A Charlotte Perkins Classic: The Yellow Wallpaper (Annotated) with a Historical Introduction characters

Also known as The narrator

Appears from the start

An unnamed woman taken to a rented country house after childbirth because her husband believes rest will cure her nervous illness. She wants meaningful company and work, especially writing, but records her thoughts secretly because her treatment forbids exertion.

Appears from the start

The narrator's husband and physician. Certain that he understands both her illness and her needs, he prescribes isolation, inactivity, and freedom from imaginative work while dismissing her objections as symptoms of nervousness.

Appears from the start

John's sister, who manages the household during the couple's stay. She accepts conventional domestic duties and watches over the narrator, who takes care to hide her writing from her.

Appears from the start

The nurse who cares for the narrator and John's baby while the narrator is unwell and finds being with the child emotionally difficult.

Appears from the start

The infant child of the narrator and John. The baby is cared for chiefly by Mary because the narrator's condition makes sustained contact distressing for her.