Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

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The Handmaid’s Tale shows acts of rebellion throughout, but when we as an audience first see a sort of rebellion push through the strict control of Gileadean society is when the Commander and Offred have their first evening together. Offred’s metaphor “If I press my eye to it, this weakness of his, I may be able to see myself clear.” is a foreshadowing of the idea that maybe through these evenings with the Commander she may be able to ease her way out of Gileadean society. “It’s like a small crack in the wall, before now impenetrable.” Use of simile in her language gives the audience a glimpse into the hope she feels, that maybe she may be able to escape, maybe she has another chance at a normal life. Offred’s first time seeing the Commander’s …show more content…

Repetition of now it’s during Offred’s game of scrabble (“Now of course it’s something different. Now it’s forbidden, for us. Now it’s dangerous. Now it’s indecent. Now it’s something he can’t do with his wife. Now it’s desirable. Now he’s compromised himself.”) emphasises on the act of rebellion being performed by both the Commander and Offred. The fact that it is dangerous, that it is forbidden, but it wasn’t before; the fact that they can be punished but they are still playing the game, really emphasises on the theme of rebellion in this …show more content…

As a result of this, the society has changed to revolve around the purpose of reproduction. An individual’s place in society is essentially determined by how viable their ovaries are. “I have viable ovaries. I have one more chance.” The use of truncated sentences, tied together with the repetition of I and the use of high modality terms such as am and have in the above quote allude to the idea of control in the Gileadean society and how Offred has been brainwashed to believe that her place in this society is solely determined by how viable her ovaries are. Having to constantly repeat the term I emphasise on her sentences being like definitions, enunciating who she is and to remind herself of her place in society, a thirty-three-year-old female with viable ovaries. When she says “I have one more chance” it shows that the fact that her ovaries are acceptable, that she can reproduce, is the only thing keeping her in a relatively ‘important’ position in the society. If it weren’t for the fact that she had previously had kids and was able to reproduce before this society came into play, then she wouldn’t be in the position she is now. The metaphor “I wait. I compose myself. My self is a think I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born.” (pg. 76) demonstrates to the audience the idea that Offred is now a

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