Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper

According to Dictionary.com the definition of symbolism is; the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. In the short story, many items in the house hold a symbolic meaning to history. One of the most obvious items in the story that is symbolic is, the bed in the room the narrator stays in. Gilman introduces the bed with this line,"I lie here on this great immovable bed- it is nailed down." The bed being nailed down is one of the many metaphors throughout the story for women being segregated."Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere."Tells Kathryn Hughes. During the Victorian Era, women were treated as described above, slaves in their own home. Around the time Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, the feminism movement was just beginning. Anytime women tried to stand up for themselves and fight for equality, their ideas were squashed. Not only by their spouses, but by society. They were, like Gilman described, nailed down to their thought to be place in the world,the house. Another very symbolic object in the house is: the wallpaper. This wallpaper once described by Gilman as, "...repellant, almost revolting..." Eventually turns to,"I've got out at last...so you can't put me back!" This symbolizes how many women after being suppressed and ignored, had many mental issues. For the narrators case, she received what can only be described as craziness. Charlotte P. Gilman received what we can now conclude as, post-partum depression. The story Gilman wrote will be known as a symbolic piece of inequality, for many centuries to come. 

Works cited: Gilman, Charlotte P. The Yellow Wallpaper. Boston. Small and Mayard,1899.Print 

Hughes, Kathyrn. British Library. British Library Board. bl.uk. Web

"symbolism". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 07 Feb. 2016. Dictionary.com