The Oppressing Face Of Madness In The Mirror Of Society :: essays research papers fc

The Oppressing Face of Madness in the Mirror of Society For centuries women in life and literature were often portrayed as submissive, docile, and obedient to men. Focusing primarily on the nineteenth century, literature of the period often characterized women as victims oppressed by society, culture, as well as by the male influences in their lives. Many of the female characters suffered the effects of isolation brought on by constant oppression and subservience driving them insane and mad. The views of women in early literature were often silenced and their opinion’s disregarded by a dominant patriarchal society. One could argue that the men’s influence on society forged the distinctions between sanity and madness. This obsessive position to shape reality proved to be unhealthy and destructive but it was rarely acknowledged among the company of men. A Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) once quoted, â€Å"Too much sanity may be madness, and maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be!† (h ttp://www.quoteworld.org.) Madness even though taboo and troublesome, seemed common in many female literary protagonists of the period. Thus far in the course we encountered the role of madness in such literary works as â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper.† The role of madness and oppression in the works can be better examined in three aspects of: the causes of the induced madness, how each female character deals with the insanity, and how the similarities in madness link the texts to common social issues. The conclusion will show the significant roles madness and oppression played in the selected fictional stories echoing the real life torment women lived in. Speaking in an aesthetic tone, one will see that though the Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour are similar, however, tale by Gilman proves to be a better argument for portraying the role of maddens and oppression as a mirror of society of the time period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Few works in fictional literature embody the portrayal and effects of madness better than Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper.† Readers are presented with the tale of a woman suffering from a mental illness whose problems are compounded by the imprisonment she must endure. Set in a similar time period as the already discussed works, many of the same isolation and autonomy issues reside behind the conflict of Gilman’s narrative. The story presents the madness associated with the oppression of women during the era coupled with the unforgiving patriarchal view of society.