The revelation of the narrator's name in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is very subtle. Her name does not appear until the very end of the story, but there is a gradual process by which the character breaks free enough to reveal her name, and the true tragedy of the tale is revealed. As the tale progresses, the narrator moves from believing that she sees a woman behind the wallpaper to embodying the...
The revelation of the narrator's name in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is very subtle. Her name does not appear until the very end of the story, but there is a gradual process by which the character breaks free enough to reveal her name, and the true tragedy of the tale is revealed.
As the tale progresses, the narrator moves from believing that she sees a woman behind the wallpaper to embodying the imagined psyche of the woman behind the wallpaper. At first she loathes the wallpaper and wishes to keep the woman trapped behind it. As her condition worsens, she begins to want to "free" the woman, but she can never get enough time alone to do so. By the end of the story, she has managed to lock the door and throw the key out the window to buy herself some more time. When John, her husband, finally gets in the door and sees what she has become, he cries "What is the matter? [...] For God's' sake, what are you doing!" (656) to which the narrator replies "I've got out at last [...] in spite of you and Jane? And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (656). Here the narrator believes she is the manifestation of the imaginary woman behind the wallpaper, and thinks that John and his wife, Jane, have been trying to keep her behind it. In reality, John's callous treatment of Jane's condition has caused Jane to lose her mind. She now believes herself to be the now-free woman that once lurked behind the wallpaper.
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