Therefore the power dynamics between men and women depict how the rights and freedoms of females in Gilead are largely excluded. Portraying how, even in gender-specific hierarchies, men are given more power and autonomy than women. Women, in contrast, are fixed in their roles as Handmaids, Marthas, or Wives. Men can move between ranks: from Guardian to Angel and may be able to obtain a wife. Furthermore, the social hierarchy between men is more flexible than that of women. Wives like most women in the novel are completely silenced within the governmental and political spheres of Gilead. While the Wife holds the most power in relation to other female positions in Gilead, a Commander’s Wife is only allowed to make decisions which her husband approves of, and can only exercise her power at home, thus, depicting that her power is relative to her husband’s position (Stein). The female characters are solely presented as child-bearers and laborers in Gilead.įurthermore, the Commanders undoubtedly carry the largest amount of power in Gilead, and their wives’ power within the female dynamics in the novel only exists because of their connection to a Commander. While they hold positions of power such as government officials, security, etc. Men are placed socially politically and economically above women. The hierarchy is constructed in such a way that power and dominance are ascribed to men, and women are marginalized as subordinates. The social hierarchy between the genders is a vital element of the marginalization of women in Gilead.
The most obvious example of the marginalization of women within the novel is the power imbalance between men and women. Within The Handmaid’s Tale, language and social constructs are used to represent the plight of women’s marginalization or subjugation under male dominance, also portraying how handmaids are further oppressed within the female power dynamics in Gilead. Women being disparaged by their own through social hierarchies, a notion often overlooked or neglected in society. Not only is gender marginalization prevalent within the novel―that is, women subjugated by men―but, Atwood also discusses the intersection of marginalized identities.
Many facets of marginalization are present within The Handmaid’s Tale. Thus, the novel portrays both the “emotional and physical marginalization of women” in a totalitarian regime (Sahu). The future state is a totalitarian dictatorship in which women are oppressed and their status is determined by their reproductive capabilities. The Handmaid’s Tale follows the journey of the protagonist, Offred, an inhabitant of the totalitarian society of Gilead. Atwood stresses the “loss of female identity in a male-dominated society” (Sahu). Margaret Atwood’s acclaimed novel The Handmaid’s Tale is a thought-provoking dystopia that points out the subjugated condition of women under patriarchal dominance.
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