How Does Atwood Use Language In The Handmaids Tale

From the outset of 'The Handmaids Tale' the reader is placed in an unknown world, where the rights and freedom of women have been taken away. We follow the narrative journey of a handmaid, named Offred.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, the Gilead regime oppresses women in many different ways; they take complete control over their bodies, they

In Gilead, women are treated like objects and all of their rights are taken away from them. They cannot vote, hold property or jobs, read, or do anything else that might cause them to become rebellious or independent, and undermine the men, or the state. Even the shops where the handmaids go to buy food do not have names on for them to read, just pictures. The only thing important about a woman now is her ovaries and her womb, as they are reduced to just their fertility.

Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale, constructs a near-future dystopia where human values do not progress and evolve, but instead become completely diminished and dominated under the Republic of Gilead. This powerful and secure new government gains complete political control and begins to abuse their power by forcing fertile women to reproduce. The Gileadean society is enforced by many Biblical laws, morals, and themes, yet the Gileadian religious ideologies are based on only a few specifically selected Biblical passages that are taken literally. The selection of certain passages in the Bible helps control and manipulate the women that are being enslaved by giving them a false sense of justification and security for the treatment they

Within the totalitarian society created by Margaret Atwood in the Handmaid’s Tale, there are many people and regimes centred around and reliant on the manipulation of power. The laws that are in place in the republic of Gilead are designed and implemented so as to control and restrict the rights and freedom of its inhabitants.

The freedom of speech is one right that is stated in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. The handmaid’s have certain greetings and words that they can say to each other. Like; "Praise be", "May the Lord open", and "Blessed be the fruit" (19). These words are initially exchanged between Ofglen and Ofwarren when they meet and go to town together. They need to be careful of what they say because The Eyes are always watching. The Eyes assist in the removal of the freedom of speech because, if they are always watching everyone, then no one can assemble, and if no one can assemble, then they cannot challenge the government. Therefore, helping the government contain absolute control over the society. If they say the wrong thing, then there are extreme consequences inflicted upon you. Usually, the rulebreaker is killed and their body is hung on the wall for everyone to see. This contributes to the theme of absolute power because, the government uses intimidation to keep people in check so they won’t rebel. The Gilead Regime preserves its absolute domination of the society by removing the First Amendment rights, starting with the removal of the freedom of speech before moving on to the removal of the freedom of the press.

There is no destruction of antonyms, comparatives or superlatives in 'The Handmaid's Tale', as Gilead powers are not eradicating aspects of language, merely preventing people from speaking them, by enforced use of religious discourse. Atwood does, however, use prefixes to describe certain things, indicating state control. Words such as "unwomen" and "unbaby" denote failure. If a handmaid's child is branded, "unbaby", it shows failure to produce healthy offspring. Handmaids wish to produce healthy children, preventing transportation to the colonies. These prefixes therefore scare them into conforming, and trying to produce children as the authorities wish.

In Gilead Handmaids are seen as adulterous, harlots and are hated by everyone because of their role, “But the frown isn’t personal: it’s the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for.”(pg.19 ) they are especially hated by the wives of commanders.

When the Handmaids become pregnant things become very dangerous for them. The wives in the caste do not have the power that the Handmaids do and they see that as threatening. They become jealous at such a degree they begin to believe things about the Handmaids. They make the Handmaids out to be the least important and view them as disgusting and vile. They are seen by the wives as encroachers onto their territories, stealing their husbands and their possible pregnancies. They are seen by the Martha’s as despicable, that they chose life as a Handmaid. In their eyes the Handmaid wants to be a Handmaid. The Martha’s believe that a Handmaid loves their life, being able to lust around with other women’s husbands.

The agents of control in offreds life start with the aunts in training the handmaid’s. the role is to mold the handmaid’s into their society, to make them presume that everything is the norm and not to desire more. Secondly is the eye. They are the thought in the backs of peoples minds that makes them follow the rules. No one knows quite who they are and can never be sure who to trust. This is the perfect way to control people without a constant presence.

This is exhibited by the fact that most of the characters disobey the laws of Gilead one way or another. The flashbacks in the novel show that strict laws are a leading cause of defiance. The narrator’s point of view shows her gradual disregard for the law that progresses over the course of the book. While many may think that forming strict laws is a way to get people to adhere and act accordingly, Atwood proves otherwise in the situations depicted in The Handmaid’s

The Handmaid’s Tale is a distillation of the real-world events that were happening before the book was published. In this novel, she talks about a handmaid living in the Gilead Republic, newly formed republic that is controlled by a theocratic dictatorship government. Theocratic dictatorship is a type of government in which laws are based on a particular religion. One leader, a dictator, rules the government, and there is neither power nor person above the leader. In the Gilead Republic, the system forces its citizens to obey its laws, and follow its agendas absolutely. Thus, the theocratic dictatorship changed the ordinary ways of life because it forced its people to live with in a patriarchal system

to give a horrific picture in the readers mind of what happened. The movie changes the scene slightly in that there is only one hanging. The Handmaid in the movie is hung for "seduction of a doctor." The director of the film makes this scene very tense when Aunt Lydia asks, "Why is she punished?" All the handmaids answer in unison while bowing "For our sins! For our sins," and by showing the Handmaids pull the rope to hang the convicted woman. Both the movie and the film proceed to the Particicution. The handmaids make a circle around a man who was convicted of "rape of two women, one was pregnant and the baby died" (279). Atwood describes how all the handmaids "surge forward, like a crowd at a rock concert in the former time,"(279) and kill the man. The movie follows along with the picture Atwood gives accurately.

The laws of Gilead dehumanizes women and takes away their rights as citizens to society. Gilead wasn’t always like that until the revolution overcame the town and took away women's rights. “In Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, women are totally under the control of male members of the patriarchal society; she describes a patriarchal society and reflects the political ideology in America of that time.” Women are downgraded without any authority and control by men. “Women are like birds that are kept in cages to stop them from flying. And the authorities make women believe that this society is very secure for them and they are protected in this way of living. They also make women believe that the new way is a better freedom and God will save them if they follow.” They are taking the laws made by Gilead and comparing

For this essay, we focused strictly on critics' reactions to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. For the most part, we found two separate opinions about The Handmaid's Tale, concerning feminism. One opinion is that it is a feminist novel, and the opposing opinion that it is not. Feminism: A doctrine advocating social, political, and economic rights for women equal to those of men as recorded in Webster's Dictionary. This topic is prevalent in the novel The Handmaid's Tale. Margaret Atwood, a Canadian writer, spends most of her time featuring women in her books, novels, and poetry that examine their relationships in society. In the book Atwood centers her novel on a girl whom