The story the yellow wallpaper is one of sadness and shows how naive our civilization was. Yellow Wallpaper is told in a first person point of view. The time in history is based off when society’s medical advances and treatments weren't as good as they are now. The story is directed at the public to show how bad the treatment was for depression and how women were treated in general. Gilman’s purpose was to show how women were treated and belittled. The theme that women are shown to be submissive to man is seen throughout the story. This should not be the case because a person’s thoughts, opinions, and feeling should be accounted for no matter their gender. This can be seen in the overall plot of the story. Another way that the theme can be seen is in the characters. The husband and wife dynamic in the story is a perfect example of how the characters show the theme of the story.

Gilman express’ her theme through many different parts of the story. The first being the way her characters interact. The wife is dealing with an illness most likely being postpartum depression. Her husband is a physician and believes that she is just stressed out and needs to get some rest. With the overall theme being that woman should listen to the man because he knows best, is proven to be completely wrong. This is because her condition eventually becomes worse and worse leading to the main character going completely mad.
Another way that the theme is shown throughout is in the stories setting. The way that the main character is cooped up in her room with the hideous wallpaper adds to her madness. The house that the characters are staying is an older estate that looks said it should have some history to it. The room that the main character is staying is described as an old room that was fit for an asylum. While the bars on the windows are there to ensure what was in the room didn't get out. The bed was chained down and the wallpaper all around the bed had been ripped off showing evidence that the room had held previous patience that were suffering from madness. With all of this evidence the main character is made to believe that the room was once used as a playroom and that is the reason for all of the safety equipment. This pushes towards the theme that the men know what is best for the women and the women should just listen to the men no matter how uncomfortable they may be.

The theme of the story is mostly brought out in its plot. Even though the woman in the story is clearly getting worse her husband refuses to recognize it and actually believes she is getting better. The plot line starts out as the women writing in her journal when she is not supposed to. Her husband thinks that this adds to her stress and is