Handmaid’s Tale & Frankenstein Possible Essays
Introduction; 3 points, each with quotes from each text, and two points of context
Morality
Fear of Sexuality
Parent & Child Relationships
Protagonists
Order v Disorder
Justice/Revenge/Reactionary Behaviour
Birth/Creation/Family/Domesticity/Role of a Mother
Nature v Science
Love & Relationships
Good & Evil
Symbolism
Significant Locations
Subversion of Traditional Societal Roles
Openings
Endings
Warnings
Roles individuals play in their societies
Survival
The impact of science on identity
Warnings about the future
The impact of science on personal beliefs
Conflicting ideas about society
A sense of threat
The abuse of power
Hope
Criticise human behaviour
Courage
The impact of science on personal freedom
Characters responding to adversity
Anxieties about scientific development
Motive for change in society
Villainy
Role of women
Gender issues
Masculinity
Religion
Chronology and sequencing
Narrators
The power of language/literature
Dialogue
Attempt to make their stories believable
The power of knowledge
The dangers of knowledge
Isolation/alienation
Ambition
, Secrecy
Politics
Complacency
Complicity
Violence
Reproduction
Innocence
Morality:
Points:
Morals easily discarded as one becomes consumed in their own plight – “confident in (his)
success” & “inestimable benefit” & “all mankind to the last generation”, “enticements” &
“sufficient to conquer all fears of danger or death”, “exposing (himself) to the same dangers
which have rendered (Victor) what (he is).”, “many of (his) unfortunate comrades (to find) a
grave”, “lay the foundations for future success”, “imagination was too much exalted by (his) first
success to permit (him) to doubt”; “marched straight out the front door, with the bearing of a
person who knew where she was going” & “the food’s not bad and there’s drink and drugs, if
you want it, and we only work nights.”, “black net stockings and black high heels” & “she always
hated high heels”, “save her skin”, “hand lotion”, “(wants) what she could get”
Using a higher power to justify immoralities – “life and death appeared to (him) in ideal bounds,
which (he) should first break through and pour a torrent of light into our dark world”, “described
(himself) as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of
nature”; “go in unto her… (she) may also have children by her.”, “fucking” & “lower… body”,
“pray(ing) silently”, “doing his duty”
Companionship able to lift veil of immorality – “capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless
matter”; “want(s) Luke here so badly”
Context:
Shelley’s criticism of Galvanism and the scientists who sought to interfere with nature and the
natural order
Use of God to justify opposition to female reproductive rights
Fear of Sexuality:
Points:
Fear of sexuality seen as a repressive tool - “I have no rose to toss, he has no lute. But it’s the
same kind of hunger. Which I can’t indulge.”; “I have found a man who, before his spirit had
been broken by misery, I should have been happy to have possessed as the brother of my
heart.”
Forms forbidden relationships – “It wasn’t called for, there was no excuse.”, “In order to do this I
became reckless”, “My presence here is illegal. It’s forbidden for us to be alone with the
Commanders.”, “Is it so bad, for him, that he’d take the risk of coming to my room at night?”;
“He must have been a noble creature in his better days, being even now in wreck so attractive
and amiable.”, “My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my admiration
and my pity to an astonishing degree.”, “A residence in Turkey was abhorrent to her… she heard
of the exile of her lover and learnt the name of the spot where he then resided… she quitted
Italy”
Breeding unhappy relationships due to inability to love freely – “She likes to keep him waiting.”,
“Tonight, however, she doesn’t even get that, because before Serena Joy can speak he steps
, forward into the room anyway. Maybe he’s just forgotten the protocol, but maybe it’s
deliberate. Who knows what she said to him, over the silver-encrusted dinner table? Or didn’t
say.”, “He nods, in the general direction of Serena Joy, who does not make a sound.”, “I want
you to kiss me.”; ‘’Alas! To me the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of
horror and dismay’’
Context:
Victorian label of Hysteria to deny female sexuality
Atwood’s use of strict puritan values for the basis of the theocracy of the Gilead regime and the
rise of this through the Conservative religious right in the 1980s
Parent & Child Relationships:
Points:
Unconventional parent-child relationships - “(not) up to fatherhood”, “(of no use) except for ten
seconds’ worth of half babies”; “hateful”, “odious and loathsome person”, “form(ing) a monster
so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust”
Children able to learn from their parents - “there were some women burning books”, “did not do
it for him but for (herself) entirely”, “do the job, then… bugger off”, “stud(ied) (Victor’s papers)
with diligence”, “tor(n) to pieces”, “lifeless and inanimate”
Society preventing relationships between parents and their children - “where they’re keeping
her”, “holding out her arms to me”, “be(ing) allowed to nurse the baby, for a few months”,
“breathless horror and disgust fill(ing) (his) heart”, “the miserable monster whom (he has)
created”, “abhor(s) (him)” feeling that he cannot “gather (hope) from (Victor’s) fellow creatures,
who owe (him) nothing”
Context:
Shelley’s contempt for her husband leaving his son to travel the world and engage in
extramarital affairs
1958 Indian Adoption Project taking children from their mothers to be ‘adopted’
Protagonists:
Points:
Uses protagonists to show that one is capable of both good and immoral actions – “I was
encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success.”,
“I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had
apparently devoted the body to corruption.”, “Have my murderous machinations deprived you
also, my dearest Henry, of life?”; “a voice on the phone, late at night, when she was calling us,
crying, accusing, before the divorce.”, “All right,” I say. I go to him and place my lips, closed,
against his.”, “I keep back” &” Now I’m beginning to feel again: shock, outrage, nausea.
