When I first read The Yellow Wallpaper in high school, I was not only disturbed by this woman but also frightened. I read it for the first time as a horror story because that was what my teacher expressed it would be. Now, after reading it for what seems like the millionth time, I read it differently in the sense that I am now a different reader than I was in high school. While I am still very disturbed by this woman and what she is seeing in the "repellent, almost revolting, smouldering unclean yellow wallpaper" (Gillman 1685), I also feel a bit sorry for her that she is being driven mad and now I also question why someone would ever prescribe this treatment for a "nervous condition" (Gillman 1685). Her husband not only agrees with this treatment for her and thinks it is actually working but also her brother, also a physician, and makes me wonder how women could allow themselves to be treated this way. Yes, it is the feminist in me coming out wondering why you would ever agree to such a thing or listen to a man telling you not to think, work, or do anything that may stimulate the mind and be kept in a room with putrid yellow wallpaper, a bed bolted to the floor, bars on the windows, gates at the stairs from going anywhere, and in a house that is described as haunted in the very beginning. Taking a vacation is one thing but to be locked up in this manner is quite another. I would go insane too and probably imagine someone in the walls to keep me company during the day as well.
I like your post and I agree with what you're saying, the point of John wanting to keep his wife locked up in a room like that is nothing short of barbaric. However, a lot of women during this period didn't think about questioning their husband's motives or wishes, they just obeyed. Jane even says, "I don't like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the windows, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it!" (Gilman 1685). Thankfully, we've come a long way from that and are not subjected to these kinds of situations voluntarily.
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