The Handmaid's Tale

1273 Words3 Pages

Once upon a time—as all good stories begin—there were a king and queen, who lived happily in a large palace, with a large and blossoming kingdom surrounding it. Unlike most couples in these kinds of stories, the King and the Queen didn’t suffer from fertility problems, and the opening of our tale finds the king pacing up and down the corridor outside the room where his wife was struggling to bring another member of the royal family into life. He paced restlessly, looking at the family portraits lined up upon the walls. His eyes would linger at the last pictures; his own family. It seemed surreal to him that soon another child would be joining them. Every so often, a harassed looking lady’s maid would burst from the room, propelled by a volley …show more content…

It took all of her self control not to mention that many couples were nowhere near as lucky as to manage to conceive any children at all; even those who did always ended up having nasty run ins with evil fairies and curses and whatnot. “I imagine, your majesties...” she began slowly, trying to pick her way across the perilous grounds of conversation as non-confrontationally as she possibly could, “that it might be...err...beneficial to have a guaranteed bloodline. After all, this is the middle ages, and you never know what might befall your firstborn.” The king and queen both inhaled sharply, their eyebrows flying up so far as to hit their hairlines. A couple of the maids fainted and the others looked at each other in horror. A couple quickly hurried with swabs to dab the queen’s forehead. It was too soon for her to have one of her funny turns and faint. Who knew what sort of damage could be caused to her, considering her currently delicate situation? She batted them away with a lordly wave of her free hand, coming to composure quicker than her husband, whose mouth was moving like that of a goldfish, and who had gone as pale as a sheet. “My dear nurse, pray tell me that you don’t wish to imply that my darling son is...is going to die?” the queen said

