Hello, welcome to your lesson today, where we'll read "The Yellow Wallpaper" and analyse the characters in this story.

I'm Miss Sutherland, and I'll be teaching you today.

Our learning outcome for today is to analyse a writer's use of different voices in a narrative.

And as we said, we're going to be reading "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman today.

It's a really great short story, and I'm really excited to read a section of it with you today.

We have three key words today.

Let's go through them together.

Our first key word is dismissive.

Dismissive means treating someone as if they are unworthy of consideration.

As we're reading "The Yellow Wallpaper," I want you to consider which character comes across as dismissive.

Our next key word is agency.

Agency refers to the ability to take action or choose which action to take.

People that have power, that have control, that are free, we could say they have quite a bit of agency.

And lastly, futility.

Futility means pointlessness or uselessness.

We're also going to pay attention to what is presented as futile.

We'll be discussing what exactly is presented as futile in "The Yellow Wallpaper." Pause the video and reflect upon those three key words now.

Excellent.

Let's have a look at our learning cycles for today then.

In our first learning cycle, we'll be reading "The Yellow Wallpaper" together.

As I said, it's a really great narrative, and I'm really excited to read a section of it with you today, and I'm really excited to explore how Perkins Gilman brings her characters to life through voice.

In our second learning cycle, we'll be exploring agency in "The Yellow Wallpaper," which characters are seen to have a lot of agency and which characters are shown to lack agency.

It's going to be a really fruitful discussion.

But first, let's begin with reading "The Yellow Wallpaper." We're going to read the opening of "The Yellow Wallpaper." This is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892, so it was written quite a long time ago.

It is written from the perspective of a woman struggling with her mental health.

I want you to discuss what themes or issues might the text cover based on that background information.

Pause the video and discuss.

You may have said that this text could discuss the struggles of being a woman in a patriarchal society because we know the text was written in 1892, where there was quite a lot of power imbalance between the genders.

This text could also bring the theme of mental health.

This text could also bring the theme of relationships potentially, and this story could also touch on the medical field.

Let's now read the text, "The Yellow Wallpaper." We're going to read the beginning of it.

The extract can be found in the additional materials.

Let's read it together.

I'm going to read along with you.

"It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.

A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the highest of romantic felicity, but that would be asking too much of fate.

Still, I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it.

Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted? John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.

John is practical in the extreme.

He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.

John is a physician, and perhaps, I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind, perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster.

You see, he does not believe I'm sick.

And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives there is nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression, a slight hysterical tendency, what is one to do? My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing.

So I take phosphates or phosphites, whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and I'm absolutely forbidden to work until I'm well again.

Personally, I disagree with their ideas.

Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.

But what is one to do? I did write for a while in spite of them, but it does exhaust me a good deal, having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition.

I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus, but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.

So I will let it alone and talk about the house.

The most beautiful place.

It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village.

It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people.

There is a delicious garden.

I never saw such a garden, large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long, grape-covered arbours with seats under them.

They were greenhouses, too, but they're all broken now.

There was some legal trouble, I believe, something about the heirs and the coheirs, anyhow, the place has been empty for years.

That spoils my ghostliness, I'm afraid, but I don't care, there is something strange about the house, I can feel it.

I even said to John one moonlight evening, but he said what I felt was a draught, and shut the window.

I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes.

I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive.

I think it is due to this nervous condition.

But John says if I feel so I should neglect proper self-control, so I take pains to control myself, before him at least, and that makes me very tired.

I don't like our room one bit.

I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings, but John would not hear of it.

He said there was only one window and not room for two beds, and no near room for him if he took another.

He is very careful and loving, and hardly gets me stir without special direction.

I have a scheduled prescription for each hour in the day, he takes all care from me, and so I feel basically I'm grateful not to value it more.

He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get.

'Your exercise depends on your strength, dear,' said he, 'and your food somewhat on your appetite, but air you can absorb all the time.

' So we took the nursery at the top of the house.

It is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore.

It was nursery first and then playground and gymnasium, I should judge, for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.

The paint and paper look as if a boys' school had used it.

It is stripped off, the paper, in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and in a great place on the other side of the room low down.

I never saw a worse paper in my life.

One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.

It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate, and provoke study, and when you follow the lame, uncertain curves for a little distance, they suddenly commit suicide, plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard-of contradictions.

The colour is repellent, almost revolting, a smouldering, unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.

It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others.

No wonder the children hated it.

I should hate it myself if I had to live in this room long.

There comes John and I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word.

Thank you for your focus as we read the text together.

I hope you enjoyed it.

I now want you to discuss the following to check your understanding of the text.

What does the narrator think about the house she's staying in? What does the narrator's husband think about her? And how does the narrator feel towards her husband? Pause the video and discuss.

Let's go through some answers together then.

Firstly, it seems the narrator is impressed by the summer house that she's renting with her husband.

She says she's really mesmerised by the gardens and that it's quite a big and impressive house.

However, the narrator feels that there is something strange about the house, a ghostliness making it appear haunted.

And the narrator especially hates the wallpaper in the bedroom that she's staying in.

So it appears the narrator has mixed feelings about this summer house.

Let's move on to the second question.

What does the narrator's husband think about her? The narrator's husband thinks there is nothing wrong with the narrator in terms of her mental health.

The narrator's husband tells her not to write.

The narrator's husband seems to want to subdue her worries, and perhaps he's quite dismissive of her condition.

Number three, how does the narrators, how does the narrator feel towards her husband? Well, we get the sense that the narrator has contradictory feelings towards her husband.

She says that he irritates her and easily angers her, but then also says that he's loving and she ought to be more grateful for his help.

So it seems that narrator has contradictory feelings towards the house and her husband.

And these contradictions might help the reader to sympathise with the narrator's mental health struggle.

Let's unpick Perkins Gilman's use of first-person narrator.

When a writer uses a first-person narrator, they often allow the reader an unique insight into the character's life, relationships, and personality.

Let's explore how Perkins Gilman does that in this story.

I want you to discuss what Perkins Gilman reveals about the narrator in the following quotes.

Pause the video and discuss.

Let's go through what you may have said.

One pupil looking at the first quote there commented that we learned the narrator is ordinary, thus perhaps not having high social status or anything particularly exciting happening in her life.

However, that is quite an obvious thing to take away from the text.

And if we look more closely, we can gather much more insightful things about her character.

Take a look at all the highlighted information here.

What might each highlighted piece of information suggests about the narrator? Try to read between the lines of what is being implied.

Pause the video and discuss.

So we've highlighted, "I would say a haunted house." That might show that the narrator is a very imaginative person who believes in the supernatural, who might believe in magic.

We also might say that she is quite paranoid to think that she's in a haunted house.

Let's move on to the next highlighted quote, "Still, I will proudly declare," she says.

This might show that the narrator is stubborn, assertive, or defiant.

Let's look at the next highlighted quote.

"Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted?" This could show that the narrator is very inquisitive, curious, and she's not willing to back down until she gets solid answers for things.

And lastly, "John laughs at me, but one expects that in marriage." What does it show that the narrator expects to be laughed at in marriage? Maybe this could show that she's quite tolerant of her husband, perhaps that she's quite submissive in the relationship because she's not going to question his actions.

Now when there is a first-person narrator, everything we learn of other characters is filtered through the narrator's consciousness.

The narrator describes her husband, John, as "careful and loving." I want you to discuss, do you get this impression of John? Pause the video and discuss.

So whilst the narrator explicitly says one thing about her husband, we do not have to take this at face value.

In other words, we don't have to take her word that John is careful and loving.

In fact, if we read between the lines of her narration, we may form an entirely different opinion on John, which leads us to question, what does she really think of John? Is she just saying he's careful and loving because she knows he might read her journal? Or is she somewhat naive in thinking that John is careful and loving despite the way he treats her? Let's explore what the narrator might reveal about her husband without explicitly saying it.

I want you to pick out three to four important phrases from the text that reveals something important about the narrator's husband.

Discuss what might they suggest.

Pause the video, pick out the phrases, and discuss what might they suggest.

Off you go.

Let's go through some phrases that I found.

"John laughs at me." Could this suggest he's patronising? "But John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition." In that sentence, John comes across as quite assertive, someone who speaks with absolute confidence.

"But he said what I felt was a draught, and shut the window." Could this show John being dismissive of the narrator's actual feelings and suspicions about the house? He's not willing to listen to her.

He shuts her down and tells her that she must be feeling that way because it's cold in the house.

And lastly, "he hates to have me write a word." Could that show John is controlling? He doesn't like his wife to write in her journal, and she hides it from him when he approaches the room.

So so far we've explored how Perkins Gilman presents both the narrator and her husband.

Let's check your understanding.

How would you describe the power dynamics within the narrator's marriage with her husband? Pause the video and answer that question.

You may have said that in the text so far, the narrator's husband is shown to have more control.

Perhaps that could reflect the societal norms in 1892, when Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote this novel.

Now we have looked at the two main voices in the story and what the writer reveals about them.

I want you to discuss your opinion on these characters and their relationship.

So firstly, what is your opinion on both the narrator and John, and why do you have these feelings? Second of all, whose voice do you trust the most? And thirdly, what is your opinion on the narrator's relationship with her husband? Is it healthy? Why or why not? Pause the video and discuss those three questions now.

Well done on forming those all-important opinions about the characters in "The Yellow Wallpaper." Let's take a look at what some of the Oak pupils thought.

Laura says, "I respect the narrator a lot, as she's brave enough to give her opinion despite being silenced by dominating voices." Andeep says, "I do not like the character of the narrator's husband because he comes across as controlling." Jacob says, "The narrator contradicts herself a lot.

I'm not sure we can trust her." And Jun says, "I think the narrator and her husband have an unhealthy relationship, it's clear John does not respect his wife's voice at all." Thank you, Oak pupils, for giving your opinion on the characters in "The Yellow Wallpaper." I now want you at home to reflect whose opinion most or least aligned with your own.

Pause the video and reflect.

Great reflection.

Remember, it's okay to not align with any of the Oak pupils.

We're all entitled to our own opinion about the characters in "The Yellow Wallpaper." Excellent job reading and analysing characters in "The Yellow Wallpaper." We're now going to move on to analysing agency in "The Yellow Wallpaper." So, remember Andeep's comment that he doesn't like the narrator's husband because he comes across as controlling? Andeep's comment raises an important discussion around the agency of different voices in stories.

We might often think of those who have voices in a text as those who have agency.

I want you to discuss which voice in "The Yellow Wallpaper" do you think has the most agency.

Remember, agency is the ability to take action or choose which action to take.

Pause the video and discuss.

Excellent discussions there.

I hope we're starting to see that the most dominant voice in a narrative is not necessarily the narrator's own voice.

Traditionally, we might often assume that a first-person narrator has a lot of agency as their voice is the most prominent, we hear everything through their perspective.

I want you to discuss what do you think of this way of looking at agency in relation to "The Yellow Wallpaper"? Do you think this traditional way of looking at agency is true in this story? Pause the video and discuss.

Laura says, "Despite the story being told from the first-person perspective, it is clear her husband's voice is the most authoritative, dominant, and powerful." So Laura disagrees that the first-person narrator always has the most agency.

Jacob disagrees with Laura.

Jacob says, "The narrator excerpts agency through noting down her story.

Since our notion of the story is entirely shaped by her, she has the most agency." So there our Oak pupils give two very different perspectives on agency in "The Yellow Wallpaper." It's a really interesting debate to have.

Whose opinion resonates most with your own? Do you agree most with Laura or Jacob? Pause the video and discuss.

Now let's look at more evidence from the text that could give us clues about the narrator's agency.

So firstly, we don't know her name, and secondly, she writes in very short paragraphs, and thirdly, she repeatedly uses the word but.

Pause the video and discuss what could each of those things suggest about the narrator's agency.

Now we don't know the narrator's name.

Could this suggest a lack of individuality? Could it suggest her being denied her ability for agency? The narrator also writes in very short paragraphs, could this be symbolic of a lack of voice because she doesn't always say a lot when she does speak? And lastly, she repeatedly uses the word but.

Could this show that she's constantly being second-guessed, constantly being told no, which might also reflect her lack of agency? Let's check your understanding of what we've discussed.

True or false? The narrator has a lot of agency in her own life.

Pause the video and discuss.

The answer is false.

The narrator clearly does not have a lot of agency in her own life.

Now I want you to consider why that is false.

How do we know the narrator does not have a lot of agency in her life? Pause the video and answer that question.

It is clear the narrator is not respected or afforded power in her own life, and we see that through the way in which she talks of her husband's treatment of her.

However, we may say the narrator has agency over the storytelling.

Now let's move on to our practise task.

We're going to discuss two questions.

Firstly, what does Perkins Gilman tell us about the narrator's agency in "The Yellow Wallpaper"? And secondly, which methods does she use to show us this? You could comment on who has given a name and who is not, the length of the paragraphs, the use of interrogative sentences, which phrases the narrator repeats, the use of the conjunction but repeatedly, and the narrator's attempt to write the story down.

Pause the video and get your teeth into those really interesting questions with your partner.

Off you go.

Excellent discussions.

Let's go through what you may have said.

The narrator is nameless, which could reflect her lack of identity and agency.

Of course, her husband is given a name.

We know he's called John.

Perhaps that reflects how he has more agency than her.

The paragraphs are very short.

This could reflect her lack of voice and agency.

It could also reflect her desperation to exert agency, hence, she rushes to note her thoughts down just in case she's forbidden to write or she's caught writing, she must write really quickly to exert a sense of control in her life.

The use of interrogative sentences could reflect she does not trust her own voice, which suggests a lack of agency in decision-making.

The narrator repeats phrases that reflect futility, like "What is one to do?" This could suggest she feels a lack of agency and thus hopeless.

The narrator repeatedly uses the conjunction but.

This could reflect her voice is always met with opposition, thus showing her lack of agency.

And finally, the narrator is forbidden to write her story down, which could reflect her oppression and therefore lack of agency.

Well done on having those really fruitful discussions about agency in "The Yellow Wallpaper." Here's what we've learned in today's lesson.

A first-person narrator can often give the reader a unique insight into their personality, relationships, and lifestyle.

The narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" is presented as silenced and powerless.

The narrator exposes her husband as oppressive.

Perkins Gilman employs many techniques to show the narrator's lack of agency, and it could be argued that the narrator has agency since everything we learn is filtered through her consciousness.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope you've enjoyed it, and I hope to see you again soon.