Themes (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and universal ideas that authors explore throughout their literary works. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood examines several powerful themes that remain relevant to contemporary society. Understanding these themes is essential for analysing the novel's critique of totalitarianism, gender oppression, and the dangers of religious fundamentalism.

Women's bodies as political instruments

The dystopian state of Gilead emerged as a response to a fertility crisis caused by dramatically declining birth rates. The government's entire structure centres on a single objective: controlling reproduction. To achieve this goal, the regime exerts complete authority over women's bodies through political subjugation.

In Gilead, women face severe restrictions on their freedom. They cannot participate in voting, own property, work in paid employment, or even read. The state systematically removes any opportunity for women to develop independence or challenge their husbands' authority. Despite Gilead's rhetoric claiming to protect women, this subjugation creates a society where women exist as subhuman. They become reduced to their biological functions, treated merely as reproductive vessels rather than complete human beings.

Key quote: Offred recognises that Gilead seeks to make her useful by depriving her of everything that made her human.

Language as a tool of power

Gilead employs language as a weapon to maintain control over its population. The regime creates an official vocabulary that distorts reality to serve the needs of those in power. This manipulation of language makes oppression appear natural and inevitable.

The state makes it illegal for women to hold jobs, then creates a hierarchical system of titles to define people's roles. Whilst men receive titles based on their military rank, women are classified solely by their gender roles: Wives, Handmaids, or Marthas. By stripping women of their permanent individual names, Gilead removes their sense of personal identity. Offred's name itself means 'Of Fred', indicating she belongs to her Commander.

Gilead controls even everyday interactions through prescribed greetings. Citizens must use specific phrases when meeting, and failing to respond correctly raises suspicion of disloyalty. The state invents special terms for its ceremonies and rituals, including 'Prayvaganzas', 'Salvagings', and 'Particutions'. These euphemisms disguise violence and oppression as religious devotion.

Dystopian literature frequently explores how totalitarian states manipulate language to control thought. George Orwell's 1984 examines this through 'Newspeak', and The Handmaid's Tale continues this literary tradition. By maintaining control over language and names, Gilead maintains control over women's bodies and minds.

The causes of complacency

Atwood suggests that people in totalitarian states often accept oppression willingly when they receive even small amounts of power or freedom in return. This uncomfortable truth challenges readers to consider what compromises they might make under similar circumstances.

Offred remembers her mother saying people can adapt to almost anything if they receive a few compensations. This proves true in Offred's experience. Her complacency begins when she develops a relationship with Nick. Although her situation remains severely restricted, the physical affection and companionship she receives make the other restrictions feel more bearable. She reclaims a tiny fragment of her former existence, and this becomes sufficient compensation to make her situation almost tolerable.

The novel examines how even powerless people find ways to exercise authority over those beneath them. Serena Joy has no power in the male-dominated political sphere, yet she exercises considerable authority within her household. She appears to delight in her tyranny over Offred, jealously guarding the small amount of power she possesses.

The Aunts, particularly Aunt Lydia, exemplify willing servants of the Gileadean state. They maintain close surveillance over other women, watching for any signs of rebellion. Their role parallels the function of Jewish police under Nazi rule, showing how oppressed groups sometimes become enforcers for their oppressors.

Complicity

The Handmaid's Tale examines how ordinary people become complicit in the horrifying acts of totalitarian regimes. Although the novel's women are victims of the Gileadean state, many choose complicity over rebellion.

Serena Joy exemplifies this complicated relationship with power. She is miserable and possesses very little freedom, yet she enthusiastically exploits the limited power she wields over Offred. More seriously, the Aunts are complicit in the regime's worst atrocities. They bear responsibility for torture and psychological abuse whilst claiming to protect women's interests.

In a revealing moment, Offred refuses to label the Ceremony as rape in her own mind. She tells herself, 'nothing is going on here that I haven't signed up for' (Chapter 16). This internal justification demonstrates how people rationalise their participation in oppression to maintain psychological stability.

Offred's choices challenge readers to consider where passivity ends and complicity begins. This ambiguity makes the novel particularly powerful, as it refuses to provide simple moral judgements.

Seeing

Atwood draws on feminist theory about the male gaze, exploring how men's way of looking at women in patriarchal society functions as a form of control and even violence.

Offred's distinctive 'white wings' (Chapter 2) severely restrict her ability to see her surroundings. Meanwhile, she constantly feels observed and threatened by male eyes watching her. She perceives surveillance everywhere: the patch of plaster in her bedroom ceiling becomes a 'blind plaster eye', whilst the convex mirror on the stairs resembles a 'fisheye' (Chapter 17).

The novel endorses the feminist concept that male observation of women can constitute a form of violation. However, Atwood also warns that feminist concepts alone cannot protect women from male domination. Ironically, the only character who explicitly articulates the idea that male sight equals violence is Aunt Lydia, one of the regime's collaborators. She tells the Handmaids: 'To be seen—to be seen—is to be—her voice trembled—penetrated' (Chapter 5).

Reproduction

The Handmaid's Tale presents a powerful argument that legally controlling women's reproductive freedom is both morally wrong and politically dangerous. The suffering experienced by Offred and the other Handmaids stems directly from the Gileadean state's obsession with owning and controlling women's fertility.

Specific details connect Gilead's reproductive control to the political aims of 20th-century religious fundamentalism. The regime executes doctors known to have performed abortions, demonstrating its absolute opposition to reproductive choice. Paradoxically, one cause of Gilead's declining birth rate is the number of women who previously chose to become infertile, suggesting that attempts to control reproduction often produce unintended consequences.

Atwood's examination of reproductive control remains remarkably relevant to contemporary political debates. The novel suggests that once a society begins controlling reproduction, it inevitably moves towards controlling all aspects of women's lives. The Handmaids cannot vote, own property, work, or read because these freedoms might enable them to resist their reproductive servitude.

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