Trapped physically and mentally

The short story, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins views a greater and a darker version of how the Gothic genre can affect an individual person. The narrator herself experiences extreme isolation as we have encountered in all the previous Gothic related literatures that we have read in class. However, this particular literary work had me thrilled for the fact that the narrator describes her encounter with the lady stuck behind the bars with various descriptive details. John, who is the narrator’s husband keeps her isolated in a barred room for almost 3 months emphasizing that she will only recover if she is left alone and kept away from work to decrease stress and fatigue. Comparing this detail back to all the other Gothic works that we have read, John is a dominating male of the story who is making all the decisions and refusing to listen to his wife’s uncomfortable experiences throughout the time they’re supposed to spend in that isolated house (the female role is being disregarded once again). I believe that the narrator’s isolation initially broadened her mind by making her feel as if someone is indeed creeping up on her who is apparently trapped in the wallpaper patterns. I might also assume that she is trying to mirror her current situation with the lady behind the wallpaper because for the narrator, the lady is trapped just as she is in a similar manner. Towards the end, the narrator takes action by peeling off the wallpaper as much as she could to release the trapped lady which also symbolizes her freedom from having to live day by day in that barred room. John fainting towards the end of the story somehow reveals that he may have been spooked to see his wife taking such a step to release her anger and break free from her stole freedom.