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“Freedom, like everything else, is relative”. In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
uses female characterization to question the role of women in society when the fictional state of
Gilead legally controls women’s reproductive freedom.
Infertility rates are essentially the reason why the handmaids are captured and under oppression in
the state of Gilead. The cause of this problem is environmental destruction and radiation.
Government officials regularly monitor infertility rates and control over the women who can
conceive. Therefore, readers are forced to consider the obsession with making women incubators
is a cruelty and oppressive to women. Margaret Atwood also looks at the psychological effects of
infertility on women and the impact on handmaids. Not only are these women stripped of their
reproductive freedom, but also their identities, and instead get treated as a walking incubator for
babies. The handmaids end up being raped by their assigned partner in the ceremony. In chapter
13, Offred says “I am a national resource; I’m a handmaid. I’m not supposed to be a real person
anymore, I’m supposed to be a womb with legs” This quote emphasizes the oppressive nature of
the society in Gilead, where women are disregarded for being human and are used for their
reproductive system. Offred’s character, experiences and struggles as a woman. The audience
connect with Offred on an emotional level because she is a woman who is trapped in a dystopian
society, who wants to be free and take control of her life. This represents how society, men in
particular, uses dominance to control women. Offred’s narrative serves as a wake-up call for
readers by exposing the reality of the society we live in.
This dystopian novel and fictional state where women are constrained to play certain roles. These
roles are divided into different identities that are meant to represent different stereotypes. In Gilead,
women’s roles are determined by strict societal norms, and they are restricted by hierarchy. These
roles assigned to them are not based on their talents, goals, or abilities. Rather, these roles are
determined by a patriarchal society. The leaders of this society purposely set these roles to maintain
male dominance and power over women. The Handmaids, who wear red, embody solely their role
of reproducing, representing the traditional belief that they serve only as incubators. Whereas, the
wives, who wear blue, represent exemplary housewives, on the other hand green wearing Marthas
symbolize the stereotype of how women are supposed to stay home and do domestic duties.
On pg. 39, chapter 5, Aunt Lydia criticizer's patriarchal control “There was no choice… There is
more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of
anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from”. Gilead’s authoritarian
ideology and dubious management of freedom in the community are made clear by Aunt Lydia’
statements. She explains the restrictions put on women as a form of protection and control by
classifying freedom into “freedom from” and “freedom to.” In this case, the concept of freedom is
twisted and exploited to further restrict women. By undermining their feeling of freedom, the
dictatorship of Gilead denies women the freedom to select their own lives, bodies and features.
The controlled atmosphere may provide women a fictious sense of security, but it ultimately stops
them from exercising the agency and self-determination necessary for genuine freedom. We may
learn about the qualities that society appreciates by examining the many roles that men and women
play, and we can also get a better understanding of how gender is idealized in society.
Despite being under oppression, Atwood skillfully portrays how the Gilead society has
pitted women against each other. Both women and men are given roles, which is discussed prior.
This division of roles puts women in cliques and limit them to socially constructed and limited
opportunities. These roles are as. Such disunity evidently causes spite, for example infertile wives
and fertile handmaid’s; this hostility and rivalry hinders women power. In Offred’s words about
Serena Joy, “There is loathing in her voice, as if the touch of my flesh sickens and contaminates
her”, she understands that surrogate intercourse makes her feel embarrassed, and Offred wonders
who its worse for. Serena Joy, however, takes her frustrations on Offred. The roles of women keep
them from interacting with each other, imposing isolation and hatred between them.
In the state of Gilead, the power of language is used to manipulate control and oppress women.
Margaret Atwood uses multiple techniques as a tool of oppression. For instance, renaming the
handmaids after their commander, this is an act of possession which strips women of their
identities. Besides being stripped of their identities, women are expected to serve men, regardless
of their societal status or positions of power. The meaning of a 2handmaid is a female servant, only
meant to do domestic work. This patriarchal vocabulary reduces the women’s status to a servant
and how women are viewed by society.
In chapter 17 of the book, Offred expresses yearning for emotional connection and rekindling her
sense of self, “I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not: I
want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name; remind myself of what I once could do,
how others saw me", She craves physical warmth, being hugged, and hearing her own name being
said, these prove a point of personal connection which has been repressed in Gilead. Offred
attempts to maintain her sense of self and recall the person she previously was by using her old
name. It is to show the defiance against Gilead’s dehumanizing rules. Offred describes her real
name as a “forbidden treasure” which she cannot reveal. The exaggeration of using “forbidden”
helps the readers understand the obsession with Gilead’s obsession with stripping these women’s
individuality.
Christianity is used as another way by which women are subjected to oppression within the
Gilead regime. Gilead is based on the biblical belief that men are more important than women.
Margaret Atwood successfully emphasizes how religion is used as a justification for
mistreatment of women. The state of Gilead uses the book of Genesis to fight the fertility crisis,
as the bible references a story of childbearing. This infertility story is found in the bible, as a
woman is constantly used for conceiving children, just like in the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale,
the woman is reduced to a “walking womb”. After the environmental destruction affected the
fertility rates in Gilead, childbearing is sacred. The state of Gilead also uses the bible verses to
brainwash the handmaids into thinking that childbearing is better than being at risk of being
sexually assaulted or raped. Many of Gilead’s other evil doings, are biblical allusion’s, such as
mutilations, which are considered acts of “salvation”.
Aunt Lydia always said, “Blessed are the meek”, this verse is constantly to the handmaids to
remind them that they should be submissive and not object to the cruelty being done to them,
however Offred figures out that this verse is incomplete which she says after Aunt Lydia ,“for
they shall inherit the earth”, the bible says that the oppressed shall receive an award by fighting
against their oppressors. This is how Offred figures out that the state of Gilead twists the words
of the bible to manipulate and control the handmaids, therefore she commits this small act of
rebellion as a symbol of resilience.
Bibliography
Anon, (n.d.). AQA A-level English Literature Paper 2: The Handmaid’s Tale - PMT. [online]
Available
at:
https://pmt.physicsandmathstutor.com/download/English-Literature/Alevel/Notes/AQA/The-Handmaid's-Tale/Themes/Gender.pdf
MyTutor (2013). Gilead’s women are powerless because they are utterly divided and unsupportive
of each other.’ Examine this view of Atwood’s presentation of the female characters in The
Handmaid’s
Tale.
|
MyTutor.
[online]
Mytutor.co.uk.
Available
at:
https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/26368/A-Level/English-Literature/Gilead-s-women-arepowerless-because-they-are-utterly-divided-and-unsupportive-of-each-other-Examine-this-viewof-Atwood-s-presentation-of-the-female-characters-in-The-Handmaid-s-Tale/ [Accessed 11 Sep.
2023].