an Hour, the settings also reveal the main character’s thoughts. The naturalist observation helps the readers to trace Mrs. Mallard’s behavior. While the woman is around people, she acts naturally, not arousing suspicions. However, when Louise gets into the room, her actual thoughts disclose. Only being alone she is brave enough to affirm her feminist ideas. Therefore, in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour setting are crucial. The rooms are the places where the protagonists show their real personalities and reveal their inner thoughts.The last common element of both stories is the gain of liberty through destruction. Louise Mallard and the narrator of the second story both stick to the norms of society. Trying to fit into these norms, they cannot fulfill themselves with freedom. Nevertheless, both women gain their desired liberty through destruction. The main character of The Yellow Wallpaper felt free after she tore down the wallpaper. The mental disorder of the narrator makes her think that the woman she sees on the wallpaper seeks freedom just like she does. She decides to destroy the room’s property and “release” the woman from the wallpaper. After doing this, the narrator finally feels free (Gilman 173). Similarly, Mrs. Mallard from The Story of an Hour gains her liberty through destruction. However, she did not demolish any property. Her story is a bit different, but the outcome is the same. After discovering her husband is dead, Louise enters a room alone. Here, being isolated from people, the woman realizes that she is finally independent. Hence, we can assume that Mrs. Mallard felt free after her husband’s life was destroyed (Chopin 83).Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin are two writers that discovered the women’s problem of lack of freedom through their pieces of literature. The pattern of feminism in The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper shows that females can be independent. They can live to the fullest without the strict control of their arrogant husbands. Both stories cover the issue of unequal gender roles in the society of that time. Although the world has changed since then, women sometimes face the same problems. Thus, modern society still has many things to be improved.

References

1. Short Stories: Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour. 2011. Web.
2. Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. 200, New York: Perfection Learning.
3. Gilman, Charlotte. The Yellow Wallpaper. 1973, California: Forgotten Books. Print.
4. Schilb, John; Clifford, John. Making Literature Matter. 2008, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Print.