When first reading the gothic feminist tale "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, one might assume that it is a short story about a woman trying to save her. mental health while undergoing treatment for postpartum depression. Gilman herself had suffered from postnatal depression and was encouraged to take the "rest cure" to cure her hysteria. The treatment prescribed for Gilman allowed him to have an experience very similar to that of the narrator of the short story. The “perfect rest” (648), which consisted of forced bed rest and isolation, inspired “The Yellow Wallpaper”. This story involving an unreliable narrator has become an allegory for the repression of women. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", Gilman illustrates the isolation and oppression of women in 19th century society by relating the imprisonment, social and mental state and isolation of women to objects in and around the piece. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written as a first-person account of a woman's secret diary and her descent into madness. With the misunderstanding and mistreatment of women by the 19th century medical community, despite women's protests. The treatment that John, the narrator's husband, offers does not help at all, in fact throughout the story the narrator's diary entries and his condition gradually deteriorate. Spending the summer in an abandoned mansion in order to recover from what her doctor husband considers a “temporary nervous breakdown – a slight hysterical tendency” (648). Her husband does not believe that her illness is serious, the narrator declares: “You see, he does not believe that I am sick” (647)! As the story goes, men thought they knew more than women, especially “hysterical” women. ...... middle of paper ...... money to support himself. Many of them felt trapped, like they were behind the ugly yellow wallpaper. They were expected to have a domestic life, oppression was present inside and outside the home. The color yellow is predominant in the story, it is a bright color that is often used to symbolize life and energy. The use of bright yellow color contrasts with the narrator's feelings. The narrator realizes that she herself, as a woman, is becoming a woman free from the oppression of the yellow wallpaper, which represents Victorian society. At the end of the story, when the wife refuses to leave and the husband faints, she symbolically steps over his body to freedom. The images in “The Yellow Wallpaper” show the narrators in a slow spiral toward madness. The imagery and the oppression and isolation felt by the narrator lead to the madness that ultimately frees her..