The point of view and tone of “The Yellow Wallpaper” Entry.docx

the point of view and tone of “the yellow wallpaper” entry abstract:”the yellow wallpaper” is a first-person narrative which gives the “madwoman” discourse to tell the story of her own. in her narrative, we can feel an ironic tone which is achieved by employing a nave narrator .who seems somewhat unaware of how her story will shock the listener. the image group “madwoman in the attic” has such a long and profound history that it cannot be ignored by critics any longer. since sandra m. gilbert and susan gubar liberated the madwomen from the attic, those silent women began to have a story of their own. significantly, we are able to perceive a history of their representation which is also “his story”, identical with the story of his oppression.in this story “the yellow wallpaper”, it is a great revolution to have a “madwoman” or just a woman as a leading role telling her own story whether it is true or not. compared with ophelia in the “hamlet” or those women figures who are either angels or devils, this is indeed liberation. however, this differs from the previous narration as well. opheia or miss havisham in ”great expectation” are both claimed by the others to be madwomen and the descriptions provided seem to be the evidences accordingly. in contrast, as the narrator is the woman herself, we cannot easily find the evidence to prove her madness. and this is also different from the wide sargasso sea which employs the first-narrative alike for the heroine is completely a physically and mentally sane woman who is gradually driven to madness under the oppression of the patriarchy who turns out to be “madwoman in the attic”. we can clearly see the whole progress and it seems to be rational, while charlotte perkins gilman does not give any objective clue about the woman, not a word. what we can get is only her narration, a one-sided statement. then heres the question:if we should not buy the madwoman story twisted by male discourse, why should we so easily buy a story narrated by a possibly madwoman? is she mad all the way through or not mad at all or mad sometimes and sane sometimes which can be called split personality or are there any other possibilities? it seems that the woman starts as a nave narrator, but becomes increasingly aware of the injustice that has been done to her and goes completely mad at the end of the story. if thats true, how much of the story can we believe then? what is the point of creating such an ambiguous narrator?these questions are mostly about the originality of the narration in this short story which is a heightened point and which i am most interested in. next is my illustration.textual evidence:(1) a colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, i would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity -but that would be asking too much of fate!(2) john is practical in the extreme. he has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures. john is a physician, and perhaps-(i would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)-perhaps that is one reason i do not get well faster.(3) if a physician of high standing, and ones own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency- what is one to do?(4) so i take phosphates or phosphites-whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to work until i am well again. personally, i disagree with their ideas. personally, i believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. (5) i sometimes fancy that in my condition if i had less opposition and more society and stimulus-but john says the very worst thing i can do is to think about my condition, and i confess it always makes me feel bad.(6) i get unreasonably angry with john sometimes im sure i never used to be so sensitive. i think it is due to this nervous condition. but john says if i feel so, i shall neglect proper self-control; so i take pains to control myself- before him, at least, and that makes me very tired. (7) he is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction. i have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so i feel basely ungrateful not to value it more. he said we came here solely on my account, that i was to have perfect rest and all the air i could get. your exercise depends on your strength, my dear, said he, and your food somewhat on your appetite; but air you can absorb all the time. so we took the nursery at the top of the house.(8) there comes john, and i must put this away,-he hates to have me write a word.（charlotte perkins gilman1891：85-86）these are almost all the descriptions in entry 1 concerning her husband john, and i am about to figure out “i”s attitudes toward her husband, “i”s awareness of her own physical and mental condition, johns attitudes toward her wife, “i”s contradictory position and her awareness of that, and most importantly whether she is mad or not and is she a nave narrator at the very beginning?firstly, i want to propose that “i” is aware of her contradictory position from the very beginning and she is already fed up with her being treated like a child. in (1), words like “colonial”, ”hereditary”, ”haunted”, “romantic felicity” and “fate” all point to the long-standing internal colonization between men and women which is a fate and tradition. as for “romantic felicity”, it may concern the happy marriage of the knight and princess which is an irony to the reality of the colonial marriage. in (2), john is regarded as “practical in the extreme”, and he “has no patience with faith and an intense horror of superstition”. in those times, male is the representatives of ration while female seems to be universally acknowledged to be irrational. this may be the first divergence between husbands and wives in marriages and leads to a string of misunderstandings or even alienation which is the tragedy of marriage. when male discourse is in the position of dominance, only they have the power to define “ration” and “woman”, accordingly female have to follow this kind of rules or so-called truth in which “things not to be felt and put down in figures” are not true. in (3), the diagnosis confirmed unanimously by male authority is “temporary nervous depression”“a slight hysterical tendency”. this was a prevalent sickness privileged by female in that period and was suggested the rest cure: “live as domestic a life as far as possible”, ”to have but two hours intellectual life a day” and “never to touch pen , brush, or pencil again as long as i lived” . this is actually the prescription to “angels in the house” and the real reasons for their sickness are buried for this was an age that women are taken for granted to be “hysterical” and “nervous” beings. “you see he does not believe i am sick?”, this is the common attitudes toward womens claims to be seriously ill which may be really serious. they are just being dismissed and delayed without awareness. but, the heroine in this story seems to realize that seriousness and disagree with those prescriptions in (4) and (5). she knows what does best to her-“congenial work, with excitement and change”. moreover, her husband even prohibits her from thinking about her condition which makes her worse still. possibly, her husband does love her sincerely and wants her to be happy and healthy but he does treat her like a child without ration and consciousness due to the restriction of the male discourse in that period. he cannot go any further for he is only an ordinary man who loves his wife as the other men do. the novelist draws a picture of a “careful and loving” husband instead of an indifferent even violent one. i suppose this can add the commonality of the happening during those times which has the same effect of the nearly no identity of “i”. this is a very ordinary domestic picture with a high credibility. “i” “take pains to control myself before him” which makes “me” feel tired. this is the evidence that this couple does not really get to know each other and they even fake before each other. the heroine is obviously not an orthodox “angel in the house”, then why does she bother to please his husband? she wants to respond to his love and care? probably not. because “i get unreasonably angry with john sometimes” which i dont think is resulted from the nerve condition.in (7), there is the seemingly considerate caring “a schedule prescription for each hour in the day”, “came here solely on my account”. she is being treated like a child who does not know whats really good for her. i suppose this is an irony too. the narrator employs a nave tone to tell an actually repressive life she is suffering. this reminds me of the narration in “rape fantasy” who is a typical nave narrator. here is the criticism about its point of view and tone which is very similar to “the yellow wallpaper” entry 1.“such narratives are familiar to dramatic monologues in poetry. the dramatic monologue is a form invented and practiced principally by robert browning and the other victorians. in this kind of poems there must be a speaker and an implied auditor, and the reader often perceives a gap between what that speaker says as if what he or she actually reveals .the case is true in” rape fantasy”. estella is telling her story to a stranger, possibly a man who intends to rape her. under the surface of comic episodes, there exists the harsh reality concerning loneness, sexual discrimination and power struggles. while estella pours out her thoughts to the invisible listener, the reader experiences a tension between sympathy and judgment.”“when reading the story, we could almost get the impression that atwood (the novelist) is making a mockery of rape. the whole idea of rape is played off as if it were a very natural thing. the author is very clever in the way she addresses serious issues by keeping it comfortable enough to get a laugh out of reading. the story is overflowing with irony. the ironic tone adds depth to the plot and makes the short story much more entertaining.”（戴炜栋等2010：49）take (8) for illustration, she has to prevent her husband from knowing her writing something which