State power as a means of oppression towards women: A study of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

Abstract

This thesis aims to trace the political and social events of the 1970s to 1980s with the focus on the rise of Christian beliefs during that time. It highlights how the women of patriarchal society in the novel and reality have been suffered, and have been targeted for oppress. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel which is inspired from the real events in 1980s America, Romania and some other countries. This thesis examines the role of women through different categorizations in Gilead, the fixed position of women which divided them from each other. The three waves of feminism and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex have been used to understand the concept of Atwood's writing and which explores the identity of women in patriarchy for better analysis of the novel. The women's culture has also been discussed. Moreover, the oppression towards women through the use of the Bible has been analyzed. In this thesis, women are not only being used for procreation but they are being oppressed biologically and sexually. Therefore, this thesis shows how the real events of 1980’s depicted in the novel by focusing on the role of women in patriarchy society, women as an object to fulfil men’s desire and their sexual oppression to mark that state power is being used to oppress women.