Essay Unit 2 - Prose The Handmaid's Tale, ISBN: 9781784874872
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Unit 2 - Prose
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PEARSON (PEARSON)
Book
The Handmaid's Tale
This essay is on the protagonist of Maregt Atwoods 'The Handmiads Tale' as it explores her individuality, oppression and rebellion within the regime of Gilead.
The Handmaid's Tale AO5 Key Critical Quotes Revision Grid
Important Quotes from the Handmaid's Tale by Atwood
EDEXCEL ENGLISH LITERATURE- An essay on the presentation of setting in The Handmaid's Tale and Frankenstein
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PEARSON (PEARSON)
English Literature 2015
Unit 2 - Prose
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presents the narrator as rebellious. In a government ruled by men she manages to resist her
oppressors in the small ways that are available to her. Unlike her best friend Moira, who
actively rebels, Offred passively rebels through her thoughts which in her own value can be
celebrated.
Offred expresses her passive rebellion by maintaining her autonomy as an individual
through her thoughts and feelings. Atwood creates a discontinuous narrative to gradually
introduce her past to the reader. These flashbacks she calls ‘attacks of the past’ can be a
form of motivation for Offred as it gives her hope that someone may be reading. This can be
shown when she says, ‘A story is like a letter. Dear you I’ll say. Just you’ which suggests that
she is telling her thoughts to an unknown reader. However, to her the unknown reader
could be her child or to her husband in the time before, Luke. In Gilead the Handmaid’s are
forbidden to communicate in any way so by recounting her life it shows her rebellious
nature and how she refuses to become an object to the regime. The noun ‘story’ has
connotations of something that is made up which suggests that she may not believe herself
that what is happening to her is real. To this day women still struggle to protect their
individuality in a society that is governed by men. This is because females are told to change
in order to resolve the continuous problems, they face every day. Men easily accept the new
reality as they are not the ones who suffer, just like in the Handmaids tale.
Another example of this is when she says, ‘I need to be very clear in my own mind’ as she
needs to refrain from thinking too much otherwise it could make her crazy. The quote
suggests that she can’t give in to the regime because it’s not in her nature and its against
everything she believes in. as a result of this it shows how she can be religious as she has
not internalised the views of Gilead. This can be dangerous as Gilead obtains its power
through violence which is expressed during punishment of people not obeying orders.
Therefore, by reminding herself that her thoughts can be dangerous is an intelligent
strategy to protect herself. The pronoun ‘own’ shows that she still has control over
something despite Gilead taking everything from her. Consequently, this shows she is not
complying with the regime as she still has control over her mind.
Furthermore, identity is what shapes individuality and so by taking away a form of identity,
their clothing, it takes away their individuality. The Handmaids are forced to wear long red
dresses that dehumanises them and enhances Gilead’s control over them. The red of the
Handmaids red dresses symbolises fertility as it is the colour of menstruation blood or can
be marked as a sexual sin which references puritan ideology. Atwood turns woman’s bodies
into machines. However, Offred manages to rebel against this when she recognises her body
as more than just an object. When she is in the bath, she’s forced to look at her body and
she says, ‘I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.’ This
suggests that her body determines her role in society and subsequently she resents her
body for this. The noun ‘want’ denotes that she has a choice which is one of the only things
she gets to choose what she does which shows she is taking back her individuality. She does
what she wants not what Gilead wants her to do. Moreover, she doesn’t want to look at her
body because she doesn’t want it to be the only thing that defines her. Therefore, we can
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