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Post by sarahegerter on Nov 18, 2015 20:41:40 GMT
In "The Yellow Wall-Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator is seen backtracking and almost talking up her husband, despite having him lock her away in an ugly nursery far from the nearest village. She explains that she cannot even move without having direct orders from her husband. Then why does she still call him "loving" and "caring"? I interpreted this as she did not want to believe that her husband would purposely lock her away, knowing that this would only make her illness worse. She wanted to convince herself that this WAS only out of compassion so she can live with the fact that she is basically being held prisoner by her own spouse. But if you look at Bertha, she is violent and lashes out. Is this only her madness? Or is this her knowing that Rochester did this for his own gain? Being in a similar situation, those two react quite differently.
Another way to look at it is that it is the narrator being almost sarcastic in a sense. Like "Oh, yea, totally. He is really doing this to help." She understands that this is NOT working and is being sarcastic about the situation.
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Post by dgarrett on Nov 20, 2015 1:28:13 GMT
Great ideas Sarah. From your argument I can see that the narrator in "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and Bertha both have different views on their husbands' actions. I believe that the only reason that the narrator keeps on describing her husband as "loving" and "caring" is because she has always thought of him in that way, and she isn't the type of woman to speak out against what men are telling her. This submissive attitude is the exact opposite of Bertha's attitude when she gets locked up. When she isn't in her crazy state, Bertha never speaks up for herself. However, when she becomes insane and gets locked up in Thornfield's attic, she decides to terrorize and haunt the house. These actions almost seem to be directed against Rochester, so I think that she is really just trying to get back at him. This is especially seen when Bertha tries to light Rochester's room on fire to kill him. Bertha realized that Rochester is locking her up for his own good, as you stated earlier.
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Zachary Lloyd
New Member
Runnin thru the six with my woes
Posts: 26 
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Post by Zachary Lloyd on Nov 21, 2015 1:05:13 GMT
Personally, I feel that the sarcasm is a better way to describe the way the narrator in TYW speaks. I think Gilman does this purposefully, as she is trying to highlight what she sees as an absurdity in the society. The reader is meant to observe the way the woman talks and almost say "oh shes stupid she dont see that her hubbys a bad dude". At least I think so. So then I have my next question, would you guys say it worked to serve its purpose? I mean, I'm not asking you to read it again or whatever, but just consider it. It's like, the weekend, so I get it.
Also, I think Bertha is at the stage a little ways down the road on the 'loopiness' scale from which we see the narrator at the end of TYW. Just a few integers past tearing the wallpaper down to expose the women beneath, smh. So, that said, I don't necessarily think that the isolation or madness is the only factor in how Charlotte Bronte makes her character behave. I personally believe that Bertha is the way she is because of the times. Women had little say, or rather little pull, in/on the lives/affairs of men, and I think Bertha's angry outbursts are partially her way of letting out a lot of pent up rage at that fact.
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Post by morganmassino on Nov 21, 2015 16:21:34 GMT
Great point! I think Bertha's actions were mostly due to her madness, but it's also possible that those actions were her way of showing her discontentment towards the treatment of women in society. Maybe she knew that she was so far gone that she didn't really care about how she was supposed to be an "ideal" women anymore.
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Post by katecavallo on Nov 21, 2015 17:08:35 GMT
She explains that she cannot even move without having direct orders from her husband. Then why does she still call him "loving" and "caring"? I interpreted this as she did not want to believe that her husband would purposely lock her away... She wanted to convince herself that this WAS only out of compassion so she can live with the fact that she is basically being held prisoner by her own spouse. But if you look at Bertha, she is violent and lashes out. Is this only her madness? Or is this her knowing that Rochester did this for his own gain? Being in a similar situation, those two react quite differently. I think this is comparing apples to oranges. The woman in The Yellow Wallpaper had, while extremely controlled, fairly decent living arrangements. Her husband was oppressive yes, and even abusive by today's standards, but he truly was acting out of love based on what he had been taught love looked like. He sincerely thought his wife would benefit from the isolation and strict lifestyle (he was a doctor after all). The illness in the woman's head would have manifested itself whether she was in that house or not, especially if it was schizophrenia. She had no animosity towards her husband because in her time he really was trying to help as best he was equipped to. On the other hand, Rochester completely disregarded Bertha's well being by locking her literally in an attic for a couple years like it was no big deal. He not only disregarded her mental instability, but acted with her condition as justification. Because of this, Bertha held a horrendous grudge, and obviously rightfully so. Her madness added fuel to fire, and made her determined to get even. While most of her insanity should be contributed to her actual mental imbalances, Rochester's abuse and mistreatment twisted her mind into something not only full of confusion, but full of hate as well. |
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Post by amber soppick on Nov 23, 2015 1:33:07 GMT
I think a lot of the reasoning why the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper did that was out of madness and paranoia. Many times she mentioned how she shouldn't be writing and was afraid of people finding her writing and I read those parts as 1.) her trying to convince herself he was doing this out of love to keep herself sane and 2.) her writing those as insurance in case either John or the others found her journal and punished her not only her writing, but WHAT she was writing.
I believe the differences run a lot on personality. The woman in the Yellow Wallpaper is completely submissive (until she descends into total madness) and passive and lets anything and everything happen to her with little comment. Bertha on the other hand, is a woman who runs on spite and anger, shown in her violence and her even her sexual relationship with Rochester. This could definitely have more to do with their differing levels of insanity though, but of course, everyone feels things and reacts differently.
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Post by lafnaqezaza on May 20, 2019 10:43:00 GMT
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