Summary AQA English Literature A-level - Independent Critical Study (A*) on ‘The Bell Jar’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’
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Independent Critical Study
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AQA
My A* (24/25) coursework essay for my 2023 English Literature A-level. Titled: ‘Compare and contrast how Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Sylvia Plath present the consequences of patriarchal societies' conflicting demands on women in The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories and The Bell Jar’.
This...
'What we consider ‘madness’... [is] acting out of the devalued female role or the total
or partial rejection of one’s sex role stereotype.' (Phyllis Chesler)
In light of this view, compare and contrast how Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Sylvia
Plath present the consequences of patriarchal societies' conflicting demands on
women in The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories and The Bell Jar.
'Personally, I disagree with their ideas'. From the outset of Gilman's 1892 gothic horror
collection: The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories, female characters reject their sex role
stereotype. Through criticising her male husband and doctor's treatment of her mental
illness, the unnamed protagonist critiques 19th century patriarchal society's attitudes.
Likewise, in Plath's 1963 roman à clef, The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood's aspirations of an
education, career and sexual freedom rebels against 20th century society's emphasis on
stay at home wives and mothers. Gilman and Plath challenge stereotypes by exploring
non-conformist women. Through using them as first person narrators and both
semi-autobiographical texts resembling their diaries, it provides readers with a feminist
insight into 'madness' - underrepresented in literature at the time. Although written seventy
years apart, these proto-feminist texts sadly reflect limited change, as despite the rise of the
educated, working 'New Woman' during first wave feminism in the 1890s, and the 1950s
Women's Liberation Movement demanding equality, women were still forced into domestic
roles. This highlights the repeated negative effect patriarchal society's conflicting demands
have had on women's mental illness.
Although neither author strongly advocates social rebellion, both use symbolism when
portraying rebellious women's total or partial rejection of one’s sex role stereotype - to create
freedom from patriarchal societies' conflicting demands. At Esther's internship, she befriends
the virginal Betsy who is the antithesis of Doreen. They personify 1950s contrasting models
of femininity and symbolise Esther’s internal conflict - to conform like Betsy or rebel like
Doreen. Due to feeling depressed and trapped, she chooses Doreen who symbolises
freedom from 1953s social norms. Esther desires to be as sexually liberated, symbolised by
Doreen's promiscuous clothing: red 'lace jobs you could half see through… dressing-gowns
the colour of sin' and Plath's visual imagery of her physicality with Lenny, like 'breasts…
swinging out' or 'thrashing her legs in the air'. Yet, Esther's judgemental tone and adjectives
connoting violence reflects her subconscious fear of rebelling. Unlike Doreen, Esther is
scared of consequences, hence ends up rejecting her 'and… would have nothing at all to do
with her'. Like Esther's subtle rebellion, Gilman shows partial rejection against patriarchy
through Lois in The Cottagette and Mrs Marroner in Turned reverting to their maiden names,
rather than their husbands identity. John's wife in The Yellow Wallpaper also starts by
internally rebelling. She personifies the wallpaper with 'bulbous… unblinking eyes', reflecting
her husband and society's constant surveillance to ensure she conforms, and a female figure
'seemed to shake the pattern, as if she wanted to get out' - which she unconsciously
empathises with as it symbolises herself and a microcosm of all women trapped in society.
But, her climatic violence of ripping the wallpaper - symbolising 19th century patriarchy - is
an extended metaphor for rebelling against this. Likewise, Gilman arguably presents
progressive Mrs Marroner as 'mad'; rebelliously leaving the security of her husband to bring
up the child he conceived with their maid, Gerta - mirroring a non-heteronormative
relationship through queer theory. Initially Marroner conforms to her female role,
stereotypically victim blaming 'the other woman' and exhibiting 'hysteria' - illustrated by
triplets of consonant adverbs: 'sobbed bitterly, chokingly, despairingly'. However, her
behaviour becomes 'unsympathetic' and 'impersonal' towards her husband, clear through
her letter's cold tone and shorter sentences: 'I have gone. I will care for Gerta. Goodbye.',
and final rhetorical imperative statement: 'What have you to say to us?'. While this could be
her giving in, desiring an apology, it likely insinuates there is nothing he can say to change
her mind - placing her in power, like women in Gilman's matriarchal utopian The Herland
Trilogy. This also suggests total rejection of one's sex role stereotype as her response is
, stereotypically masculine.
