Marriage Madness At the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “Yellow Wallpaper,” she was considered a leading feminist writer. This background information allows readers to see Gilman's views on the rights and roles of women in the 18th century; “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggests that 18th-century women were excluded from society's marital gender roles. Gilman uses setting and figurative language, such as symbolism, imagery, and metaphors, to convey theme. “Yellow Wallpaper” is set in the 18th century, and this specific era helps support Gilman’s point of view. In the 18th century, women did not have many rights and were often considered inferior to men. Women often had their opinions. As the narrator's mental state changes, so does the way she perceives things in the house. The most striking example is the wallpaper imagery and how the narrator's opinion of wallpaper slowly changes throughout the story; this directly reflects what is going on in the narrator's mind. Early in the story, the narrator describes the wallpaper as “repulsive…revolting…an impure, smoldering yellow” (Gilman 377). As the story continues, the narrator begins to become obsessed with the wallpaper and her opinion on it has completely changed from that at the beginning. Symbolism also plays a big role in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” This short story contains a multitude of hidden symbols, but there are specific ones that stand out the most. The recurrence of wallpaper definitely makes it a symbol. An interesting interpretation is that the wallpaper depicts women, in the sense that the 18th century woman was considered almost decorative and that is exactly what the wallpaper is for. Another important symbol paralleling the wallpaper is that of the women the narrator would see on the wallpaper. The women appear trapped behind bars in the newspaper and it could be argued that the women the narrator sees represent all the women of his time, continually trapped in their gender.