A Silent Monologue of the Narrator’s Psyche: An Archetypal Reading of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Abstract

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" has been widely analysed through feminist, Gothic, and Freudian psychoanalytic lenses, primarily framing the protagonist's descent as repression, madness, or protest against patriarchal medicine. This project departs from these readings by employing a Jungian framework that combines archetypal theory with feminist psychoanalysis to reinterpret the protagonist's breakdown as a process of individuation. Focusing on the Shadow archetype and the collective unconscious, the study argues that her merging with the wallpaper signifies not psychological collapse but self-discovery and awakening. By reading Gilman's own rest-cure experience alongside the text, this research reframes the protagonist's journey as one of authentic identity formation rather than mere silencing.