The importance of religion in
The Handmaid’s Tale
Epigraph
• Epigraph = a poem, quotation, phrase
at start of a work, in this case inviting
comparison and establishing context
• Genesis, 30: 1-3
• Old Testament story about surrogate
mothers on whom the story is based.
• Bilhah = Rachel’s handmaid
• It provides the biblical precedents for
sexual practices in Gilead and raises the
issues of religious fundamentalism right
from the onset of the novel.
• Also serves as an introduction for a
feminist critique of patriarchy where
women are regarded as sexual and
domestic commodities
Gilead
• In the bible Gilead is an idyllic section
of the land of the Hebrews, a
mountainous region east of Jordan.
• In Hebrew the name means “heap of
stones”
• MA probably referring to Jeremiah 8:22;
“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no
physician there? Why then is not the
health of the daughter of my people
recovered ?”
• One Old Testament reference which
Gilead chooses not to include occurs in
Hosea 6:8 ‘Gilead is a city of wicked
men, with footprints of blood.’ (Look for
omissions and misinterpretations
throughout the text)
Martha
• A Martha is an unmarried,
unfertile women who
perform household duties
in the houses of the elite.
• In the Gospels, Martha is
one of two sisters. Martha
devotes herself to
housework while Mary
spends her time listening
to Jesus speak.
• “Jesus praised Mary,
whereas Martha’s role is
exalted in Gilead.” Do you
agree with this statement?
a few biblical allusions
to get us started
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Biblical allusions, both direct and misinterpreted
pervade every level of Gilead society establishing
context, precedent & justification.
Language/propaganda is a major ideological
weapon of any totalitarian regime. Why has
Atwood called heavily on the bible and in particular
the old testament?
Rachel and Leah Centre (wives of Jacob and
further evidence of patriarchal comparison
between bible and Gilead)
Chpt 11. Offred fears being caught having sex with
the doctor. He reassures her that two people will
not break down the locked door. Deuteronomy 17:
6 requires two witnesses to an act of adultery for a
couple to be stoned to death.
Chpt 13 The bible to be read by the Commander is
usually locked in a box. Practice mostly during the
Dark Ages (300-1000AD). He reads Genesis 8:17.
30: 1-8; 30:18 & Zechariah 4:10. His selective
readings mirrors the censored television flipping of
Serena before the Commander entered the room.
Implications of locked bible?
Allusions continued
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Chpt 18. Cushion with the word “faith”
embroidered on it. Offred imagines it as part of
three-cushioned set. “So faith, hope, love:
abide thee three, but the greatest of these is
love.” Corinthians 13-13. Notice the two denied
to Offred.
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Chpt 18. Janine on two-tiered birthing stool, so
that she can fulfil the biblical practice of the
maid giving birth on the knees on the wife
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Chpt 31
Republic of Gilead gave Jews the opportunity
to immigrate to Israel or convert to the state
religion. Jews that pretended were hanged.
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Chpt 34
The orator at the Prayvaganza quotes scripture
that says women shall save themselves
through childbearing. He says it was Eve that
caused sin to enter the world and she must pay
for it.
Atwood on religion lecture
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMrz_ivl8jo
• Vocabulary: theocracy, predestination/elect
• “I don’t do prophecy”
• “A blueprint of the kind of things human beings
do when they’re put under a certain sort of
pressure”
• Rule of writing book “Would not put anything into
it that human society had not already been
done”
• Salem & hysteria (17th century theology)
Quotations
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They can hit us, there’s Scriptural precedent (3, 26) [precedent for just one of many actions that subvert the bible
and religion]
‘Blessed be the fruit’…’May the Lord open’ (4, 29) ‘Gilead is within you’ (5, 33)
All flesh is weak, all flesh is grass, I corrected her in my head…God made them that way but He did not make you
that way. He made you different. It’s up to you to set the boundaries. Later you will be thanked. (8, 55)
Blessed are the meek. She didn’t go on to say anything about inheriting the earth. (12, 74)
The Bible is kept locked up, the way people once kept locked up, so the servants wouldn’t steal it. It is an
incendiary device: who knows what we’d make of it, if we ever got our hands on? (15, 92)… He has something we
don’t have, he has the word. How we squandered it, once. (15, 93)
Oh God, I pray….Is this what you had in mind? (15, 102)
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. {sorry lost the page}
For Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression (34, 233)