Womens Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Withered Arm

Womens Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper and The sear Arm In the late 19th century, women were expected to conform to theconventions of society. This meant that they were expected to getmarried raw, pure and beautiful. They were treated like objects asif men bought them. How the woman felt was hostile in this period.Women were expected to produce an heir and a spare. Women were alsovictim to double standards. For example, women had to deal with achild out of wedlock yet were given no responsibility for this.This contrasts strongly to a womans role in society today. However,women are still expected to get married and give birth to a child.I am going to explore this issue in two short stories The YellowWallpaper write by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892, and TheWithered Arm written by Thomas Hardy in 1887. The Yellow Wallpaper isabout a women suffering from postnatal depression that is given therest cure. She feels trapped and eventually goes mad. The WitheredArm is about a milkmaid ca lled Rhoda who had a child out of wedlockand has been excluded from society. The man with whom she had thechild with gets married to a young girl who Rhoda resents and in adream disfigures her arm. The young bride tries to cure her arm bytouching a recently executed man who turns out to be Rhodas son. Theshock kills the young bride and the husband feels the error of his waysand soon dies himself.In The Withered Arm, Hardy portrays how negative life was for women inVictorian society. However, on the other hand, he clearly showssympathy for the plight of women which suggests he had a desire forchange.Hardy shows how the role of women in Victorian society was to getmarried. If... ...ath also forces Farmer Lodgeto see the error of his ways. In The Yellow Wallpaper, The speakerdefies the conventions of society by creeping around openly in frontof John, however, in the same moment she appears to hold g iodin mad.This appears to be the only way out for her.Both stories symbolise how ha rd it was not to conform to society aperson died in one and in the other, a person went mad. They show thatemancipation was almost impossible for a woman in Victorian times.The two stories use different yarn viewpoints. The Withered Armuses the third person narration, which is seen to be more sympathetictowards the plight of women and more objective. The Yellow Wallpaperuses the first person narration, which seems less persuade and bias,however it also symbolises the aloneness of the speaker and her lackof voice empathises her plight.