Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860 and died in 1935; she

was a prominent American humanist, novelist, writer of short stories,

poetry and nonfiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a utopian
feminist and served as a role model for future generations of feminists
because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle. Her best remembered
work today is her semi-autobiographical short story "The Yellow
Wallpaper", which she wrote after a severe bout of postpartum
psychosis.
In this short story, as in “Mrs Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf, the view
on the issue of mental insanity is portrayed. As they both describe this
issue in the same society, what they most share are similarities, such as
the neglect of mental insanity and the emphasis on isolation, but they
also have some differences such as in terms of censored behaviour.
The first thing that stands out when reading these texts is the way
mental insanity is neglected. The raise of behaviourism stated how
things that are not visible should not be taken into consideration, as they
can’t be measured or analyzed. This concept dominated every scientific
area in that society, and medicine wasn’t an exception. This is how, in
both narratives, we can observe how every patient with any clear type of
mental disorder wasn’t considered mentally ill, but rather nervous or
hysterical, so that their treatment would only cover physical issues.
When a doctor is providing a diagnosis for Septimus in Mrs Dalloway,
the conclusion is that the patient’s completely healthy, “Dr. Holmes
examined him. There was nothing whatever the matter, said Dr. Holmes”
showing how little validity was given to mental disorders in that time. The
same applies for “The Yellow wall-paper”: “John does not know how
much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that
satisfies him”. In the latter quote we can notice not only the recurring
idea of how what’s not visible shouldn’t be considered, but the
consequences of that approach as well, which result considerably
harmful for the patient.
What’s more, for further harm of the patients, the neglect of the
mental disorder is followed by the prescription of isolation.
Along this utterly ineffective view on insanity, the solution doctors
provided is the next issue that stands out to the reader. With little
knowledge on the matter, society in that time thought that the best option
for people that went mad was to get marginalized. Not only for the health
of the patient, but for their loved ones as well, as they shouldn’t bear the
burden of a mentally ill relative being around. This idea was considered
normal, because any behaviour that wasn’t considered so (such as shell-
shock as in the case of Septimus) was condemned to the point of social
marginalization. In Mrs Dalloway, we can even get to consider what
happens when instead of isolation, Septimus gets care and
comprehension, and that’s when he gets the closest to a clear mind,
enjoying a good time with his wife. Apart from this, everything the
doctors prescribe is to put Septimus away, as otherwise his wife gets
stressed. “Health we must have; and health is proportion; so that when
a man comes into your room and says he is Christ (a common delusion),
and has a message, as they mostly have, and threatens, as they often
do, to kill himself, you invoke proportion; order rest in bed; rest in
solitude; silence and rest; rest without friends, without books, without
messages; six months' rest; until a man who went in weighing seven
stone six comes out weighing twelve.” This total isolation from social and
even personal life (in terms of hobbies, past-times and work) is the same
treatment that Charlotte gets in The Yellow wall-paper, and it also shows
how detrimental it is for the patient’s health: “And I know John would
think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way-it is
such a relief!”. As Charlotte wasn’t even allowed to write (under the
assumption that it was writing what complicated her situation), she did it
secretly, as that was the only chance for releasing her censored
thoughts, and this is where we jump into the last issue to be considered:
censored behaviour.
Here is where we find a difference between the texts being
considered, even when they were written within practically the same
society. In the case of Septimus, even when his attitude wasn’t
considered “normal” at all, and the people around him failed to consider
him an integrated member of society, his hallucinations and disruptive
behaviour was rather ignored, instead of censored as it happens in the
case of Charlotte. Even when his ideas and thoughts are ignored,
because they don’t seem to deserve attention, they are not excessively
controlled, as we can see for instance when Septimus starts panicking in
public. Taking into account the way Septimus’ issues manifested, we
would have expected him to be drowning in medicaments to limit that,
but that’s not the case. This is opposed to what we find in The Yellow
wall-paper, as Charlotte isn’t really allowed to express what she feels.
This difference may also be related to a gender issue, as Charlotte’s
husband seems to be the main source of censorship around her. In any
case, it is important to consider the effects of putting so many limits in a
mentally ill’s life, and Charlotte expresses it in many ways: “It is so
discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my
work.” This vicious cycle that gets Charlotte into an even worse condition
shows how risky it is to get blocked in terms of expression that way.
To sum up, we can review how the main issues that stand out
when reading some modernist texts that touch the theme of mental
insanity seem to be its neglect, as we can see in both texts, followed by
the isolation that doctors prescribe. Lastly, Mrs Dalloway and The yellow
wall-paper differ in the reaction people have to disruptive behaviour, as
Septimus is ignored, while Charlotte is considerably censored.