...The Handmaid’s Tale: Power and Corruption Governments impose a certain amount of power and control on their citizens in order for societies to function according to plan. In the Handmaid’s Tale, excessive control and power in the Gilead society strips the residents of their freedom, forbidding them to live ordinary lives. Men abuse their control and power over women in order to satisfy their personal needs and women are persecuted to the point of corruption. The Handmaids suffer the most due to the loss of their personal liberties and identities. Inhabitants live in constant fear for their lives, and are subjected to perpetual surveillance. The Gilead society follows a patriarchal law that women must obey their male counterparts. Since they believe that they are powerful, they think that they can get away with what they want. An example of the male abuse that occurs in the Handmaid’s Tale centres on Offred, who is trapped in Gilead as a Handmaid. She is one of the women valued only for her potential as a surrogate mother. Denied all her individual rights and personal identity, she is known only by the patronymic Of-Fred, derived from the name of her current Commander. Offred struggles with this new name with this statement, “My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it's forbidden. I tell myself it doesn’t matter, your name is like your telephone number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter...
Words: 887 - Pages: 4
...Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale along with Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell both share feminist views. Together Atwood’s novel and Oshii’s film are part of the science fiction genre, which is set into the future. Both the novel and film share feminist views although the second wave of feminism in the novel The Handmaids Tale portrays a world where females with no rights and have been taken over for breeding, in contrast to the third wave of feminism in the film Ghost in a Shell where heteronormativity is separated by the blurring of boundaries between both males and females. Atwood’s award winning novel demonstrates the second wave of feminism through the power structure of Gilead where women had roles. Consequentially,...
Words: 902 - Pages: 4
...extent does The Handmaid’s Tale present the future as a feminine dystopia? A feminine dystopia imagines a world gone terribly wrong, exploring the most extreme possible consequences of current society’s problems. In a feminine dystopia, the inequality of society or oppression of women is exaggerated or intensified to highlight the need for change in contemporary society. The Handmaid’s Tale presents the future as this in many ways. Chapter 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale presents the future as a feminine dystopia. Religion is brought up as Gilead is seen to be trying to purify the values of women, for example Offred is only allowed a single bed, the words “nothing takes place in the bed but sleep; or no sleep” highlight the fact that a bed is only for sleeping, to purify her. The reference to nunneries also suggests there is religion involved in Gilead, Offred states that “time here is measured by bells, as once in nunneries. As in nunneries too, there are few mirrors” this suggests sexual contact for the Handmaids, or anyone, is forbidden, and the use of the word “once” suggests that Offred is like a nun, or feels like a nun, out of a nunnery and in a house. Also in chapter 2, the role of the Handmaids is introduced; we learn they are needed for something very important, as they are not allowed to attempt to kill themselves as it is said that “they’ve removed anything you could tie a rope to.” Also Offred says “I am not being wasted.” This shows that the Handmaids are not allowed to be...
Words: 1501 - Pages: 7
...Arts/Humanities The Power of Language In “A Handmaids Tale” by Margaret Atwood we see the establishment of a new world. This new world has taken over what was previously known as The United States of America. We see a world where women are oppressed, restricted in their rights, and where government has total control over it’s people. These acts of oppression and restriction of rights by the government stand alongside another period in time (though this one not being a work of fiction) which is that of Nazi Germany. In “A Handmaids Tale” within the new society of Gilead we see the use of language being used as a tool of power. The government constructed these new sets of words in order to hide the bitter realities of what they were doing, as well as to serve societies elite. They invented a new set of laws and language that would be used to persuade the public that their new “empire” would be better and improved than the last. Women do not have a true identity in Gilead, as they are simply defined as a “Wife”, “Handmaid”, or “Martha”. A wife is simply a married woman, while a handmaid is the woman who is hired to carry the wife and her husbands baby due to infertility rates. A Martha is a woman whose ovaries are deemed unusefull and acts as a cook or servant in the house of a commander. After the United States government was overthrown, a chemical spill took place that extremely lowered fertility rates. “Handmaids” are kept under control over the “Martha’s” until they...
