The “Rest Cure”

• What was the “rest cure”?

• Who created it- why? What was their ideology?

• Why might it be harmful rather than helpful? Explain in your own words

Challenge How might the “rest cure” connect to Gothic themes of confinement and control?

Women in the 19th Century

• What rights did women lack in the late 1800s?

• How were women expected to behave at home and in society?

• What opportunities (if any) did women have for education, work, or creative expression?

Challenge: How might these restrictions affect women’s voices in literature or art?

Mental Health in the 19th Century

• How was mental illness (like depression or anxiety) understood in the 1800s?

• What words were often used to describe it?

• How were women’s mental health issues treated differently from men’s?

Challenge: How might these views have shaped public attitudes toward women like the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper?

Houses and Domestic Space in the 19th Century

• What roles did houses and the home play in women’s lives during the 1800s?

• Why was the home sometimes described as a woman’s “proper sphere”?

• How might being confined to the home affect a woman’s independence?

  
  Challenge: How could a domestic space (like a nursery, bedroom, or attic) become a Gothic setting?

The Author- Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Who was she?

• What personal experience inspired her to write The Yellow Wallpaper?

• What message do you think she wanted readers (and doctors like Weir Mitchell) to take from the story?

  
  Challenge: Why might Gilman have chosen to express her ideas through a Gothic horror story rather than a straightforward piece of non-fiction writing?