The Hysteric’s Cage: A Psychological Analysis of Domestic Space in Three Texts- Mrs Dalloway, The Yellow Wallpaper and Sons and Lovers

Peer-Reviewed
The Criterion

The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN: 0976-8165

Open Access

Comparative Literature

The Hysteric’s Cage: A Psychological Analysis of Domestic Space in Three Texts- Mrs Dalloway, The Yellow Wallpaper and Sons and Lovers

Dimple Malik
Volume / Issue
Vol. 17, Issue 1 · February 2026

Pages
603-616

Article ID
2026V17N1090

Abstract

There is a significant conceptual change in contemporary English fiction of domestic space. The house that used to be viewed as a source of comfort, moral stability and emotional stability, is becoming increasingly viewed as a source of psychological repression and a prison. This paper will discuss how the house space becomes a psychological prison in three major works of the contemporary era: Sons and Lovers (1913) by D. H. Lawrence, Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf, and The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. By relying on feminist, psychoanalytic, and spatial concepts, the paper argues that the home is the key ideological device that contemporary novelists use to restrict personal freedom, enforce gender norms and increase emotional conflict. The paper describes the effects of domestic surroundings on the inner consciousness, and result in identity fragmentation, emotional dependency, and repression via extensive text analysis. To depict domestic confinement as an internalization, and not as a mere physical limitation, such narrative art devices as a stream of consciousness, interior monologue, symbolism of rooms, and psychological realism are required. Gilman symbolizes domestic restriction as outward and harsh, Woolf demonstrates psychologically restricted by societal veil, and Lawrence demonstrates emotionally restricted by togetherness. They both confront the traditional idea of the house as a place of escape by transforming domestic space into a symbol of contemporary interests in alienation, gendered power, and the fractured self

Keywords

Domestic SpacePsychological PrisonModern English NovelGenderAlienationIdentity

Article History

Received
30-01-2026
Accepted
13 February 2026
Published Online
3 February 2026

How to Cite

Dimple Malik. “The Hysteric’s Cage: A Psychological Analysis of Domestic Space in Three Texts- Mrs Dalloway, The Yellow Wallpaper and Sons and Lovers.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 1, Feb. 2026, pp. 603-616. ISSN: 0976-8165. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n1.41

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