Words: 1771 - Pages: 8
...In Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction, The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood introduces a society where men place domination and governance over women. Women’s bodies, particularly Handmaids’ bodies, are used as political instruments that are under the government’s complete control. The epigram Genesis 30: 1-3 provides biblical justification for the Handmaid system and serves as a prophecy for how women’s worth in Gilead is dependent on their ability to bear children. Corresponding to the novel, the character Offred from the Handmaid’s Tale resembles Bilhah from Genesis, while Offred’s higher authority, Serena Joy, correlates with Rachel from Genesis. In Genesis 30:1-3, Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid plays a similar role to Offred, both of them are both...
Words: 925 - Pages: 4
...In The Handmaid’s Tale, the society required that the handmaids wear red clothes at all times and cover their face when going outside. The handmaids were fully clothed and covered almost every part of their body to ensure that they do not draw attention. Rather than allowing the handmaids to choose the clothes they wanted to wear, society forced them to follow certain clothing standards. The handmaids were even obligated to cover their faces. These rules were enforced in society to make sure that the handmaids were not drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. In addition, it prevented men from being attracted or tempted by the handmaids. These dress codes women had to follow were enforced for the sake of the men. The clothing requirements...
Words: 1652 - Pages: 7
...medium in which the author can bring to light the plight of people who are ostracized or marginalized for any number of reasons. From segregation and racial discrimination to inequality between Genders and the oppression of women, literature has the ability to reach out and usurp the perspective of the reader and provide them with a whole new one to shine a light on what life may be like being subjected to such experiences of “Otherness”. Both The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King are both books which bring to the fore the plights of two different groups of people: Women and the domination and subjugation of the gender is the basis for The Handmaid’s Tale, while Green Grass, Running Water identifies the attempt of Native Americans to hold onto their culture in the face of a society that disregards their ancestry and subsequently find themselves marginalized, and both books show how each of these groups attempt to speak out and resist despite the odds against them. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a book that explores the oppression and subjugation of women at the hands of a totalitarian regime...
Words: 1648 - Pages: 7
...realize that they had been duped. The founders of Gilead took conservative ideas and implemented them to the extreme. Women’s rights are taken away. Reading is forbidden. Handmaids are introduced to bear children. The government takes over and a dystopia is born. They control almost every aspect of the people’s lives, down to the food that they consume. Though the totalitarian government of Gilead tries to break spirit of the women to control them and keep the people ignorant, it does not succeed in preventing the people from rebelling in their own small ways. The women are the key to the survival of Gilead. In order to ensure their survival, the founders of Gilead drew up a philosophy that they drilled into the women’s heads. They first broke down the women’s spirit by essentially re-educating them about what would now be accepted in society and would not be tolerated. "Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary" (Atwood 33). The Aunts drill this propaganda into the Handmaids’ heads to ensure that they will remember. This type of brain washing helped break down the Handmaids’ morals. Continuously being told that what they were being tasked was right made it easy for the Offred, the main character who is a Handmaid, to be impregnated by the Commander. She disregarded the Commander’s wife, not of spite but out of indifference. The propaganda spread by the government eventually...
Words: 1512 - Pages: 7
...Have you ever stopped to think, “How would my life change if someone was in total control of it?” How do you think it would change? Do you think it would be difficult living this way? Would people adapt to the environment? What do you think would happen if nobody was in control of their own lives, if we at the mercy of someone else. What if our lives were a prison to our society? In the “The Handmaids Tale” this is what happens. People are forced out of their daily lives and brought into new ones. Of-fred, the main protagonist, is trapped in Gilead as a handmaid. She is considered a ‘two legged womb’ and only valued for her potential as a surrogate mother. The town of Gilead shows male dominance and women only for reproduction. Of-fred and all the other women are denied all their individual rights. Her name has a lot of meaning, Of- Fred derived from the name of her current commander. Just her name shows her as a possession. She is forbidden to use her own name, she keeps it like a buried treasure, I think it’s so she can guarantee her own identity. Of-fred refuses to forget her past or her own name. “What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth…Otherwise you live in the moment. Which is not where I want to be.” (Pg. 143) Everything in Gilead is done in Gods name. There is no separation between state and religion. There are many times when Biblical terms are used, they have hidden meanings. The vocabulary incorporates religious terms and Biblical references...
