I really believe that the yellow wallpaper is a symbolic prison, there is a reference to bar shapes appearing during the night. The women inside the wallpaper is very likely a projection of the narrator. The wallpaper is her own prison.

She is the wallpaper. feeling imprisoned in isolation and controlled by her husband. He clearly doesn't listen to her when she tells him how she feels. So her subconscious thoughts get caught up into the wallpaper until she tears it down and breaks free from that room and her husband. She was suffering from postpartum depression and back then they really didn't know how to treat it.

I didn't think she had a name either, but she does! It is in the second to last paragraph. It says, "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!" John-spouse Jennie-Sister Cousins-Henry and Julia, Jane would be the narrator.

Hi Dr. Bernstein, I am now in college and I am 51, in my class their are so many young students, and they are English majors. As for me this is my first time taking a Lit class, and I feel so lost with the reading. I do thank you so much for your advice, and I am going to try your technique and see if it will help me to understand the reading. Thank you so much.

I loved it! What a fabulous ending. After a slow start (for me), it steadily kept pulling me further and further in the more she talked about the wallpaper and her feelings about it.

I just stumbled upon your discussion on The Yellow Wallpaper. Thank you. I listened to a Suspense radio show broadcast from 1948 w/ Agnes Moorehead as the protagonist and narrator, it was amazing! Great analysis and interesting thoughts!

at first i didnt understand the story at all & as i was watching this video it finally clicked with me what the story meant in my understanding. thank you so much. this is such a beautiful story.

Thank you so much for your video. I have just finished watching the Masterpiece Theatre version of The Yellow Wallpaper. I thought it was fascinating, disturbing and puzzling and hope to find the short story. Your comments were very helpful and interesting. Thank you again. Cheers.

Thank you professor, I'll be sure to try the method you suggested about collecting quotes related to one thing together and analysing them. Really great insight into the text, thank you.

You have to see Tim McGee's lecture on "The Yellow Wallpaper" it's soo good!

I enjoyed your insight. It's interesting listening to female versus male interpretations. To me it's post partum depression and anxiety being worsened by the isolation, inactivity and lack of stimulation she's forced into.

I was looking around for resources for my literary elements paper for my current english class, and I stumbled upon this video! Thanks a ton for doing this video! It's become a big help and follows what I analyzed of the work.

Sylvia-That's a good question. What are some things we associate with the color yellow? I'd start by contemplating that question. I'd also consider the extent to which everything has to be significant/symbolic. :-)

I feel that the yellow wall paper represents feminism, but I'm just having some difficulties proving this. to me, the women in the wall paper represents the way she really feels about her life, husband and sister in law, the more she looks into the wallpaper and all its imperfections , the more she hints at how dredfull her life is; her husband in particular. in the 19th century women were fighting for their right, this starts the beging of feminism. so this shows me that she refuses to submit to the patriachal domian of men. i dont know if im right but i would love some suggestions.

Thanks a lot for your interpretation. I liked it. I am writing a paper about Irony in The yellow Wallpaper. Any idea...

2:15: I believe she has a name, which is revealed at the end of the story "Jane".

Twenty minutes into the eighth episode of American Horror Story (First season), a maid has a breathtaking speech where Charlottes book is mentioned. I just read the book myself and, might I say, it is heartbreaking how I can both understand as well as relate to her failed attempts to make people understand her, but to no avail. You just stop talking altogether as it clearly is not working and you're alone with your thoughts.

This is a good model piece of literature, for writing majors like myself. I feel im going to have to read this story another 5 or 6 times to fully analyze & sort of decode the gist or corks that makes this passage what it is...

Thank you for doing these vedios. Iam taking comp2 online and you doing these vedios helps me understand the storys

Great, thank you for sharing.

My Lit Professor suggested that when her husband came in he had fainted because Charlotte had killed herself (hung with the rope specifically). She believes that at the end, Charlotte was circling the room now as a ghost, a creeping shadow. I would love to know if anyone else got this?

Thank you so much! This was super helpful! I feel like what you said in this really helped not only with this story but with analysis in general. I wasn’t looking for “answers” I was looking for a better way to understand the story and THIS WAS ACTUALLY HELPFUL -a college student.

"The Yellow Wallpaper," could be a confusing story. However I did enjoy reading it. The videos were nice to have to get that extra information.

I have a test of this story tomorrow morning, I'm sure your illustration would help me interpret the story in a better way. Thanks for putting this up here.

The one reference to Jane at the very end of the story is ambiguous. There is no convincing evidence that the narrator is referring to herself.

it is hulpful but i have to write a analyzing paper about yellow wall paper in relation to Freud I can't find a response can anyone help me ?

