Disobedience In The Handmaid's Tale

In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, mostly every major character engages in some kind of disobedience against Gilead’s laws. Since Gilead is a theocratic dictatorship, there is no possibility of appeal or a method of protecting oneself from the government. If one does decide to go against the law or Gilead’s government, the punishment involves being hanged or beaten till death. However, this did not stop Ofglen, a Handmaid and a friend of Offred, and Serena Joy, the Commander’s wife. Attempting to destroy Gilead and its government or merely for one’s personal favor to have a family, each character committed a crime, highlighting Gilead’s strict society and laws.
As stated, Ofglen, a Handmaid and Offred’s friend, engaged in several activities that were against Gilead’s laws. In the beginning of the novel, Offred is unsure whether or not to trust Ofglen when they accompanied each …show more content…
Offred and the Commander have been having been having sex in attempt to make a baby. However, Offred fails to conceive due to Commander’s infertility and, as a result, Serena becomes very manipulative. Serena decided to tell Offred to betray the Commander and break the law by having sex with a different male named Nick. In doing so, Serena believes that Nick has a better chance of inseminating Offed and does not worry about the consequences of breaking the laws. Seeing that even one of Gilead’s privileged groups is also committing rebellious acts and going against Gilead’s rules for personal use, shows that everyone lacks their total freedom in this society. Overall, rebellion is an important theme in Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, since despite the social class one may be in they are still willing to engage in some kind of disobedience to get what they want or deserve. It also illustrates the precarious nature in which everyone can be on the edge of arrest or