Words: 1048 - Pages: 5
...Tennyson links public and private spaces and their promotion of female passivity to illustrate societal as well as psychological and domestic examples of passivity. In Mariana, the “rusted” and “crusted” atmosphere of decay is representative of Mariana’s psychological deterioration and the stagnant “blacken’d waters” and “moated grange” act as an obstruction to her integration with the outside patriarchal world. This reflects the wider Victorian attitude regarding the home as “the centre of virtue and the proper life for women” and brings to light the impact that passivity in the greater context of society has on the role she plays in her private relationship. This idea of external influences is echoed much less figuratively in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ where “decreased birth rates” stimulated a change in the functioning of the governmental system and the politically organised passivity of women, creating a dystopian vision of patriarchy. A change in societal structure resulting in female passivity is also present in ‘Othello’. Desdemona’s transition from an assertive female who “challenge[s] that [she] may profess...
Words: 3969 - Pages: 16
...Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 i RTNA01 1 13/6/05, 5:28 PM READING THE NOVEL General Editor: Daniel R. Schwarz The aim of this series is to provide practical introductions to reading the novel in both the British and Irish, and the American traditions. Published Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel 1890–1930 Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Daniel R. Schwarz Brian W. Shaffer Forthcoming Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel Paula R. Backscheider Reading the Nineteenth-Century Novel Harry E. Shaw and Alison Case Reading the American Novel 1780–1865 Shirley Samuels Reading the American Novel 1865–1914 G. R. Thompson Reading the Twentieth-Century American Novel James Phelan ii RTNA01 2 13/6/05, 5:28 PM Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Brian W. Shaffer iii RTNA01 3 13/6/05, 5:28 PM © 2006 by Brian W. Shaffer BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Brian W. Shaffer to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and...
Words: 123617 - Pages: 495
...Web Video Texts Audio Projects About Account TVNews OpenLibrary | | | | Home | American Libraries | Canadian Libraries | Universal Library | Community Texts | Project Gutenberg | Children's Library | Biodiversity Heritage Library | Additional Collections | Search: Advanced Search | Anonymous User (login or join us) | Upload | Full text of "Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni Volume 1"THE NATYASASTRA A Treatise on Hindu Dramaturgy and Histrionics Ascribed to B ii A R A T A - M r X I Vol. I. ( Chapters I-XXVII ) Completely translated jor the jirst tune from the original Sanskrit tuttri «u Introduction and Various Notes M .U'OMOH A N liHOS H M.A., Pn. I). <OaU 2 Viu i95y CALCUTTA THE RoyiL ISIAJtC SOCIETY OF BENGAL Dedicated to the memory of thom great scholars of India. and the West mho by their indefatigable study and. ingenious interpretation of her Religion, Philosophy, Literature and Arts, have demon- strated the high ealiie of India- s culture to the World at large and ham helped her towa.nls a reawakening and political alteration., and who by their discovery of the Universal aspect of this culture have made patent India's spiritual kinship with the other ancient nations of the World and ham paved the way for an ultimate triumph of Internationalism. PREFACE The preparation 'of an annotated English translation of the Natya&stra entrusted...
Words: 220089 - Pages: 881
...Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar "Father Of Indian Constitution" India’s first Law Minister Architect of the Constitution of India ii http://www.ambedkar.org Born April 14, 1891, Mhow, India Died Dec. 6, 1956, New Delhi Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, was the first Minister of Law soon after the Independence of India in 1947 and was the Chairman of the drafting committee for the Constitution of India As such he was chiefly responsible for drafting of The Constitution of India. Ambedkar was born on the 14th April, 1891. After graduating from Elphinstone College, Bombay in 1912, he joined Columbia University, USA where he was awarded Ph.D. Later he joined the London School of Economics & obtained a degree of D.Sc. ( Economics) and was called to the Bar from Gray's Inn. He returned to India in 1923 and started the 'Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha' for the education and economic improvement of the lower classes from where he came. One of the greatest contributions of Dr. Ambedkar was in respect of Fundamental Rights & Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution of India. The Fundamental Rights provide for freedom, equality, and abolition of Untouchability & remedies to ensure the enforcement of rights. The Directive Principles enshrine the broad guiding principles for securing fair distribution of wealth & better living conditions. On the 14th October, 1956, Babasaheb Ambedkar a scholar in Hinduism embraced Buddhism. He continued the crusade for...
Words: 132541 - Pages: 531
