The Yellow Wallpaper Characters
Every major character in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, with a portrait, who they are and the chapters they appear in.
JennieMinor character · 1 chapterJohn’s practical sister who runs the household and helps enforce the narrator’s prescribed ‘rest cure.’
JohnAntagonist · 1 chapterThe narrator’s husband and physician whose strict “rest cure” and practical authority shape the narrator’s confinement and resistance.
MaryMinor character · 1 chapterA quiet, competent caretaker who looks after the narrator’s infant so the household can maintain the narrator’s prescribed rest.
The BabyMinor character · 1 chapterAn offstage infant whose presence in the nursery symbolizes the narrator’s prescribed role and intensifies her confinement.
The NarratorNarrator · 1 chapterA newly postpartum wife confined to a nursery under a 'rest cure,' who documents her mental unraveling in secret journal entries.
The Woman in the WallpaperAntagonist · 1 chapterA trapped, stooping female figure seen behind the wallpaper’s pattern, representing confinement and the narrator’s obsession.
All chapter summaries ›Characters ›
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