The Handmaid's Tale Women
1185 Words | 3 Pages
Gender inequality has existed all around the world for many centuries. Women were seen as property of men and their purpose of existence was to provide for the men in their lives. Men would play the role of being the breadwinners, whereas women played the role of being the caregiver of the family and household and must obey the men around her. The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood portrays how women in society are controlled and demeaned by men, and how men feel they are more superior over women.
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A Handmaid's Tale
1650 Words | 4 Pages
A new society is created by a group of people who strengthen and maintain their power by any means necessary including torture and death. Margaret Atwood's book, A Handmaid's Tale, can be compared to the morning after a bad fight within an abusive relationship. Being surrounded by rules that must be obeyed because of being afraid of the torture that will be received. There are no other choices because there is control over what is done, who you see and talk to, and has taken you far away from your family. You have no money or way out. The new republic of Gilead takes it laws to an even higher level because these laws are said to be of God and by disobeying them you are disobeying him. People are already likely to do anything for their God especially when they live in fear of punishment or death. The republic of Gilead is created and maintains its power structure through the use of religion, laws that isolate people from communication to one another and their families, and the fear of punishment for disobeying the law.
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Analysis Of The Handmaid's Tale
893 Words | 2 Pages
The ability to create life is an amazing thing but being forced to have children for strangers is not so amazing. Offred is a handmaid, handmaid's have children for government officials, such as Commander Waterford. Offred used to be married to Luke and together they had a daughter but then everything changed; Offred was separated from her family and assigned to a family as their handmaid. The society which Offred is forced to live in shaped her in many ways. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood uses cultural and geographical surroundings to shape Offred's psychological and moral traits as she tries to survive the society that she is forced to live, in hopes that she can rebel and make change.
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The Courtship of Mr. Lyon, by Angela Carter
750 Words | 2 Pages
Within the Beauty and the Beast inspired ten pages of Angela Carter’s short narrative “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon”, the narrator employs the contradicting nature of the Palladian house prior and succeeding the presence of Beauty to express both the mental and physical deterioration of the Beast. When Beauty first returns to the house after several months hiatus, she notices a rather “doleful groaning of the hinges” as she opens the door (Carter 50). Such a noise is reflective of the fact that they have not been physically oiled for a long duration of time, and that the Beast has ceased to maintain their smooth transition for her return due to an ever weakening state of hope. Similar to the lamenting of the hinges, it is only his desolate cry that plagues the once silent tranquility of the manor.
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Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale
1574 Words | 4 Pages
Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960's as the Women's Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of women's empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminism in their work. One of the most well known writers to deal with feminist themes is Margaret Atwood. Her work is clearly influenced by the movement and many literary critics, as well as Atwood herself, have identified her as a feminist writer. However, one of Atwood's most successful books, The Handmaid's Tale, stands in stark contrast to the ideas of feminism. In fact, the female characters in the novel are portrayed in such a way that they directly conflict with the idea of women's empowerment.
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Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale
878 Words | 2 Pages
In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjected to unthinkable oppression. Practically every aspect of their life is controlled, and they are taught to believe that their only purpose is to bear children for their commander. These “handmaids” are not allowed to read, write or speak freely. Any type of expression would be dangerous to the order of the Gilead’s strict society. They are conditioned to believe that they are safer in this new society. Women are supposedly no longer exploited or disrespected (pornography, rape, etc.) as they once were. Romantic relationships are strongly prohibited because involving emotion would defeat the handmaid’s sole purpose of reproducing. Of course not all women who were taken into Gilead believed right what was happening to their way of life. Through the process of storytelling, remembering, and rebellion, Offred and other handmaids cease to completely submit to Gilead’s repressive culture.
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Handmaids Tale
3082 Words | 7 Pages
Many of the principles of Gilead are based on Old Testament beliefs. Discuss Atwoods use of biblical allusions and their political significance in the novel.
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Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Critics
1097 Words | 3 Pages
The tale of Sleeping Beauty is influenced by oral folklore and various written versions. Today fairytales are told as a domain for the entertainment and teachings of children. In traditional storytelling, peasants transmitted folklore orally around campfires to audiences of mixed ages. However, during the 17th century, peasant tales, such as Sleeping Beauty, were altered by writers like Charles Perrault’s, to appeal to the courts of aristocracy. Thus the characters of Sleeping Beauty adorned a courtly air to appeal to the crown, such as Louis XIV of France. Throughout history, various cultural influences transformed the tale of Sleeping Beauty through the manipulation of various social forces to achieve better entertainment purposes and reflect Christian beliefs and customs. In addition, the moral of the tale conveys a message that women remain passive in hope to marry her true lov...
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Return To Babylon - Analysis
1503 Words | 4 Pages
"From behind the maid who opened the door darted a lovely little girl of nine who shrieked ‘Daddy!’ and flew up, struggling like a fish, into his arms. She pulled his head around by one ear and set her cheek against his.
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The Handmaid's Tale
904 Words | 2 Pages
In Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’, we hear a transcribed account of one womans posting ‘Offred’ in the Republic of Gilead. A society based around Biblical philosophies as a way to validate inhumane state practises. In a society of declining birth rates, fertile women are chosen to become Handmaids, walking incubators, whose role in life is to reproduce for barren wives of commanders. Older women, gay men, and barren Handmaids are sent to the colonies to clean toxic waste.
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The Handmaid's Tale
482 Words | 1 Pages
Hair Care Vedika lived in a world where every one’s purpose was to count all their hairs. Once all the girls and boys turn the age of eighteen which they also believe that it is the “age of consciousness”, it was the time for the inhabitants of that earth to count all their hairs. Going bald and cutting their hair short was a mortal sin and to those who will succeed in counting all their hairs will live an eternal life. The catch is no one is allowed to help a person counting his or her hair.
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The Handmaid's Tale
1003 Words | 3 Pages
Once upon a time, there was a magical forest called the Tevasa forest. During New Year’s Eve, a beautiful half breed between human and fox was born in this forest, her parents named her Ahri. She was the youngest among the three sisters, and Ahri was the only one born with the gift of immortality and the ability to wield magic, however all magic comes with a price; she must consume humanity in order to control the fox spirit. To her parents, she is a sweet beautiful child, but to humans, she is a damnable half-breed, neither human nor beast that will bring death upon them.
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The Handmaid’s Tale
1075 Words | 3 Pages
The Handmaid’s Tale and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? draw on different narrative techniques to establish our relationship to their protagonists. Margaret Atwood allows the reader to share the thoughts of the main character, while Philip K. Dick makes the reader explore the mysteries behind the story. Atwood’s style works because she can directly show her readers what she wants. Dick’s opposing style works for him because he can present paradoxes and mysteries and let the reader form the conclusion. Both of these styles are skillfully utilized to create complex stories without losing the reader along the way.
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The Wife of Bath: Illustrating Courtly Love
960 Words | 2 Pages
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is written in an entertaining and adventurous spirit, but serves a higher purpose by illustrating the century’s view of courtly love. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other pieces of literature written in the same century prevail to commemorate the coupling of breathtaking princesses with lionhearted knights after going through unimaginable adventures, but only a slight few examine the viability of such courtly love and the related dilemmas that always succeed. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that women desire most their husband’s love, Overall, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that the meaning of true love does not stay consistent, whether between singular or separate communities and remains timeless as the depictions of love from this 14th century tale still hold true today.
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Feminist Criticism Of The Handmaid's Tale
1251 Words | 3 Pages
Though Offred is developed as a character through her opinions on female sexuality, she is further characterized by her individuality and willingness to defy her social expectations as a female, assigned to her by her government. In Atwood’s work, the narrative is told by an intelligent individual named Offred who is oppressed by Gilead’s female expectations but is not afraid to defy these assigned roles despite not being a traditional heroine (Nakamura). Even as Offred’s previous identity is stripped away from her, she retains small pieces of her womenhood and individuality through defiant actions such as manipulating men with her feminity from swaying her hips slighty in their line of sight to making direct eye contact with certain men, which she is forbidden from. On the other hand, a major act of rebellion from
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The Handmaid's Tale