The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper Summary | Detailed Summary

The short story opens with the female narrator writing about a large home she and her husband are renting for the summer. The couple has just moved in. They have decided to lease the beautiful home so that she can rest in isolation in order to recover from a nervous disorder. The story is written like a journal entry, giving the reader a glimpse into the narrator's troubled thoughts. The unnamed narrator says the mansion is beautiful, and the grounds include traditional landscaped gardens. Despite its grandeur, something has seemed wrong since she first entered the house. She suspects it is haunted. She wonders why the rent was so inexpensive and why the home has been vacant for so long, which further adds to her suspicion about the property. Her husband, John, is a doctor who scoffs at her theories about the house. He also does not believe she is sick. She secretly believes he is one of the reasons she does not become well. He has told everyone that she only suffers from a nervous depression. Her brother, who is also a doctor, agrees. The two men decide that, in order to recover form her illness, the narrator will not be allowed to work or socialize. Instead, she must take tonics and get plenty of rest, fresh air and exercise. She disagrees with the treatment and thinks that work and excitement would make her feel better.

The narrator is convinced there is something strange about the home, especially the large upstairs bedroom. She does not want to sleep in the room, preferring the more beautiful rooms downstairs. However, her husband insists those rooms are too small. He makes her stay in the upstairs bedroom, despite her trepidation. John regulates nearly every aspect of his wife's day, deciding when she rests, exercises and eats. She is very frustrated with her husband and the way he laughs at her fears, yet she respects his authority over her. She decides that her anger toward him is unwarranted and probably is the result of her condition.

She describes the hated bedroom as large and airy. She deducts that must have been used as playroom or gymnasium for children because there are bars on the windows and rings in the walls. She hates the wallpaper, writing that she has never seen uglier paper in her life. The pattern is busy and confusing to look at. It is a sickening yellow that is faded in some parts and too bright in others. She stops writing the description of the wallpaper because she hears John coming. She does not want him to know that she has gone against his wishes, having been writing.

Two weeks after the first entry, the narrator writes as she sits in the widow of the dreaded room. Although she has the time to write, she lacks the strength. She says that her husband does not realize how much she suffers. Just getting dressed and doing normal activities takes an extraordinary effort. She has a baby that she adores. However, the nanny, Mary, must take care of him because being with the boy makes her too nervous.

John continues to dismiss his wife's strong dislike and fear of the wallpaper. Though he had agreed to repaper the room, he now says that he will not indulge her fancies. She must learn to live with it. He says that if he removed the wallpaper, she would only then insist on making other changes, such as taking the gate down at the top of the stairs. He does not want to renovate the house, because they will only be there for three months. Meanwhile, she has started to see people walking around the house. John dismisses her again, telling her that she has to stop allowing herself to think about such things. He thinks she is making her condition worse by allowing her mind to wander.

The narrator writes that she wants to see her cousins, because she finds them stimulating, though John refuses. He says she needs rest. She thinks that the wallpaper appears to know it is vicious, and it seems to be looking at her. The wallpaper makes her angry, but she reminds herself that the paper is inanimate.

The wallpaper is not the only thing amiss in the room. The floor is scratched, plaster is missing and the heavy bed appears to be nailed to the floor. However, she does not mind any of it. She only hates the paper. She has to stop writing again because John's sister, Jennie, is coming. Jennie has arrived to take care of the home and to help the narrator get well.

It is now after the fourth of July. John has allowed his wife's family to come to visit for a week. Jennie took care of everything during the visit, but the narrator is tired anyway. John threatens to send his wife away to a doctor if she does not get better. She does not want to go to the doctor. John has been working in town a lot, leaving her to spend much of her time alone. She spends the hours in solitude, obsessing over the wallpaper. She is compelled to study it and then write descriptions about how it appears, down to the smallest detail. She cannot figure out the pattern and it makes her tired.

