Analysis of Symbols of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ LIT KA SHING College

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s literary work ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is often considered as an important early work of American feminist literature which illustrates common social and physiological attitudes towards women during the 19th century. A number of analysis have been done on this literary text and varies interpretations have been suggested. In this essay, I want to adopt a new critical approach by arguing and examining how symbols of the text describe and emphasize the persecution of women during the period of time significantly. While effects of numerous symbols have indeed been argued from the text to show such fact, interpretations of some of the predominated ones have been controversial. I have chosen three of those, i.e., the wallpaper itself, the color yellow and the two windows, which serve as important elements in brining out the theme of women’s suffrage during 19th century effectively and efficiently as my main scope of discussion.

I will begin with the analysis of the wallpaper itself. Undoubtedly, it is the most obvious symbol in this story which also acts as a major element of the text. In general, the wallpaper represents the protagonist's mind set. Further symbolic effects can be...