Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author of the The Yellow Wallpaper, describes the descent into madness of a young woman at the end of the 19th century. There are two main causes for this spiral through the looking glass. The first is sociocultural in nature, revolving around the woman's traditional role in society. The second reason is more personal to the protagonist as she is purposefully kept from functions and activities that were her sole enrichments in the name of health and love.

During the 19th century middle to upper class women were faced with dichotomous roles. On one hand they were expected to be idle, fragile, not engaged in intellectual activities outside of the home. On the opposite hand these same women were expected to withstand the vagaries that were common during the 19th century such as the death of their husband or a reversal of their financial...