Social Disparity is present throughout the entirety of Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." We've seen inequality in the previous stories we read regarding class. But in this story the disparity of women and the subordination of women in marriage in the 19th century is at it's clearest.
It was appropriate behavior and completely acceptable to treat women as an inferior being. Women were thought of as irrational, melodramatic and weak or fragile. Fainting chairs were put in women's bed chambers for a reason.
And the women accepted this. It was how they were supposed to behave. We see this right away in "The Yellow Wallpaper," written like a journal, the wife mentions that her husband, John, will laugh at which everyone expects in marriage.
In a paragraph towards the beginning of the story, she says:
"John is a physician, and PERHAPS-(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)-PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster.
You see he does not believe I am sick!
And what can one do?
If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency-what is one to do?" (Gilman, 21)Society during would listen to the man, especially a husband and a doctor. How could he be wrong? Men could speak for their wives, make itineraries for their wives, tell them what to eat and still go out and have mistresses.
Another quote from the story that demonstrates the way men view women:
"I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition. But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take pains to control myself-before him, at least, and that makes me very tired." (Gilman, 22)In this particular quote we see that the wife tries extremely hard to please her husband even though she is the one who is ill. This is a great example of social-disparity and inequality in her marriage.
The "rest cure" was supposedly a method of relieving a person of their depression. This is mentioned indirectly several times within the story that adds to the unifying theme that her physician husband knows best. The narrator has to face two different forms of subordination in her story: that of the husband/wife and the doctor/patient. Both these forms of "authority" can be easily misused. He repeatedly tells his wife to rest...."just rest," not allowing her to sleep downstairs in more comfortable place, ignoring her requests. Her husband doesn't even allow her to write. She spends all her time in the room where the bed is nailed down and the yellow wallpaper worsens her overall mental health.
As she continues to "rest" and continues to do as her husband wishes, the room makes more and more mad as the days continue to pass. As her husband see her struggle he even threatens her.
"John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall." (Gilman, 25).
* Weir Mitchell introduced the rest cure.Her disease worsens and she can not speak to her husband about it and it becomes harder for the narrator to think straight. All the while, she loves and supports her husband and believes he is right.
Finally, she begins peeling the wallpaper away, looking for the woman creeping about, running free in the night. But what her husband and neither herself understand is that she is the woman trying to escape from her illness, from that room and possibly even her husband/doctor.
"I've got out at last, "said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (Gilman, 32)
