Essay on Handmaids Tale - Conventional Relationships and...

In today’s society, a ‘conventional’ relationship between a man and a woman is easily defined. It is one based on freedom of choice by both partners, equality of gender, and emotional attachment. It is acceptable to say that in Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, none of these are permitted. This book shows a society completely unlike our own, one that has been constructed on the Old Testament, where women are seen as ‘biological vessels’ and are obsequious to men, and there is no place for ‘romantic love’. The setting of The Handmaid’s Tale – known as Gilead – is a totalitarian government, originally based on Old Testament patriarchy. This structure forbids rival loyalties or parties, so all loyalty must be for the group of men that†¦show more content†¦Sometimes their ritual behaviour can be made bearable by the award of luxuries. Wives – being closest to the Commanders – have ready access to ‘black market’ items such as cigarettes and makeup, even alcohol. Handmaids on the other hand, are given their necessities, but things like hand cream or cigarettes are merely desirable items at the back of their mind – bait to be used by more powerful figures. These women have been placed to serve their government through their positions and relinquish all desires for emotional attachment. By having legitimate groups of women, it follows to have illegitimate groups. During the story, we are introduced to the concept of â€Å"unwomen† – those who are unable to reproduce, or simply refuse to obey orders. Another illegitimate group that we learn of is the one that Moira eventually joins – prostitutes or ‘Jezebels’. These two groups only reiterate the point that individualism is not allowed, and is not welcomed, in this government. The assigned roles of the women help to form the socially acceptable relationships of Gilead. The most formal of the man-woman relationships in The Handmaid’s Tale is that of the Commander and his wife, Serena Joy. On the surface, these two people appear to everyone as a lovely married couple – one obedient to the State and it’s rules. The reader knows that Serena is protective over her husband from the beginning – â€Å"As for my husband, she said, he’s just that. My husband. I want that toShow MoreRelated Harold Pinter Essays3305 Words   |  14 PagesBirthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming, Betrayal, Old Times, and Ashes to Ashes. He has also composed a number of radio plays and several volumes of poetry. His screenplays include The French Lieutenants Woman, The Last Tycoon, and The Handmaids Tale. He has received numerous awards including the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear, BAFTA awards, the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize, the Cannes Film Festival Palme dOr and the Commonwealth Award. Harold Pinter was born on October 10, 1930 in HackneyRead MoreEssay Prompts4057 Words   |  17 Pagesof Solitude Catch-22 Othello Crime and Punishment The Scarlet Letter The Crucible Slaughterhouse-Five A Farewell to Arms Song of Solomon Ghosts The Stone Angel The Great Gatsby The Stranger Heart of Darkness A Tale of Two Cities The House of Mirth Their Eyes Were Watching God Jude the Obscure 2003 (Form A): According to critic Northrop Frye, â€Å"Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductorsRead MoreEssay on Silent Spring - Rachel Carson30092 Words   |  121 Pageshad been battling cancer. Author Biography 5 Plot Summary Chapter One Carsons survey of the research on pesticides opens in a most unscientific fashion with a tale about an American town that has suffered a series of plagues. At chapters end, Carson acknowledges that the town is an imaginary one, but lest the tale be dismissed as mere fantasy, she hastens to add that each of the catastrophes it catalogs has actually happened somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered