Desired silence and silence desire in "The yellow wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Autores: Andrzej Gabinski
• Localización: The Short Story in English [Recurso electrónico]: crossing boundaries / Gema Soledad Castillo García (ed. lit.), María Rosa Cabellos Castilla (ed. lit.), Juan Antonio Sánchez Jiménez (ed. lit.), Vincent Carlisle Espínola (ed. lit.), 2006, ISBN 8481387096, págs. 378-388
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Upon its completion in 1892 “The Yellow Wallpaper” did not gain neither the critics’ nor the readers’ favor and it took almost a hundred years before the text drew the attention of the academic circles. The present paper attempts to approach the story focusing on the relation between the protagonist and her husband using as a frame of reference the concept of desire (in its lacanian understanding as a powerful internal motivation) and its interplay with that of silence, both closely related to the positions of authority within a couple. The paper will argue a complementary motivation pattern of the two main characters and try to exemplify the reasons behind its reversal in the course of the story. Secondly, the paper will make reference to the writings of Jacques Derrida and discuss the (im-)possibility of an ultimate silence, one that is not, at some point, voiced. Finally, the paper will comment upon the figure of Jennie and propose a closer reading of a character that, although secondary, can also be understood in terms of desires and silences.