Essay about Character Analysis of The Handmaid's Tale

In the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood the story is narrated by Offred. She is a Handmaid in the new society of Gilead in a story that takes place in the future. By having Offred narrate the story the readers of the story get to see the important memories of Offred’s old life, including the many different relationships that she had. One of the relationships that she reminisces of is the one between her and her best friend Moira. Early on in the novel, Offred remembers a night that she was with Moira. She was busy finishing a paper and Moira wanted to go out. We also learn that Moira wrote a paper on date rape. That memory of her best friend, Moira, shows how

Throughout most of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Moira is a character who refuses to be beaten down and conform to the new society that Gilead had created. She is one of only characters that is referred to by her real name, and this is because Moira never really becomes a Handmaid like the others. In lieu of the passivity that the other Handmaid’s come to have, she fights back against the new system. Her resistance can be seen not only in her attitude while she is a Handmaid, but in her two attempts at escape as well. Moira’s refusal to conform to the society that the Republic of Gilead created represents the rebellious spirit of humanity, as well as how an oppressive society such as Gilead can break even the strongest of

In addition to the important roles that women play in the regime, this setting also portrays the will and intelligence of women. Offred seeks knowledge as she meets with the Commander; she longs for touch and intimacy as she risks everything to spend her nights with Nick. Moira strives to leave the confines of the regime as she continuously found ways to escape. Even as she is recaptured, she chooses to stay at Jezebel’s to live. Although given death if no child is beared, Handmaids voluntarily “prayed for emptiness, so we would be worthy to be filled: with grace, with love, with self-denial, semen and babies” (194). Despite their role to bear children and given death if they failed to do so, essentially, Handmaids have a choice in whether they accept that death or survive by finding ways to get pregnant. These instances show that women are not merely simple creatures who are controlled by men because what they do is still a decision of their own. Nevertheless, all of the progress that women fought for is gone: their reproductive rights, economic rights, social rights. Women are not allowed to get abortions, and they are forced into bearing children for their Commanders. Women have no outside jobs; they merely complete chores for their household. They are given no social power; they are monitored for what they say and what they can do in public. Such strict confines of

No doubt, the issue of equal rights for women (or lack thereof) has been a pervasive problem in our own society, a fact which now tends to be overlooked by virtue of the current improved status of women both socially and economically. Similar to our society, the Handmaid’s Tale portrays women’s rights as an ongoing serious problem that even predates the inception of Gilead. The struggle for equality can be observed by the actions of a few women before Gilead, including Offred’s Mother, who was a stout feminist activist, and Moira, who was often enraged by the inequality of the sexes. Notwithstanding the actions of a few women, however, and while the majority of women in the Handmaid’s Tale, like Offred, acknowledged that the status of women was still inferior, the majority remained fiercely content and violently apathetic, in large measure because of the relative improved condition of some like the Handmaid Offred. Offered is perhaps the most striking. Not only was Offred provided ample opportunity to support feminism and equality, but was also surrounded by feminists such as her mother and Moira, and despite all (or perhaps because of) she remained apathetic. To be sure, some actions perpetrated by Moira and Offred’s mother could be considered misguided at best and counterproductive at worst. For example, Moira’s unreasonable stance on men are illustrative: “If Moira thought she could create Utopia by shutting herself up in a women-only enclave

Offred never fully encompasses the life of a handmaid, because she has the hopes of being united with her husband and daughter. Even when Offred was sent to the Rachel and Leah Center, where all fertile women were sent to denounce their former lives and accept their new roles in society, she still tried to find a way to escape with her friend Moira. Offred lets the viewers know that she is not going to conform to the society by some of the remarks she makes. For instance, Offred says, “We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (Atwood, 1985, p.136). This hints to the audience that she knows her place in this society, and it is not the place she wants to be in for a long time.

In Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, the character of Offred is restricted by the severe regulations of her society. The once democratic United States of America with equality for all has been turned into the theocratic and totalitarian Republic of Gilead. When Offred is affected by the strict standards of this society, she responds in audacious, yet furtive ways in order to not attract the attention of the omniscient Eyes who control the society and punish offenders

Moira in the pre-chaotic world, was a lesbian, logical, stood up for herself, and was a feminist, which in the world of Gilead, is no longer acceptable. Women were basically now used as sex-slaves and made to have children for others. They had many opportunities to become impregnated and if not

traditional communities, particularly in the more remote villages, she is still expected to shave her head and live like an ascetic, sleeping on the ground, living only to fast and pray for her departed spouse. (50)

When Offred ventures into the Commander’s office, a place handmaids are forbidden to enter, she is overwhelmed with books. Atwood provides more information on the restrains of women in Gilead when Offred comments “It’s an oasis of the forbidden.” (137) Atwood provides insight on the strict regulations on women with Offred’s amazement on how extraordinary it was to be in the presence of many words. Atwood then makes a point of how disposable women are when Offred feels uncomfortable with the Commander watching her put on lotion but she doesn’t turn away. Offred silently lectures herself “For him, I must remember, I am only a whim.”(159)

An American journalist, Theodore White, once said, “power in America is control of the means of communication.” This holds true not only for America, but in many environments, including The Gileadean government in Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. There are two linguistic elements employed throughout the novel which bolster the totalitarian regime of the Gileadean government. The religious terminology and speech and the sexist language and symbols highlight the repression of free speech and contribute to the oppressive behavior of the Gileadean administration by utilizing speech as a form of power that enables the government to control its citizens. By skimming over and failing to notice the occurrence of oppressive language, readers prove that people will readily accept sexist and domineering speech; analyzing these elements are important to regain control of the power of one’s own words, as well as the words of others.

Offred who is the protagonist of the book “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood is having a interior monologue in Chapter one. Offred is remembering whens she first gets to the house and she is still sleeping in the centre with the other women. She feels alone because she cannot speak freely and express her herself also because she is not with any family or friends. Whenever she gets the chance to speak to someone or be intimate with her friends because they are lacking, it has to be secretive because they are not allowed to hold hands etc. The other women as well as her have suffered a lot physically and psychologically and it seen through the way she expresses herself in this passage.

Brainwashing people is one of the techniques used in gilead to control people and this has been really effective. Moira’s spirit of resistance is defeated after being successful with her escaping and later recaptured, tortured. Offred finds her at Jezebel’s

Unlike Moira, Offred is desperate to conceive the Commanderís child in order to survive. Both women parallel many women in todayís society. On one hand, there are feminists who rebel against society no matter what it costs. On the other hand, there are women who are just trying to survive and find their place in a society in which they are second class citizens. In the novel, Offred is torn between smearing her face with butter to keep her complexion and hanging herself. In the same manner, she is caught between accepting the status of women under the new regime and following her own desires to gain knowledge and fall in love. Offred doesnít know whether to accept the circumstances and die inside, or to fulfill her own desires, set herself free like Moira has done. The contrast between Moira and Offred reveals Atwoodís attitude towards women and their sometimes self-destructive submission. Atwood shows the oppression of women through the extreme setting of the story, but she also allows the reader to see how women passively oppress themselves.

In both texts, ones flaws of being innocent, tragically leads to them being taken advantage of through the antagonist in the play/novel, hence, rattling the ethics of society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women’s punishment is one of the main causes of why violence ensues. Moira, an innocent, courageous individual, who due to her high willed and rebellious nature tends to devise escape plans in order to liberate from the norms of The Republic of Gilead. When Moira attempts to escape for the first time by deceiving an aunt by faking an illness; hoping to bribe the men with sex and is unsuccessful in her scheme; she is penalized for her behavior. At the dinner hall where all the handmaids are present, Offered sees “two aunts [come] out of the building, hauling Moira out and [taking] her to the Science Lab. Afterwards she could not walk for a week, her feet would not fit in her shoes, they were too swollen” (Atwood 91) When rules are imposed amongst an individual it is only human instinct to rebel against them. As a result, Moira mistreatment for a mistake that is not based intellectually but purely from the heart, blinding her from the consequences is unjust. The unfair rules of Gilead limit women from fundamental rights as well as “reducing circumstances”, which is as

The novel The Handmaid’s tale begins with the main character Offred introducing the facilities she is living in, the role of the people, and the kind of place and caste system she is living in. Offred is crucial to the story because one she is the main character and two she gives us descriptions of what kind of roles or changes have been placed in the Gilead nation. Also another character Ofglen who is a handmaid like Offred plays a role as a friend like figure to Offred. They are assigned as partners to one another and without Ofglen, Offred would be completely lonely but she does not play that big of a role in the novel. Moira was Offred’s friend before the start of Gilead and is usually seen through Offred’s flash back moments. She plays