How Is Power Presented In The Handmaid's Tale

In today’s news we see many disruptions and inconsistencies in society, and, according to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, humankind might be headed in that direction. The deterioration of society is a concept often explored biologically in novels, but less common, is the effect on everyday social constructs such as the position of women as a item that can be distributed and traded-in for a ‘better’ product. The Handmaid’s Tale elaborates the concept that, as societal discrimination towards women intensifies, gender equality deteriorates and certain aspects of societal freedoms are lost. Offred’s experience with serving Gilead demonstrates a victim’s perspective and shows how the occurring changes develope the Republic.

In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the Handmaids are controlled through the use of force or intimidation. Many of those tactics include: training the Handmaids to conform, ceremonies of rape, and threats of death. These practices instill uncertainty in the Handmaids and create fear. They are trained to accommodate for others because they are merely only “two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (Thomas 92). The Ceremony is their chance to prove their worth, because only the women who can bear a child are of worth. The women who are not of worth, well, they are sent to work in a toxic wasteland until they die. The Handmaids are aware of what

Women in the past were perceived as insignificant because of the society’s inability to embrace and acknowledge women as of equal importance as men and of those who are wealthy. In Margret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the character by the name of Offred, is a handmaid and tells her perspective of the dystopian life in the community of Gilead. The women of 1985 serve the males and the rich if they are not a wealthy maiden themselves. However, regardless of class, women are always discerned as of lesser significance than men. This is manifested through Offred’s observation that although the women who are a Commander’s wife are entitled of higher authority than the handmaids, they are still seen as insignificant. In order to give them

As you read through the handmaid’s tale you see the relationships of the characters develop and the fight for power, however small that glimpse of power may be. The images of power can be seen through out the novel, but there are major parts that stand out to the reader from the aunt’s in the training centre to the secret meetings between the Commander and Offred.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is set in a future time period where the United States is under the control of the Gileadean regime. A terrorist attack leads to the collapse of Congress, the suspension of the Constitution, and the establishment of a theocratic totalitarian government. Men and women are given roles within society; they are Commanders, Eyes, Handmaids, and Marthas. In this novel, Atwood explores a prominent social issue, feminism. The suppression and power of women are examined through the setting and characterization of the novel to help understand the meaning of the novel as a whole.

Hungry for power. Metaphorically querulous. Weak. The Commander is the representation of male insecurity. This character is derived from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood’s novel reveals that hunger for control can lead to the oppression of women, this is demonstrated through the Commander’s characterization, the Aunts attitudes, and some of the Gileadean rules/laws.

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

A character in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale that attempted to maintain her sense of power and identity is Offred. She endeavored to keep her sense of power by rebelling. In Chapter 17, she sneaked into the hallway of her household, thinking her actions were “entirely illegal” (97). Standing in the hall, Offred said, “I like this. I am doing something, on my own.” (97). As a result of Offred sneaking out without anyone knowing, she “liked” it and felt powerful in the moment. The men and women in charge over her could not fully hold her down; she was doing something on her own for a change. Her ability to rebel in anyway gave her a sense of satisfaction, freedom, and power in a society that attempted to take them

In the dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood, tells a story of a woman named Offred living as a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. With Gilead being a brand new state, their grasp on power is not completely stable. In order for them to secure their power in their theocratic state, they control and manipulate the use of language by modifying the names of those who holds high authority, regulating the usage of language within their society, and annihilating the written language. As a way for the Gileadean state to have a sturdy hold of their power, they choose to change the titles of the positions that holds high authority. That is , the state of Gilead decides to “sugar-coat” these appellations of the former government. As Offred recalls her days in the Red Center, she

Oppression has happened all over history and still happens in recent days. Even though issues of oppressions haven’t been allowed but it’s still prone to happen daily. In the Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood, it describes the oppression and power the nation of Gilead makes rules takes control over it’s citizens. The manipulation of using certain laws or objects to make people obey the rules. The Republic of Gilead gains and maintains power over its citizens by using the bible in order for people to follow the regulations, make citizens believe that this society is better, and women defined by their functions (you’re not a woman if you can’t have a baby).

The poems, My Parents Kept Me from Children Who Were Rough by Stephen Spender and Mother Who Gave Me Life by Gwen Harwood, and the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood use language as a mechanism to effectively convey aspects of power, including personal, authoritative and feminine power. The attainment of an individual’s personal power can have consequent impacts on other individuals. Dominant individuals in society can express authoritative power over those with less by stripping them of their identities in order to empower themselves. Fertility and the ability to procreate equip women with feminine power; however it is this power which dehumanises them.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, a social hierarchy is shown, especially between the women and men. It’s interesting that even among the women–women had more power than others. Handmaids, despite not having more power than the Wives or Aunts these women hold power, their ovaries. Handmaids are women who capable of conceiving and are used to bare children. Handmaids, in my opinion, will be in the middle(middle-class). Wives are of course usually married to Commanders because of their husband these women have a certain amount of power and are accustomed to a certain lifestyle. Wives show that who you are married to matters the wives are infertile themselves. If the wives weren’t married to high-ranking men they will be a unwoman, Econowife, or Martha.

“The good want power, but to weep barren tears. Powerful goodness wants worse need for them. Wise want love; those who love to want wisdom; And all best things are thus confused to ill.” Shelly claims about the desire for power over one's self or others is always a dominant factor in the structure of any society. She illustrates the complexities of power and note the resulting confusion of good and ill when one facet of that complexity takes precedence. She also represent the connection between individual and social control themes which captivates the playwrights and novelists since earliest times. The twentieth-century writer is no passing over. Glen Deer suggests that the innovative technique of the experimental novelist enhances the reader's ability to gain insight "into the social bonds between people of unequal power.” (Deer 2). Among the works, Deer chooses to support his thesis by claiming that the writer's technique is an mechanism in explaining this relationship is Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. In this study, Atwood suggests to show that her ingenious use of satire writing does indeed build up the reader's ability to gain the understanding into the relationship between the individual and social authority; that

Bruno Bettelheim once said, “ Punishment may make us obey the orders we are given, but at best it will only teach an obedience to authority, not a self-control which enhances our self-respect.” More often than not, those surrounded by rules feel pressured to adhere to them due to the fear of repercussions. Even so, it is not guaranteed people will comply. Sometimes, being bound by rules makes some feel rebellious. This proves to be true in Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction novel, “The Handmaid's Tale.” Through characterization, flashbacks, and point of view, Atwood demonstrates how strict rules lead to the temptation for defiance.

Though the English language has its roots in a male-dominated society where the true meaning of words are now taken for granted. In The Handmaid’s Tale, language facilitates power. In order to effectively rule over class and gender the level of censorship on literature and control of discourses runs high. Atwood uses word choice to expose the shocking structures of the Gilead society and how faulty its foundations are as it was built upon gender inequality. The repercussions of gendered language are evident throughout the novel, implying that the sexist structure of Gilead is a result of oppressive language modern Americans accept and use in every day talk.