John continues to regulate what his wife eats and how she spends her time. He tells her he only controls her days, because he loves her and wants her to get well. She asks if she can visit her cousins but then breaks into tears as she tries to state her case. He refuses to grant permission for the trip, saying her tears prove she is not well enough to go. John believes she must simply use her will and self-control to get better. The narrator's thoughts drift back to the hated wallpaper. She thinks that she is glad she is in the room with the wallpaper; otherwise, it might have become her child's nursery. The baby would not be able to stand it the way she has. She thinks that the wallpaper contains a secret that only she can discover. Now she sees a woman creeping behind the pattern. It makes her want to leave the house.

The narrator recounts a discussion she had the previous night with her husband. She knows it is hard to talk to John about her illness, but she had decided to try. While in bed, she watched the woman move about the wallpaper. She got up to see if the woman was moving, and she accidentally woke up John. She asked John to take her away from the house. He said they would only be staying for three more weeks and there would be no point in leaving earlier. He also said that he is a doctor and therefore can see that she is doing better. While talking, he refers to her as his "little girl" and says, "Bless her little heart." He then went to sleep while she spent the nighttime hours trying to figure out which part of the wallpaper's pattern was moving.

She writes more about the pattern of the wallpaper. She believes that it changes with the light. During the day, it looks like a string of toadstools. At night, she can see a woman behind bars. The pattern keeps the woman still during the day, just as the narrator is still. However, the woman comes alive at night. She is convinced that Jennie and John sense something is wrong with the paper, but they will not admit it. She thinks no one will be able to discover the truth about the paper except her.

The narrator's mood starts to improve because she now has something to which she can look forward. She is fixated on the wallpaper and its changes. She does not tell John about the paper because she cannot trust his reactions. She no longer wants to leave the house until she has discovered the wallpaper's secret. She only has one more week at the house, but thinks that will be enough time to figure it all out.

She no longer sleeps at night because the wallpaper's movements are so interesting. In her increasing obsession, she is convinced now that the wallpaper has a smell. The smell sticks to her and she thinks it smells like the color yellow. In addition, she has noticed a streak on the wall that runs around the room. She wonders who went around the room, rubbing the wall and creating the mark. Thinking about it makes her dizzy.

Now she finally knows why the pattern is moving. A woman is behind the pattern, shaking 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. Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard. And she is all the time trying to climb through."

It now occurs to her that the woman in the wallpaper manages to get out of the paper during the day. She has seen the woman creeping outside in the daylight. Everywhere she looks, she sees the woman moving and crouching. Now she wants to be alone in the room to figure out the mystery. She wishes John would sleep somewhere else so she could be by herself with the wallpaper.

She has only two more days left in the house and she decides that the wallpaper must come down. She notices that John is increasingly worried about her. John and the narrator are going to be leaving the house. It is their last day and the house staff has packed their furniture and belongings. She is relieved to think that she still has enough time to take the paper down. The previous night, John stayed overnight in town because he had to work. Jennie offered to sleep in the room with the narrator, but she refused, preferring to be by herself. When it became dark, the woman in the paper began to shake the bars. The narrator runs to the woman, trying to help her escape from the paper. The woman pulls and together they rip off half of the paper. In the morning, Jennie is surprised to see much of the paper ripped off, but says she would also like to take down the wallpaper. The narrator thinks that she should be the only living person who touches the wallpaper. She does not trust Jennie. Jennie leaves, and the narrator takes the key to the room and throws it out of the window.

She has hidden a rope in the room and now thinks she can use it to catch the woman in the wallpaper if she tries to get away. She tries in vain to move the bed so she can stand on it and reach more of the wallpaper. The wallpaper now shrieks as she pulls it off. The sound makes her angry and she thinks about jumping out of the window, but she cannot because of the bars. In addition, she is worried about what people might think. She does not like to look out of the windows because she sees so many creeping women. Now, she wonders if the women came out of the wallpaper as she did. She ties the rope around herself, thinking that she will have to go back into the wallpaper once it becomes night. She begins to creep around the floor, with her shoulder touching the long mark around the room. She likes the room and decides that she does not want to go outside where it is green and not yellow. The mark around the wall keeps her from getting lost as she creeps. John begins banging at the door and threatens to use an ax to get in. She tells him where to find the key. He opens the door and screams when he sees her creeping. She does not stop, but looks at him over her shoulder.

"I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!"

John faints at the sight of her. She does not stop. She simply continues to creep around the room, going over him.