An Analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale Cassettes and Other Artefacts
AUTHOR: Professor Anjana Prabu Director, Department of Anthropology, Cambridge University, England
History has witnessed a myriad of tug-of-wars between the dichotomies of the political spectrum; anarchy and dictatorship, ‘freedom to’ and ‘freedom from’.
In the late 20th century, the United States of America (US) faced a drastic shift in political ideology, from anarchy in the Pre-Gilead Period to dictatorship in the Gilead Period; in which the US Government was overthrown by the ‘Sons of Jacob’, a fundamentalist Christian Reconstructionist movement, under pretext of restoring order to become the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian theocracy. Instability in the Pre-Gilead …show more content…
Professor Pieixoto, along with other male academics, has publicly questioned the cassettes’ authenticity (Problems of Authentication in Reference to The Handmaid’s Tale, International Historical Association Convention, 25 June 2195) and the extent to which it adds to the academic review of Gileadean history. Although in truth, oral history is the vehicle of the oppressed; it is a coping mechanism, and or a recitation of eyewitness accounts of historical events. In a time-period where products of intellectual property were illegalised, Offred offers a voice (in everyday detail) of the effects of political shift (from ‘freedom to’ to ‘freedom from’) on victims of marginalisation (namely females, homosexuals, underground and non-fundamentalist …show more content…
Sumptuary laws (dress codes) were a key tool in ordering and identification of individuals by social status; and in the case of Offred and other fertile women, were heavily objectified and sexualised to become Handmaids: “two-legged wombs, …sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (exemplified in Image II). Offred’s name itself is a device to indicate who she is property to.
Handmaids were objectified and ‘branded like cattle’ with ear-tags and ankle tattoos: “four digits and an eye, a passport in reverse”. The garments symbolise a far more complex and paradoxical Madonna/Magdalene role in the theocracy. Parallel to their reproductive purpose, red is culturally symbolic of blood in terms of fertility, menstruation and childbirth, and even prostitution. Hence, it is ironic that the shapeless, red cloak mimics the style of religious robes. Furthermore, they must wear nun-like white-winged headdresses, symbolic of purity and innocence, which prevent them “from seeing and from being seen”. Handmaids are personifications of religious sacrifice, temple prostitutes doomed to a ‘purdah’ in
AUTHOR: Professor Anjana Prabu Director, Department of Anthropology, Cambridge University, England
History has witnessed a myriad of tug-of-wars between the dichotomies of the political spectrum; anarchy and dictatorship, ‘freedom to’ and ‘freedom from’.
In the late 20th century, the United States of America (US) faced a drastic shift in political ideology, from anarchy in the Pre-Gilead Period to dictatorship in the Gilead Period; in which the US Government was overthrown by the ‘Sons of Jacob’, a fundamentalist Christian Reconstructionist movement, under pretext of restoring order to become the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian theocracy. Instability in the Pre-Gilead …show more content…
Professor Pieixoto, along with other male academics, has publicly questioned the cassettes’ authenticity (Problems of Authentication in Reference to The Handmaid’s Tale, International Historical Association Convention, 25 June 2195) and the extent to which it adds to the academic review of Gileadean history. Although in truth, oral history is the vehicle of the oppressed; it is a coping mechanism, and or a recitation of eyewitness accounts of historical events. In a time-period where products of intellectual property were illegalised, Offred offers a voice (in everyday detail) of the effects of political shift (from ‘freedom to’ to ‘freedom from’) on victims of marginalisation (namely females, homosexuals, underground and non-fundamentalist …show more content…
Sumptuary laws (dress codes) were a key tool in ordering and identification of individuals by social status; and in the case of Offred and other fertile women, were heavily objectified and sexualised to become Handmaids: “two-legged wombs, …sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (exemplified in Image II). Offred’s name itself is a device to indicate who she is property to.
Handmaids were objectified and ‘branded like cattle’ with ear-tags and ankle tattoos: “four digits and an eye, a passport in reverse”. The garments symbolise a far more complex and paradoxical Madonna/Magdalene role in the theocracy. Parallel to their reproductive purpose, red is culturally symbolic of blood in terms of fertility, menstruation and childbirth, and even prostitution. Hence, it is ironic that the shapeless, red cloak mimics the style of religious robes. Furthermore, they must wear nun-like white-winged headdresses, symbolic of purity and innocence, which prevent them “from seeing and from being seen”. Handmaids are personifications of religious sacrifice, temple prostitutes doomed to a ‘purdah’ in