When power is abused, society crumbles. This is demonstrated through the two different texts between the futuristic, dystopian, totalitarian society portrayed in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and the seventeenth century Elizabethan era monarchy of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Firstly, throughout both of these respective texts, power is established through the rankings, government, and social structure of society. Additionally, the fierce power of women’s sexuality is clearly evident. Finally, when society’s patriarchal rules are broken, chaos ensues. The manipulation of power between the sexes can lead to the misery and destruction of society. The manipulation of power that leads to the destruction of society is due to the way in which society is structured. Males are at the
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It is revealed that at the end of the novel that Serena Joy knew all along that Offred was seeing the Commander in private, “And so I step up, into the darkness within or else the light” (P.368) . It is revealed that Nick, one of the guardians of the faith with whom Offred had consensual sexual intercourse, had a hand in her arrest when he tells her to go with “The Eyes”, whom are the internal intelligence agency, to come to find out she has been charge and arrest for “violation of state secrets.” After she has been taken away by them, her fate becomes unknown. This is similar to the backfiring of power is Goneril and Regan use against their father in King Lear. Lear is enraged when he finds his servant, The Earl of Kent, in disguise, locked up in the stocks. Regan bars Lear from her castle, releasing him, alongside the fool in the storm, (III, iv, 1-2) “Blow winds, and crack your cheeks, rage blow.” Outside, Lear releases his mental anguish, dancing around, even stripping off his garments. This demonstrates how chaos results when the patriarchal rules of society are
It is revealed that at the end of the novel that Serena Joy knew all along that Offred was seeing the Commander in private, “And so I step up, into the darkness within or else the light” (P.368) . It is revealed that Nick, one of the guardians of the faith with whom Offred had consensual sexual intercourse, had a hand in her arrest when he tells her to go with “The Eyes”, whom are the internal intelligence agency, to come to find out she has been charge and arrest for “violation of state secrets.” After she has been taken away by them, her fate becomes unknown. This is similar to the backfiring of power is Goneril and Regan use against their father in King Lear. Lear is enraged when he finds his servant, The Earl of Kent, in disguise, locked up in the stocks. Regan bars Lear from her castle, releasing him, alongside the fool in the storm, (III, iv, 1-2) “Blow winds, and crack your cheeks, rage blow.” Outside, Lear releases his mental anguish, dancing around, even stripping off his garments. This demonstrates how chaos results when the patriarchal rules of society are