Gothic Unseen: The Yellow Wallpaper Extract Response
In this unsettling passage from the late Victorian Gothic text, ‘The Yellow
Wallpaper’, Gilman deploys the shift from typical Proto Gothic landscapes of
castles to a more domestic setting. The passage reworks traditional Gothic
tropes of isolation, psychological instability and Radcliffean terror of mystery.
Through a familiar setting of a nursery, Gilman keeps the Gothic shocking for
more contemporary readers creating what John Bowen describes as Gothic that
“shocks the reader out of the limits of everyday life”. Don’t lose sight of what
happens in the passage
Initially, the passage begins with the female narrator being forced to occupy a
“nursery” with “horrid wallpaper” where at once, Gilman situates the reader
within a distinctly late Victorian domestic setting, transforming the “nursery” into
a psychological prison that replaces the Early Victorian labyrinth castle of
Walpole where this subversion modernises the medieval isolation into a more
contemporary setting familiar to readers. L5 > L6 AO3 The juxtaposition between
the reassuring abstract noun “comfort” and the blunt negative adjective “horrid”
echoes Burke’s Proto Gothic Sublime where pleasure and terror are intertwined.
Here, this is characterised by a domestic setting where a mother finds pleasure
in knowing that her “blessed child” is not experiencing the horrid wallpaper,
exemplified in the positive adjective “blessed”, but also expressing her own
terror towards the “paper”. The exclamative short sentence“what a fortunate
escape!” uses hyperbolic language to create prolepsis of an unseen threat
infiltrating into a domestic space that is expected to be safe aligning with
Radcliffean terror of mystery seen the High Gothic text ‘The Mysteries of
Udolpho’ where true terror lies in what cannot be seen. The maternal relief in the
latinate syntax “a child of mine” where the possessive noun “mine” reflects her
relief that her “impressionable” and innocent child is protected from potential
violation. This Gothic trope of innocence supports Kidd’s idea that tension arises
from the “possible violation of innocence” as the adjectives “impressionable”
and “little” emphasise the vulnerability of the baby, towards the wallpaper which
the narrator believes to be a threat. L6 AO2 However, the baby’s father may
instead view the narrator’s psychological instability to be a threat to the baby’s
upbringing. The first-person diary form creates an oppressive atmosphere: “[I]
live in such a toom for worlds” where the detached noun “room” suggests the
narrator does not view it as anything more than a prison which is exemplified in
her feeling as never ending. This Gothic trope of isolation and instability is seen
prevalently in the Late Gothic text, ‘Frankenstein’ where the protagonist, Victor,
isolates himself in a solitary chamber and does not visit him family in Geneva.
However, while Victor’s isolation is self-inflicted, Gilman’s narrator is forces into
this position by her husband as a reflection of the restrictive and passive role of
women in the 19th century. L6 AO3 This forced withdrawal from society
intensifies her fixation on the woman in the wallpaper with the simile: “It is like a
woman stooping down and creeping about” where the simile may be a reference
to the narrator’s own desires. Perhaps, this “woman” is a materialisation of her
own repressed desires that 19th century society forced the repression of. To a
late-Victorian Gothic reader, this woman would be perceived as the character
archetype of the monstrous feminine reflective in the negative verbs “stooping
and “creeping” which animalise and dehumanise the woman into something
socially threatening. This recalls ‘Jane Eyre’ as through the figure of Bertha
In this unsettling passage from the late Victorian Gothic text, ‘The Yellow
Wallpaper’, Gilman deploys the shift from typical Proto Gothic landscapes of
castles to a more domestic setting. The passage reworks traditional Gothic
tropes of isolation, psychological instability and Radcliffean terror of mystery.
Through a familiar setting of a nursery, Gilman keeps the Gothic shocking for
more contemporary readers creating what John Bowen describes as Gothic that
“shocks the reader out of the limits of everyday life”. Don’t lose sight of what
happens in the passage
Initially, the passage begins with the female narrator being forced to occupy a
“nursery” with “horrid wallpaper” where at once, Gilman situates the reader
within a distinctly late Victorian domestic setting, transforming the “nursery” into
a psychological prison that replaces the Early Victorian labyrinth castle of
Walpole where this subversion modernises the medieval isolation into a more
contemporary setting familiar to readers. L5 > L6 AO3 The juxtaposition between
the reassuring abstract noun “comfort” and the blunt negative adjective “horrid”
echoes Burke’s Proto Gothic Sublime where pleasure and terror are intertwined.
Here, this is characterised by a domestic setting where a mother finds pleasure
in knowing that her “blessed child” is not experiencing the horrid wallpaper,
exemplified in the positive adjective “blessed”, but also expressing her own
terror towards the “paper”. The exclamative short sentence“what a fortunate
escape!” uses hyperbolic language to create prolepsis of an unseen threat
infiltrating into a domestic space that is expected to be safe aligning with
Radcliffean terror of mystery seen the High Gothic text ‘The Mysteries of
Udolpho’ where true terror lies in what cannot be seen. The maternal relief in the
latinate syntax “a child of mine” where the possessive noun “mine” reflects her
relief that her “impressionable” and innocent child is protected from potential
violation. This Gothic trope of innocence supports Kidd’s idea that tension arises
from the “possible violation of innocence” as the adjectives “impressionable”
and “little” emphasise the vulnerability of the baby, towards the wallpaper which
the narrator believes to be a threat. L6 AO2 However, the baby’s father may
instead view the narrator’s psychological instability to be a threat to the baby’s
upbringing. The first-person diary form creates an oppressive atmosphere: “[I]
live in such a toom for worlds” where the detached noun “room” suggests the
narrator does not view it as anything more than a prison which is exemplified in
her feeling as never ending. This Gothic trope of isolation and instability is seen
prevalently in the Late Gothic text, ‘Frankenstein’ where the protagonist, Victor,
isolates himself in a solitary chamber and does not visit him family in Geneva.
However, while Victor’s isolation is self-inflicted, Gilman’s narrator is forces into
this position by her husband as a reflection of the restrictive and passive role of
women in the 19th century. L6 AO3 This forced withdrawal from society
intensifies her fixation on the woman in the wallpaper with the simile: “It is like a
woman stooping down and creeping about” where the simile may be a reference
to the narrator’s own desires. Perhaps, this “woman” is a materialisation of her
own repressed desires that 19th century society forced the repression of. To a
late-Victorian Gothic reader, this woman would be perceived as the character
archetype of the monstrous feminine reflective in the negative verbs “stooping
and “creeping” which animalise and dehumanise the woman into something
socially threatening. This recalls ‘Jane Eyre’ as through the figure of Bertha
