The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is the story of a madwoman and her husband, John, who have just moved into a new house. As the plot progresses, it is easy to judge the relationship between the couple. Although John seems to be the villain of the story because he undervalues his wife's opinion, he makes a great effort to help her.

On the one hand, concerning the antagonist's contempt of his wife's opinion, he has an encompassing authority over her and that is the reason why he takes some wrong decisions. Firstly, John's combined role of husband and doctor, allows him to patronize her, "... but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house". Clearly, the narrator interrupts her own thoughts by recalling John's instructions. Gilman shows how the narrator has internalized her husband's authority to the point that she practically hears his voice in her head, telling her what to think. Secondly, he forces her to hide her feelings by forbidding her to write. He thinks it is the best for his wife's health and disregards her own opinion of the situation. Thirdly, he refers to his wife as a little girl and treats her in that way. A possible reason for this is that usually mental illness patients are treated as young children. He treats her wife as if the illness would eventually go away, "a temporary nervous depression". Fourthly, in a way he sees her "pattern" but fails to see the trapped woman inside. Fifthly, He refuses to switch bedrooms so as not to overindulge her" fancies" In all these cases, he doesn't want to hurt her, but his ignorance is what in fact provoked the gravity of her madness.

On the other hand, as regards John's effort to help the protagonist, he tries different ways he considers effective to treat her sickness. To begin with, he thinks "the resting cure" is an excellent method to treat her but he is mistaken. In addition, the narrator explains that John is a physician and he applies the treatment because if his patients discover that his wife is ill, they may be inclined to think that his home situation affect on the quality of work. Due to the fact that if he can not cure his own wife, he will not be able to cure any other patient. John fears for his reputation and this affects the way he treats the protagonist. As