The concept of power is one of the strongest themes within Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, given that power dynamics and authority are an immense part of what dictates female oppression. While having written a dystopian fiction novel, Attwood accurately captures the struggles of women surviving within an establishment that refuses to value their word or worth in a way that is acutely relevant. While looking through the lens of Machiavelli’s maxims, each of Attwood’s female characters embodies their own version of a prince archetype and thus has their own application of power. The women of Gilead are oppressed, but if they are lucky enough to hold the title of Wife, they can suppress the wills of women beneath their rung in Gilead’s ladder
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She at once is subversive and is a figurehead for the society she is rebelling against, simply by smoking a cigarette. The cigarette is a symbol of power for both Serena Joy and Offred- Offred is without power, yearning for it, and Serena Joy wields power and taunts the Handmaid with it. The reader is aware of how “malicious and vengeful” Serena Joy can be, yet her sheer strength as an authority figure is predictive of her flaws (162). ANALYZE. She is a jealous woman. Upon meeting Offred she clarifies her stance with her husband, reminding the Handmaid that their marriage will last until “death do [them] part” (16). This need to clarify her relationship reveals Serena Joy’s insecurities of her marriage, and it simultaneously foreshadows Offred’s interactions with the Commander and recalls the old Offred’s …show more content…
Through Serena Joy, Margaret Atwood has created a complex character who reminds the reader of a particularly cold and vindictive pastor’s wife with a shiny past. Her arc of debasement follows that of a small-town scandal, one rife with a lawless husband and a taste for lawlessness herself. She smokes, she plans illegal affairs, all the while the Commander is carrying on a tryst of his own. She allows this vice-filled life, uncaring of the consequences of her hypocritical actions. Serena embodies the archetype of the bored housewife, but takes it to sick extremes, as does everything in Gilead. Pushing for a child, and enabled by the society she lives in, she vies for control of her life in an Icarus-like attempt but ultimately
She at once is subversive and is a figurehead for the society she is rebelling against, simply by smoking a cigarette. The cigarette is a symbol of power for both Serena Joy and Offred- Offred is without power, yearning for it, and Serena Joy wields power and taunts the Handmaid with it. The reader is aware of how “malicious and vengeful” Serena Joy can be, yet her sheer strength as an authority figure is predictive of her flaws (162). ANALYZE. She is a jealous woman. Upon meeting Offred she clarifies her stance with her husband, reminding the Handmaid that their marriage will last until “death do [them] part” (16). This need to clarify her relationship reveals Serena Joy’s insecurities of her marriage, and it simultaneously foreshadows Offred’s interactions with the Commander and recalls the old Offred’s …show more content…
Through Serena Joy, Margaret Atwood has created a complex character who reminds the reader of a particularly cold and vindictive pastor’s wife with a shiny past. Her arc of debasement follows that of a small-town scandal, one rife with a lawless husband and a taste for lawlessness herself. She smokes, she plans illegal affairs, all the while the Commander is carrying on a tryst of his own. She allows this vice-filled life, uncaring of the consequences of her hypocritical actions. Serena embodies the archetype of the bored housewife, but takes it to sick extremes, as does everything in Gilead. Pushing for a child, and enabled by the society she lives in, she vies for control of her life in an Icarus-like attempt but ultimately