The Subordination of Women in Yellow Wallpaper “Yellow Wallpaper,” written in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a chilling study in madness. It is the bitter story of a young woman driven mad by a "loving" doctor-husband, who imposes Mitchell's "rest cure."1 This short story vividly reflects a tormented woman. This story begins with a hysterical wife who is overprotected by her "loving" husband John. She is taken to a summer residence to recover from a nervous illness. He is told to rest and sleep; she is not even allowed to write. “I have to put this away, he hates it when I write a note.” This shows how much control John has over her as a husband and doctor. She is "absolutely forbidden to 'work' until she is 'well again'. Here, John seems to be more of a father than a husband. Like the husband in Ibsen's A Doll House, John is the dominant person in marriage: a typical sign of the middle class Although the narrator feels hopeless, John tells her that there is “no reason” for what she feels; she must reject these “fantasies; stupid." In other words, John treats her like a child and gives her reason to doubt herself. "Sure, it's just nervousness," she decides. to rest, to do what she's told, like a child, but suffers because John doesn't believe she's sick. This makes her feel inadequate and unsure of her own sanity. how much I really suffer. He knows that there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him." She feels that she should be "a good girl" and appreciate the protective love that John offers her. "He takes care of me , and I feel so basely ungrateful for not giving it more importance. . . . He hugged me and called me a blessed little goose. . . . He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I should take care of myself for him and be well. By telling him to be well, John is simply expressing more doubt that he is actually ill. She tries to discuss her feelings, but this only brings a "stern, reproachful look" and she returns to bed. “Really honey, you're better,” John said over and over..