handmaid's tale - interpretations Flashcards
two notable critics:
Carol L. Beran: “Images of Women’s Power in Contemporary Canadian Fiction by Women” (1990)
Coral Ann Howells: “Science Fiction in the Feminine: The Handmaid’s Tale” (1996)
Carol explored the idea of Offred as
a victim, yet still having “some kind of special power”
In Gilead, Offred is victimised by a system that reduces women to instruments of procreation
However, Offred’s mind and its ability to remember and use language becomes a “symbol of her power over the powerful male; she extracts gifts and favours in return for playing the crossword game”
One of Beran’s most famous quotes about The Handmaid’s Tale is
: “Offred’s power is in language”:
By this she means that although almost all of Offred’s freedoms, choices and power were stripped away from her, she was still able to record her story via the cassettes referred to in the Historical Notes
Her voice and her story continue long after Gilead has fallen
This is contrasted with Professor Piexioto, who lacks the ability to verbalise with any sense of emotion, because to him Offred is an object of scientific study
Beran believes that
“in finding power in words, in speaking, Offred has moved from being a victim”
In Offred, Atwood gives the reader a model of a woman who exemplifies a “creative non-victim”, which is needed in order for Offred to become a heroine:
“The power to feel and to create feeling is for Atwood’s heroines woman’s true power; artistic creation becomes the symbol of woman’s greatest power”
Coral argues that
Atwood’s choice of a female narrator subverts the traditionally masculine dystopian genre.
Howells acknowledges that The Handmaid’s Tale is
emblematic of a woman’s survival narrative told within the confines of a patriarchal system, as represented by Gilead:
In a world in which women are restricted to private domestic spaces and have their individual identities stripped, Offred still asserts the right to tell her story
“Her treasonable act of speaking out in a society where women are forbidden to read or write or to speak freely effects a significant shift from ‘history’ to ‘herstory’”
Howells suggests that the novel is not just concerned with
female oppression, but gender politics in a broader sense, as Gilead not only represses its female citizens, but also its male citizens, controlling even the most basic human desires for intimacy and love
Howells asserts that there is no simple gender division between masculine and feminine qualities in The Handmaid’s Tale:
If men are capable of violence then so are women
Howells says that Offred herself represents the
complicated nature of feminism and political activism, which can be flawed and inconsistent:
This is demonstrated via Offred being a witty woman who cares about men, as well as about her female friends
In refusing to be silenced, she speaks as a late 20th-century feminist resisting the cultural identity imposed on her - she aims to reclaim her own identity via her memories and refusal to give up hope
But Offred is not revolutionary, as she refuses to join the Mayday resistance, and offers up to Nick the one thing she still owns for herself: her name
Howells believes that Offred’s position is much closer to
the “traditionally feminine role of woman as social mediator”:
“Though she resists the brutal imposition of male power in Gilead, she also remembers the delights of heterosexual love and yearns to fall in love again”
The novel can also be viewed as having elements of a
traditional love story with feminine ideals of romance and romantic fantasies with Nick:
However, Offred’s clear assertion that the fact she continued her affair with Nick of her own free will and for her needs alone offers a female perspective often missing from love stories told from a male perspective
Finally, Howells explores the idea of the Historical Notes representing a
shift back from ‘herstory’ to ‘history’, as Offred’s narrations are viewed through a male academic lens:
The reader does not find out what happened to Offred, and Professor Pieixoto does not know and is not interested - he is only interested in the authenticity of the reports
reactions on publication - overall
The critical reception to the book on publication was varied, especially depending on the location of the critic
reactions on publication - canada
The general reaction of Canadian media was a nervous one, treating the book as a work of social realism:
“In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood’s pessimism comes to the fore as she attempts to frighten us into an awareness of our destiny before it’s too late” (Globe and Mail, 1985)
reactions on publication - america
In America, reviewers appeared to find the novel particularly unsettling:
“The Handmaid’s Tale provides a compelling lesson in power politics and in reasonable intentions gone hysteric” (Philadelphia Inquirer, 1986)
reactions on publication - some critics
Some critics looked beyond the obvious gender politics in the novel:
“Atwood’s book is suffused by life - the heroine’s irrepressible vitality and the author’s lovely subversive hymn to our ordinary life, as lived, amid perils and pollution, now” (The New Yorker, 1986)
Atwood has asserted that she was not writing a
“feminist” novel, but a dystopian novel from the female point of view:
She argues that the majority of dystopias have been written from the male point of view
She has said she believes the novel is seen as feminist by those who think women shouldn’t have a voice
This interest in our planet and its future continues for Atwood today:
In an interview with The Guardian in 2010, she stated that “the threat to the planet is us. It’s actually not a threat to the planet - it’s a threat to us.”
still present
However, also in 2019, she said that she believes the topics in the book are still with us today
In 2018, a BBC article suggested that “Atwood’s novel has an eerie way of always feeling of the moment”, implying that it is as relevant today as it has ever been
The same critic (Jennifer Keishin Armstrong) believes that the two main film adaptations of the book were not successful:
She cites especially the 1990 film version as an “obvious misinterpretation of the original material”
However, the updated television adaptation “feels more vital than ever” as the cultural landscape has shifted further, for example with the #MeToo movement taking hold
The show’s producers changed details to
update it to the present day, such as including references to Uber and Tinder in Offred’s memories of pre-Gilead life
The release of the series coincided with the election of Donald Trump, and the rise of movements and laws to limit women’s reproductive freedom:
Women began to wear outfits inspired by the television series at protests against these measures
Given Moira’s open resistance to oppression, her
different portrayal here signifies how society has changed to incorporate race as an important piece of one’s identity
The show also sometimes follows
other characters and their perspectives:
This gives the audience a broader understanding of the world of Gilead, and how the repressive regime affects a wider range of people
The series chooses to reveal Offred’s real name to the audience in episode 1:
This is a significant departure from the book, perhaps representing June/Offred’s dual narrative which is interwoven throughout not only the book but also the series
This helps to personalise her more for the audience, in a world where she is so obviously de-personalised
It also establishes the character as less passive than Offred in the book; externally, she is obedient, but internally, she rages, indignant at what is happening to her and to others
In the series, Offred’s face is often shown very close to camera
, allowing the audience a greater emotional connection to the character:
This close focus on the character’s face also narrows the visual field, mirroring Offred’s limited perspective in Gilead
This is in contrast to the book, in which we as the reader have very little physical description of Offred to go on, as though to represent her individuality fading
Serena Joy is also represented as much younger in the television adaptation, and more of a contemporary of Offred:
This makes a more complex dynamic between the two characters, as Serena Joy’s bitterness and resentment towards Offred is complicated further by the fact that Offred is there to do something that should rightfully be done by Serena