Barbarism.” & ““I don’t care,” I say. My voice is rising, I can’t help it.”; “in it I did not behave
well”
Uses protagonists to show the consequences of the interference of humanity within nature –
“breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”, “This was the commencement of a nervous
fever which confined me for several months.” ; “What I feel is more complicated than that. I
don’t know what to call it.” (lack of understanding of on human emotions), “When we think of
the past it’s the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.” (warped
perceptions), refer to Offred’s sadness and conformity to regime – “I intend to get out of here” &
“The fact is that I no longer want to leave, escape, cross the border to freedom.”
, Uses protagonists to show the dangers of isolation from society – “Two years passed in this
manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit
of some discoveries which I hoped to make.”, “My cheek had grown pale with study, and my
person had become emaciated with confinement.”, “the same feelings which made me neglect
the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent,
and whom I had not seen for so long a time.” ; “I close my eyes, and she’s there with me,
suddenly, without warning”, “stupidly enough, I’m happier than I was before. It’s something to
do, for one thing. Something to fill the time, at night, instead of sitting alone in my room”, “I
walk with Ofglen, to and fro. I hardly listen to her, I no longer credit her. The things she whispers
seem to me unreal. What use are they, for me, now?”
Context:
Shelley’s criticism of Galvanism and the scientists who sought to interfere with nature and the
natural order and isolated childhood
Atwood’s support for the second-wave feminist movement but disapproval of radical feminism
could demonstrate her belief in well-meaning but misguided actions
Order v Disorder:
Points:
Dangers of interfering with life’s natural order – “breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”,
“This was the commencement of a nervous fever which confined me for several months.”, “I saw
the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched before me.”, “She was there, lifeless and inanimate,
thrown across the bed, her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered
by her hair.”; “Thinks of nothing.” (Janine as a result of knowing her baby will be taken), “What I
feel is more complicated than that. I don’t know what to call it.” (lack of understanding of on
human emotions), “When we think of the past it’s the beautiful things we pick out. We want to
believe it was all like that.” (warped perceptions), refer to Offred’s sadness and conformity to
regime – “I intend to get out of here” & “The fact is that I no longer want to leave, escape, cross
the border to freedom.”
Critical ideas towards order of society - ‘William and Justine were assassinated, and the
murderer escapes; he walks about the word free, and perhaps respected’; ““Well, officially,” he
says. “But everyone’s human, after all.””, “She’ll be allowed to nurse the baby, for a few months,
they believe in mother’s milk. After that she’ll be transferred, to see if she can do it again, with
someone else who needs a turn”
Broken narratives conveying disorder unavoidably intertwined with each story – Chinese box
structure becomes disordered as the lines between each character become a little blurred;
Historical notes tell us that structure is disordered as it has been pieced together retrospectively
from tape recordings
Context:
Shelley’s criticism of Galvanism and the scientists who sought to interfere with nature and the
natural order
Speculative fiction so Atwood’s warnings of a potential future if the repressive aspects of society
(such as marital rape not being outlawed and repressive reproductive rights in Romania) aren’t
eradicated
Justice/Revenge/Reactionary Behaviour:
Points:
