Hello, and welcome to our lesson today where we'll be reading "The Yellow Wallpaper," and exploring how Charlotte Perkins Gilman creates a strong sense of voice.

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

Our learning outcome today is to evaluate how a writer constructs different voices and writes using a specific voice.

We'll be paying close attention to the voice of the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper," and that of her husband.

We have three keywords today.

The first is authoritative.

Authoritative means, showing that you are confident, in control, and expect to be obeyed.

Our next keyword is dismissive.

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

And finally, patronising.

Patronising means, speaking to someone as if they are stupid or unimportant.

I'll give you a moment to drop down those three keywords or reflect upon them now.

Excellent.

We'll be referring to each of these keywords throughout the lesson today.

So in our first learning cycle today, we'll be reading "The Yellow Wallpaper" and evaluating how Perkins Gilman crafts her voices.

And in the second learning cycle, we'll be crafting John's voice.

We'll be writing using John's voice as a guide.

So let's begin with evaluating Perkins Gilman's craft.

We are going to read or reread a section from the opening of "The Yellow Wallpaper," which is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892.

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

She's renting a summer home with her husband, and is particularly disturbed by the wallpaper in the room she's staying in.

She talks of her opinions on her condition, as well as how her condition is perceived by those around her, including her husband, John.

That's a bit of context for our reading today.

Now, I want you to read the extract from the beginning of "The Yellow Wallpaper." You can find this extract in your additional materials.

Pause the video, get reading, and enjoy.

Now, wonderful focus there with the reading.

I want you to discuss the following.

First of all, list the things that the narrator is denied or encouraged not to do by her husband.

Secondly, why do you think he does not want his wife to do these things? Thirdly, what is the narrator's state of mind and how do you know? And lastly, the narrator does not want to see "Weir Mitchell," because he's like her husband and brother.

What do you think she means by this? Pause the video and get discussing those four questions.

Off you go.

Brilliant discussions.

Let's go through what you may have said.

So the narrator says that she is denied company, meaning that she can't visit people while she's ill and people can't visit her even though this is something she'd like to do.

Her husband says it would make her worse.

The narrator is also denied to move bedrooms by her husband or move out of the property altogether.

And she's also denied the chance to write.

She writes her journal entries in private and shuts them away if she hears her husband coming.

So, overall, the narrator is denied or encouraged not to do quite a few things by her husband.

Now, why do we think John does not want his wife to do these things? Well, potentially, his wife seeing other people and being able to write her thoughts down clearly would mean that she no longer listens to his opinion quite as much as she currently does.

So maybe he fears losing control over the relationship, and that's why he denies her to do those things.

Number three, what is the narrator's state of mind and how do we know this? We might assume that the narrator is quite disturbed because of the way she describes the wallpaper, and quite confused due to the contradictory way in which she explains quite a few things in the extract.

And finally, the narrator does not want to see "Weir Mitchell," because he is like her husband and brother.

What do you think she means by this? Well, from what we gather so far, her husband and brother seemed quite authoritative, seemed quite domineering and potentially controlling.

So potentially, the narrator does not want to see that doctor because he, like the other people in her family, will not listen to her, and instead, assert their own opinion about what's wrong with her with no question.

Well done on reading the text and digging deep into some of those questions there.

Let's check your understanding of the reading now.

By the end of the extract, what is it revealed that the narrator wants to do? Pause the video and answer that question.

It is revealed at the end of the extract, that the narrator wants to leave the summer home.

She's not comfortable there, and the wallpaper in her bedroom especially disturbs her.

She has an eerie feeling about the house.

She wants to leave for the betterment of her mental health.

After reading the text, Izzy had the following opinion.

"It is not the narrator's state of mind that the writer wants us to fixate on, but the husband's attitude towards her." Izzy thinks that the most powerful thing in this narrative is the husband's voice or attitude.

Let's explore whether we agree with Izzy.

First of all, discuss which character or voice stood out to you the most.

Pause the video and discuss.

Perhaps you agree with Izzy that despite not being the narrator of the story, John's voice is more dominant and therefore powerful, making the reader fixate on it.

I now want you to discuss which character you feel most strongly about.

Pause the video and discuss.

Again, despite us probably feeling most connected to the narrator herself, we may feel the most strong opinions about her husband because the way he is described as interacting with her is a bit uncomfortable for the reader.

And this may evoke some feelings of dislike towards John.

Now, the text was written in 1892.

How might this piece of contextual information be used to support Izzy's viewpoint? Pause the video and discuss.

In 1892, most women did not have the right to vote, and men would have had control in a marriage.

Perkins Gilman may be using the story to critique the patriarchal ideals that she was living under, thus drawing attention to John's behaviour rather than the narrator's own.

Let's dissect Izzy's statement then.

"It is not the narrator's state of mind that the writer wants us to fixate on, but the husband's attitude towards her." I want you to write a short paragraph explaining your viewpoint on this opinion.

You could write about, which character Perkins Gilman represents most clearly, whose voice you felt was most prominent, which character you feel most strongly about, whether the husband's attitude towards his wife is shocking, memorable, expected, right, wrong, or suspicious.

I hope those bullet points will support you in explaining your viewpoint on Izzy's opinion.

Pause the video and get writing.

Off you go.

Now, let's go through some ideas about what you may have said.

Although the narrator's unstable state of mind is evident from the description of her being heavily disturbed by the wallpaper, what is even more disturbing is the way the husband silences and denies his wife's agency.

John is dismissive towards his wife, ignoring her requests for company, and controlling, forbidding her to write.

This makes the reader wonder whether the narrator's condition is caused or perpetuated by her husband's behaviour, thus drawing attention away from the narrator and onto the behaviour that may act as a catalyst for her deteriorating state of mind.

So what this answer is saying here is that, because John's behaviour seems quite controlling, dismissive over his wife, we're getting the impression that he may cause or contribute to her anxiety, meaning that our attention is solely focused on him rather than her.

I now want you to reread your own work.

Reflect upon the ideas here that align or do not align with your own.

Pause the video and reflect.

Brilliant.

We're going to now move on to crafting John's voice.

We're going to see how we can bring the voice of John alive in our own writing now.

So in this section of the text that you've just read, the narrator tells her husband that she's not getting better and she wants to leave the ancestral halls they are staying in.

I want you to discuss two questions.

Based on the narrator's portrayal of her husband, what do you think her husband's response would be? And secondly, how do you think he would speak? Pause the video and discuss those two questions now.

Off you go.

Let's go through what you may have said.

The narrator's husband might not listen to his wife's pleas to leave the ancestral halls, because what we've gathered so far is that he's quite dismissive of her opinion, and he's quite assertive when expressing his own opinion.

And of course we know he doesn't want to leave the halls.

He thinks they should stay where they are.

And John's voice might come across as authoritative, dismissive, patronising, and controlling.

We're going to look at how we can show each of those traits when we write with John's voice.

So how might we craft John's voice to show the different aspects of his personality? Let's start off with authoritative.

How could we show that John is an authoritative voice? We could use imperative statements that cannot be questioned.

Remember, imperative statements are those that give commands.

How could we craft a dismissive voice? We could use minimising statements to ignore the other person's feelings.

Minimising statements are statements that downplay the intensity of the other person's emotion.

How could we craft a patronising voice? We could craft a patronising voice through overexplaining or using terms of endearment to belittle the listener.

And how could we craft a controlling voice? We could craft a controlling voice by using modal verbs to express obligation and tag questions.

We're going to unpick how exactly to craft each of these voices now.

So how can we craft an authoritative voice? Well, here's what an authoritative voice might sound like.

"Just rest." "Don't worry yourself." "Read your book for a while, it'll calm you down." These sentences make use of imperative verbs to tell someone what to do.

All the imperative verbs are highlighted in green.

Can you think of any other imperative statements that John might say to his wife? Pause the video and discuss.

Now, how can we craft a dismissive voice? We can craft a dismissive voice by using minimising language to downplay the severity of a situation.

For example, if someone was to tell you what they were sad about, you might reply, "That's nonsense." That's a minimising statement to downplay someone else's emotions.

Now, I want you to discuss.

Can you think of any other minimising statements that John might say to his wife? Pause the video and discuss.

Statements such as "You'll be fine," "It's no big deal," and "It's nothing to worry about," are all minimising statements that we could potentially see John saying to his wife to persuade her to calm down and stop worrying about the house.

Now, let's look at how to craft a patronising voice.

Terms of endearment are words that are used to show affection.

For example, "sweetheart," "darling," "dearie," and "love" are all terms of endearment.

In certain contexts, they can help to create a patronising voice as they can belittle the listener.

