Insanity and Madness in A Rose For Emily and Yellow...

Insanity in A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper The women in Faulkners and Gilmans stories are victims of male over-protectiveness. The men that rule their lives trap Emily in A Rose For Emily and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper. Each character must retreat into their own world as an escape from reality. Emily is destroyed by her fathers over-protectiveness. He prevents her from courting anyone as none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such (82). When her father dies, Emily refuses to acknowledge his death; [W]ith nothing left, she . . . [had] to cling to that which had robbed her (83). When she finally begins a relationship after his death, she unfortunately falls for Homer†¦show more content†¦After living so long as a victim of loneliness perpetrated by her father, Emily decides that she will be vindicated-she will have her man. She orders a toiletry set to be engraved with Homers initials, purchases an outfit and a nightshirt for him, and buys the arsenic that is to seal his fate. When the townspeople enter her house for the first time in forty years, they find a bridal tomb: a tarnished toiletry set, a neatly pressed suit, and a rotting Homer Baron clad in the nightshirt wearing a profound and fleshless grin (87). Just as Emily is destroyed by her fathers over-protectiveness, the first-person narrator of The Yellow Wall-Paper, is secluded from both life and reality by her over-protective husband. The narrator is both creative and eccentric; her husband is practical in the extreme (160). She believes that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do [her] good (160). Her husband, however, believes in the strength of conventional medicine such as the rest cure for nervous diseases (164). Like Emilys father who denies her a family and a life of her own, the husband of Gilmans narrator denies not only her desire to write, but also her craving for society and stimulus as she struggles to find a creative outlet (160). This appears a type of solitary confinement for such a creative being, and it should come as no surprise that she is crazed after months of lying in bed with no company other thanShow MoreRelatedThe, The Yellow Wallpaper, And Mississippi Native William Faulkner s `` A Rose For Emily ``869 Words   |  4 PagesGilman’s (1860-1935) â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Mississippi native William Faulkner’s (1897-1962) â€Å"A Rose for Emily† both contain extreme delusional characters (â€Å"Charlotte Perkins Gilman†, â€Å"William Faulkner†). These characters lose touch with the real world and slowly begin to exhibit madness. Although both characters are unable to grasp reality, they both express distinct methods that show the severity and capability of their insanity. Gilman’s and Faulkner’s main characters, Emily and the other who isRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman And A Rose For Emily895 Words   |  4 Pagesstories, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† written by William Faulkner, have a lot in common regarding the main characters. Each narrative focuses on the lifestyle and behavior of a bizarre woman who has been kept away for a certain period of time. One could argue that these women were not initially deranged, though something must have occurred to send them on such a downward spiral. The main characters in each account, Jane and Miss Emily, endure situationsRead MoreMale Dominance in Both Books, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner837 Words   |  4 PagesMale dominance is something that is showed in both stories â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and â€Å"A Rose for Emilyà ¢â‚¬ . Both the women in these stories feel they can’t be complete without a dominant male role in their life or that it was forced upon them. However, they both find a way out of this over powering rule through insanity, as some people see it. In the time the stories were based and written, women were not supposed to be sophisticated or intelligent, and were over taken by their emotions. The men believedRead MoreUses of the Conventions of the Gothic Story in The Yellow Wallpaper and A Rose for Emily1467 Words   |  6 Pages In the eighteenth century, Gothic story was an extremely popular form of literature, and it has been a major genre since then. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner are both Gothic horror stories consisting madness and suspense. The Gothic horror story carries particular conventions in its setting, theme, point of view, and characterisation. Both Gilman and Faulkner follow the conventions of the Goth ic horror story to create feelings of gloomRead MoreShort Story Comparison1241 Words   |  5 PagesScales 1! Katrina Scales David Miles ENC-1102 16 July 2015 A Yellow Rose It is likely that after reading short stories The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, any sensible reader will feel disturbed in at least the slightest. Both texts contain neurotic women of unsound mind who have deathly obsessions. At first glance, these stories do not seem to have much in common; they have been written through opposite perspectives, one neglects to be chronologicalRead MoreWilliam Faulkner s A Rose For Emily And Charlotte Perkins Gilman s The Yellow Wallpaper1466 Words   |  6 PagesThe women in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper are troubled protagonists that have been neglected, isolated, and pushed to the point of insanity. There are many contributing factors to their decent into psychosis. Both women have lost their ability to function in society due to their obsessive behavior and the controlling men in their lives. Although both stories have similarities, there are also differences in their paths that have led toRead MoreThe Yellow Wallpaper, By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1356 Words   |  6 Pagesstimulation will be reciprocated within the mind of the inhabitant. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892, depicts a young, unnamed woman who is suffering with pos t-partum depression. In this time period, the treatment of mental illness typically did more harm than good as electroshock therapy, and the rest cure were the classic treatments of choice. Similarly, William Faulkner, the author of â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, written in 1930, gives the reader an inside look upon an elderlyRead MoreCriticalpaper And A Rose For Emily1653 Words   |  7 Pagesthose nineteenth-century social issues. Even though Faulkner wrote his story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, 40 years after Gilman’s story, â€Å"The Yellow Wall-paper†, both stories portray several types of nineteenth-century social issues accurately. Because of their knowledge about these social issues, Gilman and Faulkner were able to portray the main characters’ struggles. Both main characters of these stories, the narrator and Emily, become oppressed by their social environments because of the expectations thatRead MoreThe Sexist Surroundings that Etrap the Narrato r in Various Literary Works Supresss the Respective Protagonists Identitties as Women1671 Words   |  7 PagesI. THESIS: The sexist surroundings that entrap the Narrator in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† Miss Emily Grierson in â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† and Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter ultimately suppress the respective protagonists’ identities as women, leading them to suffer in isolation. II. TOPIC SENTENCE I: The protagonists in the â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† and The Scarlet Letter all live in a sexist environment that confines their lives. A. MAJOR I: The history of each respective settingRead MoreA Rose for Emily the Yellow Wallpaper5184 Words   |  21 PagesThe protagonists in both â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner and in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman experience struggles within their society throughout their respective stories. Although the stories are very different, the struggles for each protagonist stem from the perception and expectations of women in society during the time each story was written. The protagonist in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† struggles throughout the story due to her controlling husband and a woman’s