As explored in Showalter's The Female Malady, 'madness' in women is a 'consequence of,
rather than deviation from, the traditional female role'. Consequently, Gilman and Plath
present mental illness as the main consequence of rebelling against patriarchal societies'
demands. Apart from overt symbols like the wallpaper and bell jar, the authors reflect this
through their book's structures - mirroring the narrator's deterioration into 'madness'. Like
The Yellow Wallpaper where the narrator's tone becomes increasingly manic as her illness
worsens and the narrative progresses, as Esther develops psychotic depression, her
thoughts darken and grasp from reality slips until her warped perspective means she cannot
act rationally - like her disengaged behaviour when sexually assaulted. Although unreliable
narrators due to illness, Gilman's chronological structure and present tense in The Yellow
Wallpaper makes John's wife seem reliable in comparison to Esther, as Plath's past tense
The Bell Jar employs time shifts. But, by the end, Gilman's ambiguous writing style -
narrowing focus onto the 'wall-paper', mixing past and present tense, and detaching from her
husband who she begins calling 'young man' - highlights John's wife's 'madness'. Though
both women are undeniably ill from the outset, John's wife falsely believes - or tries fooling
herself - her 'case is not serious!' and is 'feeling ever so much better!', despite exhibiting
postpartum depression signs like 'cry[ing] at nothing', it being 'effort to think straight' (similar
to Gilman feeling 'dragging weariness… misery'), and being detached from her 'dear baby' -
unable to care for him as 'it makes [her] so nervous'. Therefore, her illness directly results
from being unable to fulfil patriarchal society's demands of being a mother. In contrast,
Esther is self-aware of her depression. Plath's melancholic tone and repetition in 'I was
supposed to be having the time of my life. I was supposed to be the envy of thousands of
other college girls… I should have been excited' reflects Esther acknowledges what 20th
century society expects her to feel, whilst inferring she does not feel it. Being hyper
self-aware of her illness is why Esther fixates on death throughout, seen through her darkly
comical narrative voice, or Plath's semantic field in the opening: 'electrocuted', 'cadaver', and
unemotional sensory imagery of 'being burned alive all along your nerves'. It also contributes
to her suicide attempt, unlike Gilman's unaware narrator who comically ponders 'jump[ing]
out of the window would be admirable exercise', but does not.
Female character's descent into 'madness' is due to patriarchal society - personified by male
characters. While Gilman depicts men more positively, both authors portray them
antagonistically through how they do not take responsibility for their poor physical and verbal
treatment of vulnerable women. This is typical of novels set in the 19th century, like Jane
Eyre's prequel, Wide Sargasso Sea, exploring how Rochester's relationship with Bertha led
to her 'madness' and domestic imprisonment. In relationships, Esther's worst treatment is by
'woman-hater' Marco, her date who attempts raping her; since she accepted his 'diamond'
he feels he 'earned' sex. Plath communicates the power imbalance between them through
violent and physical imagery of his 'hand around my arm tightened… A thumb-print purpled
into view' and fricative 'flung me back… threw himself face down as if he would grind his
body through me'. She continues this idea through sibilance: 'flickering smile reminded me of
a snake', 'set his teeth at the strap at my shoulder and tore my sheath' and onomatopoeic
'hissed' - further presenting Marco as an animalistic predator, versus Esther as passive prey
who 'lie[s] here and do[es] nothing'. This interaction is the catalyst for Esther's 'madness',
causing her to throw her new clothes off the roof. Similarly, Gilman portrays Mrs Marroner's
cheating husband in Turned and The Yellow Wallpaper's John as abusing their power. Both
men infantilize and dehumanise women through repeating the condescending adjective 'little'
to describe them as 'little girl[s]', rather than using their names. John silences his wife's voice
through patronising actions like 'big hug[s]', 'laughs at her', and carries her to the nursery -
his choice for her bedroom - symbolising how he sees her as inferior, not only due to being
unwell but also being a woman. Whereas, Mr Marroner stressing Gerta being 'little' arguably
is worse, emphasising that despite knowing Gerta's 'innocence' and young age, 'he
deliberately took advantage' and groomed her to have sex - causing a change in her mental
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