Gilead

to these concerns. The sexual exploitation of women is perpetuated and substantiated by the government of Gilead through supposed theological validation, “Give me children or else I die,”(Genesis 30:1-3). This biblical reference allegorises the importance of childbirth and conception, thereby justifying the philosophies upon which Gilead is founded. Here Atwood draws parallels between Gilead and the dictatorship President Ceausescu under whom birth control and abortion became illegal,…

Handmaid’s Tale outlines the philosophy of the dystopian nation, the Republic of Gilead, through the eyes of Handmaid, Offred. In the Republic of Gilead, the social structure is broken down by gender, with the males holding a significant amount of power over the females. Among the females, however, women are divided by social class, determined by their wealth and ability to reproduce. Before the formation of the Republic of Gilead, there was a significant under population problem wracking the…

aims to do just that. Women are stripped of basic human rights and must conform to a lifestyle that makes each one of them exactly like the next with menial and sometimes repulsive tasks. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, the rules that the Republic of Gilead has in place are used to show how a forceful loss of personal identity creates…

tries to rebel against his oppressive government in Oceania, but fails and ironically becomes fully loyal. Differently, in Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale the main character, Offred, lives in a post-apocalyptic United States society named Gilead; she is oppressed of her personal life as she is a handmaid and must birth the children of the commander she is assigned. Although Orwell’s 1984 describes the life of a rebel turned loyal and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale…

people's bodies that were hanged by Gilead. This horrified her, but she had to strain pushing aside her fears. She pressed back her disgust, and remembered aunt Lydia's words on how ordinary the life of Gilead has resulted. The statement from Aunt Lydia reflected the totalitarian state authority like Gilead transforming natural mankind responses like the blankness' execution transforming horror into normalcy (Atwood, pg. 11). The words from aunt Lydia proposed that Gilead succeeded not only by…

The Gilead regime is oppressive and violent which leads readers to question the intentions of the author, Margaret Atwood. While Atwood claims the novel is simply anti-religion when it becomes being a front for tyranny, people question whether she is anti-religion or not. Based on her choices throughout the novel, Atwood does not appear to be anti-religion. The overall attitude toward religion is that it is wrong when used to oppress people but not inherently wrong. By running the Gilead…

In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaids Tale, women are treated as if they are toys. In the Republic of Gilead love, equality, and disrespect are banned. For the reader, the aspect that is most pronounced is symbolism. The way Atwood shows symbolism could tell a story by itself. In the Republic of Gilead there are four major classes of people; beginning with the handmaids, the commanders, the eyes, and the wives. The republic has individual households that hold all of these classes, with…

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…

detail in this book was created via something that has already existed or happened as a historical event. Specifically, America’s religious and patriarchal roots have not only deeply influenced our current culture, but also the future culture of the Gilead society. Margaret Atwood employs various symbols throughout her novel to concretely embed the abstract concepts of patriarchal religious oppression in this society through the usage of historical settings in context, specifically through the…

any people overlook the privileges we have today, however, these “rights” can be taken away at any time. This is what happened to the people of the fictional city, Gilead, in “The Handmaids Tale” by Margret Atwood. In this dystopian world we follow Offred as she describes the new totalitarian society. Offred compares the new world to how it was previously in a series of flashbacks, describing the fall of democracy and equality. Over time the rights of the people were taken away, stripping the…