In "The Yellow Wall-Paper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows us how sometimes if others tell us that something is true, it seems that we make it come true. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. Because the main character is told what she can and can't do by the people who were around her, it is hard for us to see her real personality. The only way that we get a chance to see her true personality is by the journal that she keeps. After reading the journal, we are left wondering whether she is really crazy or not when the story begins, and what has caused her to go insane at the end of the story.
The main character starts off the story by simply describing the things she and her husband do, and it sounds as if they are just a normal couple. However, we learn that her husband and her brother are both doctors, and they have similar opinions about her condition: "that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression" (705). We are never given a reason as to why this assumption is made by both doctors. All we have to go by when judging her sanity is how she acts when she is treated as though she is insane. In my opinion, she is sane and has nothing wrong with her. The only thing that is wrong with her personality is that she is afraid to stand up for herself and say that there is nothing wrong with her and that if she were allowed to live a normal life, everyone would see that.
Since I feel that she wasn't insane in the beginning of the story and she is clearly insane at the end, I wonder what causes her to go insane. I believe that because she is not shown true love throughout her stay at the mansion, she becomes more and more depressed. I can even see through her writing how this is starting to affect the way she feels about her husband. It is obvious that being locked up in a room all day and night isn't healthy for ones sanity, but I believe the crucial factor in causing her to go completely insane was the yellow wallpaper.