The introductory video on Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wall-Paper” was very interesting and informative. The tutoring and helpful hints for analyzing the symbolism in the short story were very helpful. The techniques provided by Dr. Bernstein will be useful for analyzing the symbolism in any literary work read in the future.

Thank you. This is going to help me a huge deal with my essay about this novel. I will send comments about the result,

Thank you really helped

this is insightful and has really made me think for myself about the novel. i am due to write a 1500word essay on this looking at it in a feminist approach and i now feel more confident in doing so. Tess of the D'Urbevilles is another novel i am studying so if you have any insights into this it would be deeply appreciated. Thanks!

hey I'm 15 (I know, that's a bit young) but my English teacher recommended I look into this book and here's what I think. This woman seems to be going through postnatal depression because of the way she talks about her child with Jennie who I think actually owns this house. I also have a feeling that because she lost her child she burnt her house down and she has the same idea about doing it again... maybe that's why her husband faints because the room is on fire. She says that the wallpaper is 'quite revolting' and becomes obsessed about how she hates it and then associated herself with it. This makes me feel like she's starting to hate herself and blames herself for the loss of her child. But i don't know through ...... :)

Hi Professor - I have a question. Throughout the story, the narrator refers to "Jennie," who I assume is John's (the husband's) sister. At the end of the story, the narrator says: "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!" Who is Jane? I always took that to be the narrator's name. Thanks for your help! Shari

Thank you for this video , I'm preparing for my exams and I have to understand this story

I watched this 2 part series after reading the story. Your introduction was helpful in reminding me that this is a work of fiction and not autobiographical. Also, having read the story I was able to contemplate on your questions and observations about the yellow wall paper in a way I had not considered while reading the piece the first time. It will be enjoyable to reread it with these things in mind.

She does have a name . Its Jane

Who writes their own name in their journal?

I read this for pleasure and loved it, so I don't have the benefit of class discussion, but these are my thoughts: I think the wallpaper is indicative of her life and also a metaphor for being a 'wallflower' type thing. It's in the former nursery that had turned into a playroom of sorts, so that's easy enough to understand. But really, I think the whole room is just as significant. For starters, there's the bed that's the only thing in the room and it's bolted down (divorce not being the easiest option for women back then) with bars on the windows. Secondly, I think that whole room is symbolic of a wound or sore. The progress of her illness follows that of a wound. You get hurt and don't treat it right. It get's infected and you can smell an inflected wound. They stink and, if not treated, the wound will erupt and spew (yellow) puss or it'll poison you from the inside and kill you. Then, of course, there's the fact that her husband is a doctor, which brings home (haha) the wound metaphor. Even her dealings with him. She asks for them to leave but he refuses. Then she wants him to leave and he refuses. She takes the only option left for her to take, which is to give in.

why was the wallpaper yellow

Thank you so much for this video! I am teaching this story and it's such a great piece to add to my research!

I really do enjoy watching your videos for background info and important things to watch out for BEFORE reading the text. Without your introduction video I would not have even been thinking about gender roles in this short story. The narrator's husband is constantly placating and patronizing her and I think she uses irony in this story to show just much the character is being belittled and treated like a child, because she is a woman. By asking us to keep gender roles in mind, the story changes

I also believe that she became "one with the wallpaper". Also, I imagined that she was peeling her skin off when her husband walked in the room. That might not be correct, lol. But that's what was going through my head.

Truely helpful thank you Dr ❤

Again, what is very interesting is how relevant this is today. Many people, especially woman, suffer with conditions that Dr.'s can't explain, deem imaginary, sefl-imposed, or treat with complete disregard to the patient. Ex:Temple Grandin. I confess, I have a funny habit of scrutiizing wallpaper, ceiling tiles, clouds...usually in Dr.'s offices; places where you have to wait forever & are trying to keep your mind busy. Maybe it explains why ppl see Jesus in their toast & Mother Mary in cereal.

The notion of "madness" needs more analysis. In the story, the narrator fully realizes her womanhood within her madness. The pattern of the yellow wallpaper metaphorically represents the oppressive patriarchal strictures, and the narrator's act of tearing the pattern is suggestive of her emancipation. The finale of the story is mainly about her liberation and freedom. Nonetheless she achieves her freedom and agency within her madness. She metaphorically comes out from the oppressive marriage. She creeps over her husband. The situation is freighted with symbolism.

#VvVSimperfection @#ThisDiamondRing.

Is anyone here just because... u wanna try to understand the power over woman the patriarchal system had / has

Mf’ers in the 1910’s be like “damn this shit edgy af”

Folks did things different back in the 1800s. The Yellow Wallpaper is a great story for illustrating unreliable narrators.