The Power Of The Female Body In The Handmaid's Tale

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Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, follows the story of Offred, the protagonist and narrator, living in a dystopian New England set in a near future America. The overthrown totalitarian government called the Republic of Gilead now concentrates on women, depriving them from their rights and ranking them by class, and returning to a more primitive time period. The handmaids, a position that Offred has been assigned to, now must serve for reproductive purposes for the barren elite ruling class. On the surface, Atwood uses the female body as a theme throughout her novel, further examination proves that the female body is used as a way to gain power in a conformist society.
Offred’s newfound occupation constricts her, making her a slave to her commander. While …show more content…
While observing her body, she thinks, “My nakedness is strange to me already. My body seems outdated. Did I really wear bathing suits, at the beach?” (63). While most of the women around her are resisting the Gilead rules, Offred never seems to rebel. Even during the most traumatic experiences, such as the Ceremony or a Salvaging ritual of beating a man to death, her moral judgments cease to exist, as if she has accepted her fate as a handmaid. It is only by her knowledge of the resistance when she finally decides to participate and even then, it is still kept on the down low. She gives into discreet affairs only under the request of her Commander and Serena Joy, even participates at the Jezebel club under the request of her Commander. Her most daring acts of rebellion are of her stealing butter, the thought of stealing from the living room, or her conversations with Ofglen. During all of this mutiny, she still binds herself to the color red and her duty as a handmaid, making her uncomfortable to see herself even in her most natural

Dystopian Society In The Handmaid's Tale

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