Examples Of Manipulation In The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a disturbing novel that displays the presence and manipulation of power. This is displayed throughout the novel and is represented significantly in three ways. As the book takes place in the republic of Gilead, the elite in society are placed above every other individual who are not included in their level. Secondly, men are placed at the top of the chain and they significantly overpower women in the society (elite or not). Finally the individuals within the elite society also overpower each other and have their own separate roles. This can be interpreted as a chain. Men of the elite are placed at the top, the men who less elite

In “The Handmaid 's Tale” by Margaret Atwood, there is the addressing of freedom, abuse of power, feminism, rebellion and sexuality. The audience is transported to a disparate time where things normalized in our current society are almost indistinguishable. Atwood uses each character carefully to display the set of theme of rebellion within the writing, really giving the reader a taste of what the environment is like by explaining detailed interactions, and consequences as well as their role in society.

Egypt, The New Totalitarian Society Egypt is becoming the new Christian theonomy in The Handmaid’s Tale. The documentary Amal, by Mohamed Siam takes place in Egypt during the Port Said Stadium riot. While in the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the population is living in a post revolution state. In Egypt, the political turmoil causes many of the females to be unwomaned. Similarly, in The Handmaid’s Tale, women have no rights, and are only used for reproduction.

The world is full of different kinds of governments and societies. Along democracy and dictatorship stands theocracy, a government led by religious authority. In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid's Tale, religion and theocracy are represented through the theme of control, because of the manipulation and brainwashing, then the sexism and handmaids, and finally punishment and fear. First of all, manipulation and brainwashing are very common forms of control.

This same amount of power is seen in the hands of the government in the Republic of Gilead. The Handmaid’s Tale depicts a similar form of ultimate power over its citizens. The eyes have a hold on the citizens. They cannot think like a free citizen. “He looks at me, and sees me looking… Then he winks… He’s just taken a risk, but for what? What

In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, religion is weaponized as a means to gain and maintain control over society, specifically women, through indoctrination and suppressing acts of rebellion. The guardians manipulate the handmaids into believing they hold a special status, offering them a false sense of belonging and privilege to prevent rebellious actions and/or feelings. Despite this, the handmaids endure lives marked by lack of freedoms and severe restrictions, which are masked by religious duties. This manipulation is evident in the quote, “We had [the Bible] read to us every breakfast. For lunch it was the Beatitudes” (pg. 88-89).

Offred admits, “I went back to Nick... I did not do it for him, but for myself entirely” (268). Regardless of the profundity of her relationships with them, it is Offred’s interactions with the Commander, Serena, and Nick that result in her being able to read, increase her chances of getting pregnant, and experience an intimate relationship on her own terms. All of which are strictly forbidden and not without risk, yet she has the power to do so because they can’t incriminate her without incriminating

It is necessary for the government to impose a certain amount of power and control on its citizens for a society to function properly. However, overuse and misuse of power and control in a society eliminates the freedom of the residents, forbidding them to live an ordinary life. In the dystopic futuristic novel, The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates the idea of power and control through the oppressive society Gilead. The government establishes power and control with the Wall, the Salvagings, and military control. As well, the government’s unique use of the Aunts and “Red Centres” demonstrates the unfair oppression and indoctrination of the women and potential Handmaids within the society. This type of control can be compared to

January, a wealthy knight decides to finally get married, because he believes in the thought of marriage between a man and a woman, and needs a son to pass his estate to. He calls his friends together to hear their opinions on marriage. He decides to marry a young virgin named May. One of January’s attendants named Damian, falls deeply in love with May the moment he sees her. He becomes ill, and January sends his wife and other women to take care of him.

Within the totalitarian society created by Margaret Atwood in the Handmaid’s Tale, there are many people and regimes centred around and reliant on the manipulation of power. The laws that are in place in the republic of Gilead are designed and implemented so as to control and restrict the rights and freedom of its inhabitants.

The Handmaid's Tale, a film based on Margaret Atwood’s book depicts a dystopia, where pollution and radiation have rendered innumerable women sterile, and the birthrates of North America have plummeted to dangerously low levels. To make matters worse, the nation’s plummeting birth rates are blamed on its women. The United States, now renamed the Republic of Gilead, retains power the use of piousness, purges, and violence. A Puritan theocracy, the Republic of Gilead, with its religious trappings and rigid class, gender, and racial castes is built around the singular desire to control reproduction. Despite this, the republic is inhabited by characters who would not seem out of place in today's society. They plant flowers in the yard, live in suburban houses, drink whiskey in the den and follow a far off a war on the television. The film leaves the conditions of the war and the society vague, but this is not a political tale, like Fahrenheit 451, but rather a feminist one. As such, the film, isolates, exaggerates and dramatizes the systems in which women are the 'handmaidens' of today's society in general and men in particular.

Margaret Atwood’s harrowing novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, follows the story of a woman marginalized by the theocratic oligarchy she lives in; in the Republic of Gilead, this woman has been reduced to a reproductive object who has her body used to bear children to the upper class. From the perspective of the modern reader, the act of blatant mistreatment of women is obvious and disturbing; however, current life is not without its own shocking abuses. Just as the Gileadian handmaid was subject to varied kinds of abuse, many modern women too face varied kinds of abuses that include psychological, sexual, and financial abuse.

The elements used by the author in this book essentially laid down the foundation for buildup of the plot and central themes. The clever use of symbols and logical choice of literary devices allowed the book to come to life and truly portray, what seems to be, the author's intention; an admonishing tale. The tone, language, heavy use of symbolism, and personification all come together under one work to warn the audience about the repetition of history and possible downfall of society. However, the book in its entirety showcases much more than just a forewarning, but also a variety of morals and lessons to be learned. The concoction of all the literary techniques and elements adopted by this novel allow it to express the symbolic content in

A genuine identity and individuality is not possible in an oppressive environment especially when one’s daily life, actions, and thoughts are dictated by domineering societal expectations. Oppressive environments such as regimes controlled by a dictatorship and that run off a totalitarian government system strip an individual of their civil rights as a human being in order to gain ultimate control over its citizens. A government such as the Republic of Gilead in Margaret Atwood’s work, The Handmaid’s Tale, controls their citizen’s lives to the extent to where they must learn to suppress their emotions and feelings. In the Republic of

The Handmaid’s Tale is a distillation of the real-world events that were happening before the book was published. In this novel, she talks about a handmaid living in the Gilead Republic, newly formed republic that is controlled by a theocratic dictatorship government. Theocratic dictatorship is a type of government in which laws are based on a particular religion. One leader, a dictator, rules the government, and there is neither power nor person above the leader. In the Gilead Republic, the system forces its citizens to obey its laws, and follow its agendas absolutely. Thus, the theocratic dictatorship changed the ordinary ways of life because it forced its people to live with in a patriarchal system