Mental illness Essay Example for Free

Mental illness EssayCharlotte Perkins Gilmans The xanthous Wallpaper, relays to the reader something to a greater extent than a simple ruminate of a woman at the mercy of the limited medical sleep togetherledge in the late 1800s. Gilman creates a character that expresses real emotions and a psyche that can be examined in the context of modern understanding. The Yellow Wallpaper, written in first person and first published in 1892 in the January edition of the untried England Magazine, depicts the downward spiral of depression, loss of control and competence, and feelings of worthlessness that lead to greater depression and the possibility of schizophrenia. The antecedent emphasis pull up stakes be on the interaction and roles of the husband and wife in The Yellow Wallpaper, which be based on the male dominated clippings of the late 1800s. The main character, a woman whose disclose is never revealed, tells us of the intellectual state of headway she is under and how he r husband and his brother, both doctors, dismiss it. You put through, he does not believe I am sick And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and ones own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one however(prenominal) when temporary aflutter depression a repulse hysterical tendency what is one to do? The doctors calculate completely ineffective to admit that there major power be more to her mark than just stress and a slight nervous disorder even when a summer in the country and weeks of experience- domicile gull not helped. It might be thought that it is a simple matter of a loving husband being protective of his ill wife, provided this assumption is quickly washed away by his arrogant attitudes, combined with his pachydermic treatment of her that only serve to compound the problem.At first he meant to repaper the populate, but afterwards he said that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous affected role than to give way to such(prenominal) fancies. sewer treats his wife in a manner that gives her reason to suspect herself and her capabilities. Her husband John has explicitly command her to do certain things, although we are never told why but it can be assumed that it is because of her frailty that some of these activities put up been taken away from her. As such being prohibited to work and not being able to contribute to the household as a proper wife and newmother she begins to feel helpless. So I am absolutely forbidden to work until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Additionally, she has been told not to write in that respect comes John, and I must localize this away he hates to have me write a word. With no creative waiver her brain starts to find things upon which to dwell, things that only she can see.Virtually imprisoned in her bed elbow room, supposedly to allow her to rest and rec all over, she slowl y starts to go insane. With extinct compassion or an outlet for her creativity, her mind turns inward and focuses on her now progressively shrinking universe. She has no say in the location or the decor of her room. I dont the likes of our room a bit. . . But John would http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u7t0TuAnKU not hear of it. She is not allowed visitors, It is so reject not to have any advice and companionship . . . but he says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now. In large discontinue because of this oppression, she continues to decline. I dont feel as if it was worthwhile to turn my hand over for anything and Im getting dreadfully unruly and querulous. However by keeping her a prisoner in a room with offensive cover and very little to occupy her mind, John almost forces her to dwell on her psyche. Prison is supposed to be depressing, and she is pretty close to being a prisoner.The story does hint to the featur e that John knows he could have done more but simply does not seem to want to be bothered with the safari of such an endeavour for his wife. He never acknowledges that she has a real problem until the end of the story, at which time he fainted. John could have obtained council from someone less personally involved in her case, but the only help he seek was for the condition of the house and the baby. He obtained a nanny to watch over the children while he was away at work each day It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. He withal had his sister Jennie take care of the house. She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper.There is one instance, however, when he does talk of taking her to an expert for assistance, John says if I dont pick up immediate he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. Nevertheless she similarlyk that as athreat since Dr. Mitchell was even more haughty than her husband and his brother. Perhaps, if she had been allowed to come and go and do as s he pl relieved her depression might have lifted, I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would take over the press of ideas and rest me. It seems to her that just being able to tell someone how she really feels would have eased her depression, but her husband would not hear of it because of the embarrassing consequences it could bring to the family name. Thus, John has made her a prisoner in their marriage where her opinions are pushed aside, and her self-worthiness questioned.She does have a rebellious aroma in her and the incident that this spirit is being crushed is the final nail towards her insanity. Her desperation is almost like someone being conceal alive and screaming knowing that there are people just above but who seem not to hear or care. Her reaction is to seek to prove her husband wrong, John is a physician, and whitethornhap . . . perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster . . . small-arm putting on an appearance of submiss ion, in actuality she was frequently rebelling against her husbands orders. She writes when there is nobody around to see her, and she tries to egg on her bed, but always keeps an eye open for someone coming. As her breakdown approaches she actually locks her husband out of her room, I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path.I dont want to go out, and I dont want to have