Irony in The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Example

In Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” the audience is introduced to a story that covers the issues of severe mental illness and women’s oppression. In the story, the author writes about a married woman named Jane suffering from postpartum depression who slowly goes mad. The story uses irony to amplify the dramatization. In the live action adaptation of the story, irony is used exceptionally well. The film does an excellent job of highlighting scenes of irony and allowing the audience to uncover the authors true intentions. As an example, early on in the film the readers are introduced to an ugly yellow colored, depressing, and gloomy room, which resembled a prison (5:00-6:00). Jane further expresses her feelings towards the room by stating ““It is the strangest yellow, that wallpaper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw - not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things.” (520).  Furthermore, Jane has been informed by her husband, named John, that she will be confined in the room until her condition improves. Additionally, once Jane started to become vocal about the depressive features of the room her husband dismissed her cries. Then he spoke about how nice, beautiful, and spacious the room was. This scene gives foresight on the type of irony the film will employ. The room was obviously below living standard, but Jane’s husband was adamant that the room was perfectly fine and that nothing was of concern. The film feels much more natural than the book because the actors truly bring the irony to life and allow it to blossom, as shown in the example.

Irony is blatantly present throughout the entire film. Near the end of the film, once Jane fully succumbed to her madness, she decided to destroy the room referenced in the beginning of the movie. Shortly after Jane vandalized the room her husband John entered the room. Once John saw that Jane had gone insane and had destroyed the room he fainted. Throughout the film John was painted as a master or superior of Jane because he forcibly kept her in the room against her will and wouldn’t let her have any freedom. Once Jane had gone insane or broken free; John couldn’t handle it and fainted. This is ironic because John was supposed to be the man of the house and should not be phased by a tiny amount of disorder, but once he saw the chaos in Janes room he fainted (1:12:00-1:13:00). Soon after John fainted Jane stated ““Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!” (524). Jane had finally “earned” her freedom because without her oppressor she could do what she wanted.

Irony is highly prevalent throughout both the film and the novel. The film does a better job of highlighting irony because the actors allow the audience to spot scenes of irony much easier. The novel does a superb job as well, but the film is the superior choice if you are looking for the best experience.