The Yellow Wallpaper, breaking the fourth wall

According to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's excerpt titled Why I Wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper", the short story's intention was not "to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy". Which is exactly what the complex piece of literature did.

In this fictitious account of a woman going insane, the audience is taken through Gilman's experience of being confined to a single room as a way of "treatment" for her downtrodden state of mind. The reader is taken by the hand while they read her various journal entries that span over the course of a few months. Women taking part in writing is greatly frowned upon during this time period, therefore Gilman must keep her written documentation of her inner thoughts a secret. Gilman even draws reference to this by ending her journal in ways such as this: "Here comes John, and I must put this away, - he hates to have me write a word." This does not only shows the women's lack of freedom during this time but also the overall superiority that men possessed. Other examples of John giving off an air of authority are the way he refers to his wife. Very often, Gilman is referred to as John's "little girl" or "doll". These misleading terms of endearment can be seen as degrading, while at the same time referencing her as being a little girl. Being a grown woman treated with the respect of only a child causes the narrator to become, "a little afraid of John". In many cases it is obvious that this story takes places during a time where equal rights were non-existent.

Reading a story through a series of one female's journal entries gives the reader a very unique perspective on the story as a whole. What the narrator reveals through her entries varies greatly from the image she is portraying of herself to the other characters within the story. Those who read Gilman's short storyare given an inside view as to what she is thinking and the exact way in which she is feeling. They are given the opportunity to pick up on context clues that can lead to a more intimate relationship with the author. In a sense, the narrator and 'audience' are taking part in a concept called the theatrical contract.  This 'agreement' is broken down into two different areas of contract, representational and presentational. According to Scott E. Walters, Introduction to Play Analysis, the theatrical contract is defined as "an informational understanding or agreement between a theatrical production and it's audience". The Yellow Wallpaper takes a prespresentational approach in creating a special connection with its audience. In a way the story is "breaking the fourth wall", a metaphor that is used to show the audience coming between the barrier separating the play from reality. Walters further supports this by stating that, "people develop stronger connections to those who talk to them than those who ignore them". Obviously Gilman is not directly talking to her readers, but she is breaking the barrier by giving them a chance to relate to her on a personal level.