Compare and Contrast the Tell Tale Heart to the Yellow Wallpaper

      

The stories, The Yellow Wallpaper and The Tell Tale Heart, are alike and different in many ways. For example, both of these stories are Gothic Lit. Another example of a  difference between the two stories are that in the T.Y.W. the narrator takes a deep plunge into madness and the narrator in T.T.T.H.  keeps on saying he is completely sane. In the Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator tears up the floorboard while the narrator in the Tell Tale Heart tears up floorboard to hide the body of whom he had just killed. To compare the authors, Poe was driven to be insane by the people in his time because of his writings while Gilman was driven to madness during the rest cure that was prescribed by Dr. Wier  Mitchell. Both Poe and Gilman had spouses that died. Both stories have a narrator that at times can seem a bit untrustworthy. One common difference between the two is that each narrator is of the opposite sex. Each stories constants both the same elements that a classic dark story would. Both stories have a person dying (or if you see it that way). A difference between the stories is that one tells the story of an unnamed narrator who is fighting to keep his sanity while the other one is about a named narrator who writes a story of how woman were during their time and how their own health was. One story was written to show people the truth about how woman were treated while the other one was written just for personal enjoyment.

Historical Society and Gilman

The story, The Yellow Wallpaper, was written during a time of great change (Edsitement). Gilman was living in the 19th century  and she was a woman. Women were thought of to have no rights and just fend over the house. It is important to understand when the story takes place and when it takes place because that has a big impact on the story itself. You may look at it differently than the person sitting next to you or a person round the world. During the 1800's, American Middle Class woman would  not have a lot to do because they would stay at home fending for it while the husband would provide for the family. during this time period, the feminism movement was just beginning with people like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Statson, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gilman's great aunt (Behind the Writing).Gilman wrote this piece of literature because then she would stand out and fight back with the "unequal status of women within the institution of  marriage"(Behind the Writing). Aside from the feminism movement, slavery was taking a huge toll on the country itself. People were debating whether to keep slavery or to get rid of it. In 1804, the United States decided to fund the Lewis and Clark expedition (thepeoplehistory.com). Later in 1814, British troops burn down Washington D.C.(thepoeplehistory.com). As you can see, there was a lot more than you think that went on during this time or that you know. Many movements have taken place during that time because he country was just starting out and, no offence, we sort of didn't know what we were doing at the time (Mr.Callinan).




Charlotte Perkins Gilman." Edsitement. Edsitment, n.d. Web.

 "What Happened in the 1800's." Http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/. The People History, n.d. Web.

Symbolism is well...Symbolism

Symbolism is a great factor in, The Yellow Wallpaper."Feminism is based on the assumption that woman have the same human, political, and social rights as men,"(Poetsforum.com). Feminism is a big part in the story because during the 19th century woman were trapped in marriage and in containment. They were allowed only what was given to them by their spouse. In the story, Gilman writes about how the wallpaper is moving and how there is a woman trapped in the wallpaper.  "The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out. I got out up softly and went to feel and see if the paper did move, and when I came back John was awake."(Gilman p.6). She also begins to see other movements on the walkways of the house around the garden, but John discourages it throughout the story. When Gilman throws the key out the window and locked the door to her room, it shows that she has gone to the "dark side" of insanity (Gilamn p.10). She than latter goes off and walks around the body of her dear loved one, John,after she shows him a paper that makes him faint. She wanted to become part of the wallpaper and free the girl that was stuck in the wallpaper.





picture :https://drdimocksclass.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/relationships-gender-and-medical-ethics/
poetsforum.com

Lights...Carmara...Theme!

The theme of the Yellow Wallpaper is insanity. This is the theme because when the narrator is sitting in the house, she starts to befriend a person in the wallpaper. She didn't show any signs of insanity before she went to the mansion. When the woman begins to show herself to Gilman; Gilman beings to act weird towards John. John didn't take mental illness seriously because he let her out and see other people.
 

Behind the Scenes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"I am sitting by the the Window in this Atrocious Nursery." (Gilman page 1). Charlotte Perkins Gilman said this while being house on the rest cure prescribed by Dr. Weir Mitchell.
Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 in Hartford Connecticut (Bibliography). She had a rough childhood and her father, Frederick Beecher Perkins, abandoned her family (Biography,com). At the age of 21, she was introduced to Charles Stetson (Gilman Society).He is a physician that helped out  Gilman while she was on the rest cure. She had to be in a room alone to hope that it cured her hysteria. She had married her cousin after she walked out on her old husband and only child, from there she became a stronger woman's' right activist and writer. After she had married her cousin the two of them were together until her husband died in 1934 (Biography.com). About a year later she found out that she had breast cancer that was incurable so she committed suicide on August 17, 1935 (Biography.com).