biography:

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a feminist intellectual. Gilman was concerned with political inequality and social justice, but the primary focus of her writing was the unequal status of women within the marriage.

Gilman is mostly known for “The Yellow Wallpaper,” which was considered shocking in its time. autobiographical but in a more personal mode. Indeed, “The Yellow Wallpaper” draws heavily on a particularly painful episode in Gilman’s own life.

In her marriage and not long after the birth of her daughter, CPG was stricken with a severe case of depression. She was referred to Dr. Weir Mitchell, then the country’s leading specialist in nervous disorders, whose treatment was a “rest cure” of forced inactivity. Mitchell believed that depression was brought on by too much mental activity and not enough attention to domestic affairs. For Gilman, this treatment was a disaster ➡ nervous breakdown. Once she abandoned Mitchell’s rest cure, Gilman’s condition improved. Leaving behind her husband and child (scandalous), she embarked on a successful career as a journalist, and publisher. She wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” soon after her move to California, she uses her personal experience to create a tale that is a description of one woman’s fall into madness.

	Created by lamiabrickli over 8 years ago

12th grade English Note on The Yellow Wallpaper, created by lamiabrickli on 22/10/2015.