This essay examines how Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" explore the fragility of the human mind through the lens of unaddressed mental illness and social masking. Both protagonists conceal their psychological distress—the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" through feigned composure during police interrogation, and the protagonist of "The Yellow Wallpaper" through performed normalcy before her dismissive husband. The paper draws connections to Paul Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" and Langston Hughes's "Harlem," arguing that all four works share thematic concerns about suppression, isolation, and the consequences of deferred recognition. Set against the historical context of 19th-century attitudes toward mental health, the analysis reveals how institutional neglect and social denial drove both characters toward psychological crisis and self-destruction.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of a character who decides to kill an old man. The speaker does not know why he has come to the conclusion to end this man's life, but claims the old man's eyes resembled those of a vulture—and that was reason enough to take his life away. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman about a woman who is isolated from society because of her mental illness. Both of these stories deal with the fragility of the human mind. These two narratives share common themes with the poems "Harlem" by Langston Hughes and "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Dunbar, which explore how individuals conceal their suffering and suppress their true selves when facing social pressure and institutional neglect.
The main character in "The Tell-Tale Heart" was not in the right mental state when he killed the old man. He justifies the murder by saying the "evil" eye did not haunt him anymore. Psychologically, the man was not mentally stable and had many underlying issues. Although the precise reasons remain unclear, he admits to being "dreadfully nervous" at the beginning of the story but cannot explain exactly why. He does not consider himself a madman; instead, he believes he is actually more intellectual than the average human being. This disconnect between his self-perception and his actions reveals the depth of his psychological delusion and the gravity of his mental illness.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" can be related to the poem "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Dunbar. This poem discusses how African Americans were oppressed and treated in the 1890s. The first line states: "We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes." This line relates to "The Tell-Tale Heart" because when the police came to the old man's house to investigate, the narrator put on a mask as if nothing had happened. The man states: "I smile—for what had I to fear? The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. They sat while I answered cheerily." The narrator believed firmly in his heart that he had nothing to fear because he had done no wrong. As he showed the officers around the house, he remained calm and cheerful while answering all of their questions. The mask he wore protected him from being found guilty of the old man's death—at least until he himself confessed to the murder.
The narrator and protagonist in "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a woman who is married and a mother experiencing severe depression. John, her husband and primary caretaker, often belittles her illness, thoughts, and concerns. Although the woman would not admit it to a single soul, she strongly believes that she has not recovered because her husband does not want to acknowledge her illness. Her husband becomes the antagonist in the story because during that time frame (1892–1899), mental illnesses were often misunderstood and not taken seriously. John thought the solution to her "temporary nervous depression" was to lock her up in a room. Before mental hospitals opened, a person with mental illness was usually isolated, as is the case in "The Yellow Wallpaper."
The wife's depression may stem from her husband's belief that he is superior to her. He tells family and friends that there is nothing wrong with her and that she has only "temporary nervous depression." He never takes the chance to sit down and talk to his wife to understand why she is depressed. The narrator can be labeled as mentally unstable when she speaks of the woman behind the wallpaper who shakes it. The narrator's vision of women trapped in the wallpaper who cannot get out may be a reference to herself, as she feels stuck in her life. By locking the woman up in the room and failing to address her condition, John has led her to feel lonely and neglected.
The woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" wears a mask every time her husband John appears. This short story can directly be related to Paul Dunbar's poem "We Wear the Mask." Dunbar writes: "Why should the world be over-wise in counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while we wear the mask." The woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" says: "John does not know how much I really suffer. I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already! Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able—to dress and entertain, and order things." The woman admits that she has to put on a show when her husband and family are around her. No one understands the severity of her condition, and thus she must wear a mask to make them believe that she is sane. Letting them see her tears and sighs would only cause John to isolate her even more from society. Being isolated and locked up has only worsened her mental illness, and she desperately wants to be free from it.
At the end of the story, John walks into the room only to discover that his wife has torn down the wallpaper. The woman in the wallpaper was the narrator all along. She says to her husband John: "I've got out at last." She had felt that John had kept her as a prisoner, and tearing down the wallpaper was the only thing that helped her feel free at last.
The poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes is about having to put dreams on hold, which can lead to destruction. The "dream" in the poem refers to life goals rather than dreams experienced during sleep. The lines "Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over—like a syrup sweet?" speak to what happens when a dream has been deferred. The situation can go two ways, good or bad. It can turn bad and stink like rotten meat, or it can end up sweet like syrup. For the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper," she felt as if she was trapped in that room with the wallpaper forever. Every time she would ask John to let her visit her cousins, he would come up with an excuse. As hard as she tried to change and convince John she was okay, he would not believe her; her situation did not change throughout the story.
The main character in "The Tell-Tale Heart" was a troubled man; this can be inferred throughout the text. It can also be inferred that he was neglected throughout his life, which could have led to his becoming mentally unstable. His mental illness was not addressed and became "like a heavy load." Hughes asks readers many questions in his poem: "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore—and then run?" This relates to "The Tell-Tale Heart" because the man's issue was covered up for so long that it exploded when he took the life of the old man. Both the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the protagonist of "The Yellow Wallpaper" experienced psychological deterioration as a direct result of unaddressed emotional pain and social suppression.
The two stories, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Yellow Wallpaper," both deal with characters experiencing mental illnesses. During that time period, mental illnesses were not addressed in a proper way. This historical neglect appears to have been what led to their self-destruction. The two poems "Harlem" and "We Wear the Mask" share a common theme with the stories. The man in "The Tell-Tale Heart" wore a mask, which helped him get through life without anyone seeing the real issue. The woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" wore a mask as well in front of her family. The poem "Harlem" differs the most from the other works because it focuses on dreams that are deferred rather than on characters hiding who they really are and their fears. However, all four works ultimately explore the destructive consequences of suppression—whether of mental illness, identity, or human aspiration—in a society that refuses to acknowledge such suffering.
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