This literary essay is written by one of my grade 12 students. He has applied the critical approach of psychoanalysis in order to analyse the actions taken by the character in the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson. He has successfully applied the psychoanalytic theory to analyse the true intentions of the character in the story and finally gives an insightful comment on how our actions are the result of a series of complicated conflicts within our personality.
Tearing the Wallpaper into Freedom
Psychoanalytic Theory is a theory laid out by Sigmund Freud, which analyses the personality and behaviour through the relationship and conflict between the conscious and the subconscious mind. The psychoanalytic approach to reading allows readers to apply Freud’s theory to discover the intentions and the conflicts within the characters. Using the principles of this theory can reveal the conflicts in Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s unnamed character in her story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The character who is also the narrator of the story is suffering from depression. From a psychoanalytical standpoint, it is evident that she is pulled apart by her desire to be free by jumping to her death and her morality, which asserts death is not a viable solution to her problem. At the end, her constant struggle leads her to make, in her opinion, the best decision possible, which is tearing down the wallpaper.
The narrator has a conflict within herself, which is her desire to be free. Her desire for death represents the id, the driving force of human instinct. Her desire for death starts acting up during her moments of desperation. The thought of death first unconsciously seeps through her mind. The narrator unconsciously slips the idea of death through her mouth by saying, “I’ve got a rope up here that even Jennie did not find. If that woman does get out and tries to get away, I can tie her!” But I forgot I could not reach far without anything to stand on!” (Stetson 9). As she becomes increasingly desperate for a solution, her desire grows stronger and her Id comes to a conscious level. She speaks up about the thought of death: “I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise” (Stetson 10). This is the climax of the conflict within herself. The desire to be free by committing suicide, which normally would be hidden in the unconscious, comes to the surface of her consciousness.
On the other hand, her morals tell her dying is not the answer to freedom. Her morals represent her Superego, which is the social norms imparted on a person. It is this sense of duty to keep on living that suppresses the desire for freedom through death. Her morals drive off the desires that arise from the Id, in this case, the will for death and freedom: “The bars are too strong even to try. Besides, I wouldn’t do it. Of course not. I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued” (Stetson 10). Her moral values suppress the desire to die, and thus creates a conflict within her. This is when the ego strikes a balance and makes the best decision possible. The ego acts as the mediator between the desire and the moral. In this case, the Ego decides that tearing off the yellow wallpaper would be the best course of action. She “peel[s] off all the paper [she] could reach standing on the floor” (Stetson 9). This way, both desire and morals are fulfilled to a certain extent. The Id can experience the feeling of freedom, by tearing off the yellow wallpaper that acts as a constraint. The Superego is also satisfied because the narrator does not jump to her death.
Psychoanalytical analysis of the character in “The Yellow Wallpaper” reveals that the narrator’s actions are not some random actions carried out impulsively without any goals in mind. Through psychoanalysis, people can understand that there is usually more to any action performed by individuals. It becomes evident that at times even the most irrational action to an observer may be the result of some complicated conflicts between the internal desires of an individual. Therefore, instead of taking any behaviour at its face value, one needs to delve more deeply into the existing conflicts in order to accurately understand the course of action that is taken.