Increased Obsession with the Wallpaper:
* Intensified focus: She starts by merely noticing the wallpaper, but quickly becomes fixated on it, spending hours studying its patterns and textures.
* Secret actions: She starts sneaking out to the room at night, despite her husband's disapproval, to further observe the wallpaper. This secret rebellion indicates her growing defiance and disconnect from reality.
* Interpretations: The narrator begins to see figures and patterns in the wallpaper, interpreting them as a trapped woman trying to break free. This shows her descent into delusion and a detachment from objective reality.
Changes in Behavior:
* Withdrawal: She spends more time alone, neglecting her social duties and becoming increasingly isolated.
* Irritability: Her temper becomes shorter and she becomes more easily agitated, showing a loss of control.
* Sleep disturbances: She struggles to sleep, often waking up at night and engaging in secretive activities, highlighting her disturbed mental state.
* Paranoid tendencies: She begins to suspect her husband and the doctor of conspiring against her, fearing they are trying to keep her confined.
Shifting Perspective:
* Loss of objectivity: The narrator increasingly loses her grip on reality, believing she can see the woman trapped behind the wallpaper and even identifying with her.
* Subjective interpretations: She interprets her husband's concern as a lack of trust and his advice as an attempt to control her.
* Hallucinations: Her descriptions of the wallpaper become increasingly fantastical and her perception of reality starts to blur, demonstrating the emergence of hallucinations.
Breakdown and Identification:
* Final descent: The narrator fully identifies with the trapped woman in the wallpaper, believing she is her and ultimately becoming that woman herself.
* Loss of self: This final breakdown signifies a complete loss of self, illustrating the devastating impact of the oppressive treatment she has endured.
These actions, taken together, demonstrate a clear progression of the narrator's mental state from mild anxiety to a full-blown breakdown. The wallpaper becomes a symbolic representation of her confinement and her increasing loss of control, culminating in her descent into madness.