NEA RETAKE NOTES

Gilbert and Gubar’s thesis The Madwoman in the Attic suggests that because society forbade women from expressing themselves through creative outlets, their creative powers were channelled into psychologically self-destructive behaviour and subversive actions.
Using ideas from the Critical Anthology to inform your argument to what extent do you agree with this view in relation to The Yellow Wallpaper?

ideas

john stops her from expressing herself through creative outlets

representation of the society they're from.

in the end she is slef destructed psychologically

victory comes at the price of madness

because she has no freedom or perimeter of escape she self destructs

private sphere - wallpaper is the only thing she has to focus on.

critic ideas

'in most literary representations, female independence gets a strongly negative connotation while helplessness and renouncing all ambition is seen as endearing and admirable' 

- h bertens 

quotes

'john laughs of course but one expects that of a marriage'

'john and myself' - always puts john first

'a great relief of my mind'

'absolutely forbidden to work'

'personally i disagree with all of their ideas'

'would do me good'

'but what is one to do' - repetition

'i did write for a while in spite of them' 'but it does exhaust me a good deal -  having to be so sly about it, or else be met with heavy opposition'

'the colour is repellent'

'i never saw a worse colour in my life'

'dwells in my mind'

'fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper. perhaps because of the wallpaper.'

'knocks you down and tramples upon you' - like the patriarchal society does to women.