The Shadow of Who? : Protagonist

The protagonist in The Yellow Wallpaper  is Jane. Jane is a mentally sick woman whose condition is getting worse. Jane always insists seeing the woman in the wallpaper when it is all in her head. In the daylight she sees the woman on the wallpaper. "There is one marked peculiarity about this paper, a thing nobody seems to notice but myself, and that is that it changes as the light changes" (7). Jane doesn't realize that the wallpaper and the woman "within" the wallpaper changes because she is really acknowledging  her shadow throughout the day. "At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be" (7).  At this point of the story, Jane is seeing herself lying in bed through her headboard bars. This woman she thinks she sees has been herself all along.  

Protagonist: : The leading character, hero, or heroine of drama or other literary work.

http://m.dictionary.com/definition/protagonist. This source helped me understand what a protagonist meant.

http://m.dictionary.com/definition/shadowThis source helped me understand what a shadow meant.