The narrator feels incredibly guilty that her illness is such a concern to her husband. John tells her that only she can make herself better, especially by getting lots of rest. She feels like she is failing him because she seems to be getting worse, not better.
As the narrator’s madness worsens, she begins to see herself as battling Jennie and John, hiding the secret creeping woman from them. She becomes fiercely protective of the wallpaper, and swears that no one else will touch it but her.
The narrator is going against the norms of conventional medicine at the time by going against her John’s orders and diagnosis to rest and not think about her illness. Instead, the narrator thinks about her nervous condition constantly, feels guilty over it, and writes in secret against her husband’s wishes.