anybody come in, till John comes. I want to astonish him. This forces him to see that he has been wrong, and, since she knew he could not tolerate hysteria, to eventually drive him away. While there is supporting indicate that her husbands treatment of her was a major contributing factor to her madness, the possibility also exists that her madness was caused by an inbred illness which, given the level of medical knowledge, her husband was unable to do it with appropriately. As mentioned in the opening of this essay, Gilman creates a character that has real emotions and a real psyche tha t impresses upon the reader that she is slowly deteriorating into a affable illness known as schizophrenia (a disintegration of the personality). This illness, however it manifests itself within the personality of someone is commonly highlighted through a variety of symptoms. The leading character exhibits these symptoms sporadically throughout the story.To begin with, one of the more obvious of her symptoms is her irrational coercion, displayed by relentless thoughts of and about, the yellow wallpaper that wraps the walls in her room. It is a room that she feels captured by and her obsessions start from the beginning of the story. I never saw a worse paper in my life, she says. It is bleak enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke drive Taken in isolation, this kind of observation might appear to be harmless to the uninformed observer, but as her obsession with the wallpaper grows, so does her dementia. At one point she descri bes lying on her bed and following that pattern about by the hour . . . I determine for the thousandth time that I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of conclusion.Interconnected with the first symptom of irrational obsession is that of thought processing disorder. This disorder can range in severity from a vague carelessness of thinking to a complete breakdown of ones mental processes. The first real clues that she is having trouble controlling her mental state of being comes into focus when she states, I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes . . . I take pains to control myself before him, at least, and that makes me very tired She tries to discuss her feelings rationally, but this only brings a stern reproachful look at which she gives up and returns to her room. Again her condition is revealed a a couple of(prenominal) pages later when remarking that, It is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight.Soon, other noticeable changes in her mental sta te start to take shape. She slowly begins to show symptoms of paranoia, yet another unfortunate schizoid trait. She speaks of how happy she is that her baby is not exposed to the same torturous existence that she has to endure in her room with the yellow wallpaper. Of course I never mention it to them any more I am too wise, but I keep watch of it all the same Even the mistrust of her caretakers is further attest when she says, The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John. He seems very mar sometimes, and even Jennie has an inexplicable look When catching Jennie looking at the yellow wallpaper, she thinks to herself, But I know she was studying that pattern, and I am determined that nobody shall find it out but myself? This type ofparanoia is a firm indication that her psycho ratiocinative state is continuing to deteriorate towards complete schizophrenia.Another in the angle of dip of common symptoms of schizophrenia that the protagonist exhibits is hallucination. Of these h allucinations, one is when she sees people walking in the paths that she views from her bedroom window. As her condition worsens, she begins to have other hallucinations, this time focused on the yellow wallpaper itself. This is noticed when she exclaims, At shadow in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it the wallpaper becomes bars The outside pattern, I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be. In addition to her mental hallucinations, she starts to also have ones where she can smell things as well, the only thing I can think of that it is like is the colour of the paper A yellow smell.The climactic stage of her hallucinations comes when she realizes, that woman gets out in the daytime It is at this point that her deranged thought processes become a coping mechanism to help her deal with her mental state of being. She passes into a full schizophrenic state and transforms from a helpless, self-pitying woman, to one who feels, in her mind at least, that she has broken free of her shackles. She feels that she has gained a sense of control, no matter how false that sense may be, as she says, I dont want to go out, and I dont want to have anybody come in, till John comes. I want to astonish him.Much has changed by the end of the story, so much in fact that in the end it is she who is metaphorically and literally creeping over John, who has fainted after seeing her in a deranged state of being. This is in contrast to their interactions up to this point when it was John who usually dictated and condescended her. The fact that the protagonist in this story is schizophrenic is supported by various bits of evidence. However, the question that remains to be answered is why a diagnosis of schizophrenia is important to interpreting The Yellow Wall-Paper. Schizophrenia is a logical choice in that it explains why the protagonist behaved in the way that she did. For her to overcome her submission to an environm ent that has sought to oppress her, she had to discard the personality within her that was meek and mild.This is a common defence mechanism of the mind in order to deal with situations it perceives to be uncontrollable. It is quitepossible within the realm of psychological study that the combination of the stress of childbirth, post-natal depression and the mental strain of having to repress her emotions triggered the schizophrenia. This terrible condition may have resulted from the bonds she felt would not allow her to express herself as a human being, mother and wife, a immunity that she so desperately needed. Her slide into madness, as a way to deal with her entrapment, is similar to a caged wildcat that, when backed into a corner, will fight for its life.