Abstract
This essay analyzes the shared plight of Bertha Mason, from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and the protagonist from Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” against the backdrop of prevailing gender and societal attitudes in the mid and late 19th century. The paper argues that in spite of gender roles advocating male dominance and female submissiveness that imprison them, both “madwomen” find enlightenment and qualified autonomy in their attic of seclusion, consistent with the ethos of the time in which each author wrote.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. Kathleen Waites
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-12-2013 1:00 PM
End Date
4-12-2013 5:30 PM
Madness: Sense, Consequence, and Freedom
Alvin Sherman Library
This essay analyzes the shared plight of Bertha Mason, from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and the protagonist from Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” against the backdrop of prevailing gender and societal attitudes in the mid and late 19th century. The paper argues that in spite of gender roles advocating male dominance and female submissiveness that imprison them, both “madwomen” find enlightenment and qualified autonomy in their attic of seclusion, consistent with the ethos of the time in which each author wrote.
