Obsession In The Birthmark And The Yellow Wallpaper
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Within the Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” they both share this common theme, a character in each piece of work deals with an obsession over something. Within “The Birthmark” ironically the scientist of a wife, deal with the obsession of his wife’s birthmark on her face, and wants to remove it. Within “The Yellow Wallpaper” a wife deals with the obsession of this yellow wallpaper pushed upon her by her husband as she is sent to a summer home to deal with her post mortem depression.
In Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark,” Aylmer, a scientist, is married to Georgiana, who is perfect in every way, but has a small birthmark on her cheek. Aylmer initially thinks little of it, but as the story progresses,…show more content… The people around her, like her husband and brother think nothing is wrong with her and just needs rest. The narrator of this story believes she knows what’s best for her health and it is not to be trapped in this house, but by seeing the empowerment of her husband her life goes down spiraling. A woman who just wanted to be free, but obstructed by her husband, was trapped into a summer house in an upstairs room, ironically within a nursery like setting, to rest and become better. She finds “something queer” about the room she is staying in. Most striking to her is the wallpaper, which has been torn up like someone has been doing it before. She begins to see images within this wallpaper, as if someone is trapped behind bars and creeping around. Jane is made crazy by the people around her. The bed nailed to the ground is her stuck in this room, she is the one actually ripping off the wallpaper, which is obviously not normal, and she is going crazy with this obsession. “I don’t sleep”, this can be a sign of insanity. She hates this wallpaper but it fascinates her and consumes her. The woman at first is joyful of the wallpaper and the hallucinations she sees, but then toward the end realizes this fascination is really