“The Yellow Wallpaper” is considered gothic fiction because it contains defining elements of the genre, including an eerie setting, a tormentor, and the supernatural. The story takes place in a haunting ancestral estate that immediately unnerves Jane, as is clear in her first diary entry:
A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house [...] the place has been empty for years. That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don't care—there is something strange about the house—I can feel it.
The property is typical of gothic literature: it’s secluded and possibly “haunted,” which shrouds the house in mystery and signals potential danger. The mansion elicits dread in both the characters and the reader, because the characters seemed to be imprisoned in its immense size and “strange” atmosphere, and its remoteness will make it difficult to get help or escape if things go awry.
Besides the setting, the story uses key gothic tropes of power, captivity, and isolation. As a physician and Jane’s husband, John exercises absolute control and uses his power to strip Jane of her autonomy. He confines her to a single room and denies her requests for socialization because he assumes too much activity will hinder her recovery from postpartum depression. Despite his good intentions, he is a domineering figure who regulates every aspect of her life. For instance, journaling provides Jane her only outlet, but she must write in secret because he has forbidden it. As is typical of gothic villains, John is a tyrant who stifles Jane and makes her the target of his (unintentional) cruelty.
Finally, the supernatural plays an integral part in gothic fiction, which emerges in this story through the wallpaper. The hideous pattern seems to come alive as Jane loses her grip on reality, which she writes about in her ninth diary entry:
The front pattern does move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it! Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.
This passage blurs the line between real and imaginary: Jane is hallucinating the women “crawling” behind the wallpaper, but the woman seems real to her and thus takes on a supernatural quality. The supernatural builds suspense and fear by emphasizing Jane’s lack of control over her situation, making it clear that the woman, whether real or not, is haunting her—much like Jane’s depression haunts her. Typical of the genre, the supernatural also provides social commentary, utilizing the wallpaper to critique Victorian society. Like the ghoulish woman trapped behind the wallpaper, Jane is stuck in a marriage that undermines her, trapped in a society unwilling to empower her, and unable to fully understand or remedy her own mental illness.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is considered gothic fiction because it contains defining elements of the genre, including an eerie setting, a tormentor, and the supernatural. The story takes place in a haunting ancestral estate that immediately unnerves Jane, as is clear in her first diary entry:
A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house [...] the place has been empty for years. That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don't care—there is something strange about the house—I can feel it.
The property is typical of gothic literature: it’s secluded and possibly “haunted,” which shrouds the house in mystery and signals potential danger. The mansion elicits dread in both the characters and the reader, because the characters seemed to be imprisoned in its immense size and “strange” atmosphere, and its remoteness will make it difficult to get help or escape if things go awry.
Besides the setting, the story uses key gothic tropes of power, captivity, and isolation. As a physician and Jane’s husband, John exercises absolute control and uses his power to strip Jane of her autonomy. He confines her to a single room and denies her requests for socialization because he assumes too much activity will hinder her recovery from postpartum depression. Despite his good intentions, he is a domineering figure who regulates every aspect of her life. For instance, journaling provides Jane her only outlet, but she must write in secret because he has forbidden it. As is typical of gothic villains, John is a tyrant who stifles Jane and makes her the target of his (unintentional) cruelty.
Finally, the supernatural plays an integral part in gothic fiction, which emerges in this story through the wallpaper. The hideous pattern seems to come alive as Jane loses her grip on reality, which she writes about in her ninth diary entry:
The front pattern does move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it! Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.
This passage blurs the line between real and imaginary: Jane is hallucinating the women “crawling” behind the wallpaper, but the woman seems real to her and thus takes on a supernatural quality. The supernatural builds suspense and fear by emphasizing Jane’s lack of control over her situation, making it clear that the woman, whether real or not, is haunting her—much like Jane’s depression haunts her. Typical of the genre, the supernatural also provides social commentary, utilizing the wallpaper to critique Victorian society. Like the ghoulish woman trapped behind the wallpaper, Jane is stuck in a marriage that undermines her, trapped in a society unwilling to empower her, and unable to fully understand or remedy her own mental illness.
