A Sorrowful Woman

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)

Gilman’s horror story addresses the themes of domestic confinement and madness echoed in Godwin’s piece. The woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” grows increasingly disturbed and is deprived of activities such as reading and writing as part of the “rest cure.” Gilman herself endured this treatment and knew firsthand how it adversely affected her mental health.

• “The Yellow Wallpaper” on SuperSummary

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1899)

Kate Chopin’s feminist classic features Edna Pontellier, a protagonist who is indifferent to motherhood and rebels against her loveless marriage. Like the sorrowful woman, Edna rejects the “mother-woman” identity upheld in her society. Her husband Léonce not only abhors her quest for independence but also seeks a doctor’s help in diagnosing what he considers his wife’s strange behavior.

• The Awakening on SuperSummary

“To Room Nineteen” by Doris Lessing (1963)

“A Sorrowful Woman” bears striking resemblances to Doris Lessing’s tale. Susan Rawlings, a woman with an ideal marriage and family, suddenly feels revulsion at her children and searches to find her identity by occupying a room in a hotel.

• “To Room Nineteen” on SuperSummary