The Handmaid’s Tale

7 Pages 1771 Words

Depicting The Male Objectification And Sexual Control Of Women, The Handmaid’s Tale Exposes The Horror Of Woman’s Consent To Femininity. Discuss.
The woman
They did not kill
Instead they sewed her face
Shut, closed her mouth
To a hole the size of a straw
And put her on the streets
A mute symbol- Notes, Margaret Atwood 1939

Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, depicts a patriarchal world where women are passive entities. Their function in society is defined by their marital history, ability to procreate and ultimately, their willingness to accept their fall from freedom. Those who do not comply with this definition are deemed undesirable and banished from society.

In the novel, Offred remembers her life prior to Gilead and poignant figures within it such as her mother an active feminist. Once Gilead had begun to form Offred chose to escape her responsibility to family tradition and became an observer. Instead of joining the fight against what was to be, she waited to see the outcome and “lived as usual by ignoring”. Yet the fact that she admits “ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it” (1) suggests Offred knowingly consented, along with others to become “falling women” (2).

As a result of this submission, Offred’s society is faced with the complete loss of freedom. Before Gilead, Offred chose not to speak, in Gilead communication was prohibited and she would “long for it…any exchange of sorts.” (3). Apart from being stripped of their language, the women of Gilead are stripped of their possessions families and, as Offred has “another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden” (4), finally their identities. These women are all replaceable categorised objects. They are forced to comply with social expectations where “hair must be long but covered” (5) and named in relation to men. A commander’s wife would simply be called a “wife”, but more signi...