For example, "You're not in the right frame of mind to make decisions, darling." Can you think of any other endearing phrases that John might say to his wife? Pause the video and discuss.

Now, the last type of voice we're going to look at constructing, is a controlling voice.

We can construct a controlling voice via modal verbs.

A modal verb is a verb that expresses possibility or necessity, such as "should," "could," "might," "must," and "ought." They are all modal verbs.

I want you to discuss how you would arrange those modal verbs on the scale.

So which modal verbs there express possibility and which ones express necessity? Pause the video and arrange those modal verbs on the scale.

Off you go.

Let's take a look at what you may have said.

"Could," expresses possibility.

If you say, "You could do that," you're giving someone the option not to choose that action.

It's just one possible action.

"Might," is very much similar to "could" in that it expresses possibility.

"You might want to consider this." It's giving the person the option not to consider what you've just said.

"Should," is slightly more extreme than both "could' and "might," because if you tell someone they should do something, you're slightly trying to influence the action they take.

"Ought," again, is slightly more towards necessity than the other words there.

If you say, "They ought to do something," it's expressing that something might go wrong if they don't do that, or that they're making the wrong decision if they don't take that advice from you.

And finally, "must," expresses necessity.

If you tell someone they must do something, it gives them no option but to do what you've said or to take your advice.

Now, I want you to discuss which modal verbs might the character of John use when speaking to his wife.

Pause the video and discuss.

So John might use the modal verbs "should," "ought," and "must." "Should" and "ought" might show John giving firm advice to his wife, and "must" could demonstrate him giving his wife an obligation to do something.

We don't really get the impression of John using the words "could" and "might" because he seems to be much more assertive and controlling in his voice.

"Could" and "might" are quite mild ways to give advice, that still as we've said, give someone the option of disagreeing with you.

John doesn't really give his wife the option of disagreeing with him.

Therefore, he might use the verbs "should," "ought," and "must." Now, let's continue looking at how to craft a controlling voice.

How does this sentence, "You like it here, don't you?", help to convey a controlling voice? Pause the video and discuss.

This is a tag question.

It contains a statement directly followed by a mini question.

It is used when the people are seeking agreement.

It can thus display a controlling voice as it may put pressure on the listener to agree with the speaker.

In the sentence, "You like it here, don't you?", the listener might feel obliged to agree that they do indeed like it where they are.

Hence, it could help create a controlling voice, because the listener doesn't really have an option of disagreeing.

Now, which type of statement might show an authoritative voice? Pause the video and answer that question.

An imperative statement might show an authoritative voice.

Remember, an imperative statement gives a command, and commanding language can show a voice of authority that no one has room to question.

Which of these is a minimising statement? Remember, minimising statement downplays the emotion that the listener might be feeling, or downplays the severity of a situation.

Pause the video and answer which of these is a minimising statement.

The statement, "You're overreacting," is a minimising statement.

It's downplaying the severity and rawness of the listener's emotion, suggesting that they aren't allowed to feel the way they do about a situation.

Now, I want you to write a paragraph from the perspective of the narrator's husband, John, in response to his wife, explaining what you think about her request to leave the summer home.

You could write about, what he might say about his wife's state of mind, what his opinion on her treatment should be, and whether he thinks they should leave or not.

Remember to craft an authoritative, dismissive, patronising, and controlling voice by using all the techniques we've looked at.

Pause the video and get writing.

I hope you enjoy emulating John's voice.

Great writing there.

You've really made John's voice come alive, and I think your attempts at crafting his voice have been very believable.

I now want you to reread your work.

Highlight four sentences that you have used to reveal an aspect of the narrator's husband's personality.

Annotate what you intended each of the sentences to reveal about her husband.

Pause the video and reflect upon your work now.

Off you go.

Brilliant job there.

I really think that the way you've crafted John's voice is very much in line with how he'd actually speak.

Great job.

Here's what we've learned in today's lesson.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Perkins Gilman may have wanted to reveal more about the narrator's husband rather than the condition of the narrator herself.

"The Yellow Wallpaper" may be a critique of the patriarchal systems in place in the 1800s.

The narrator's husband seems to come across as controlling, dismissive, patronising, and authoritative.

And we can craft the narrator's husband's voice using a range of techniques such as imperative, tag questions, and modal verbs.

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

I hope to see you in another lesson soon.