Patriarchal and Governmental Violent Discourse: A Suppression of Women’s Reproductive Rights in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

Abstract

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale unfolds a violent dystopian narrative that targets women in general and more precisely a category of fertile women who are assigned by the tyrannical Gilead government to bear children for elite sterile couples. Offred, the protagonist, recounts her life in Gilead, a theocratic and totalitarian state, forced to undergo a ritualized sex with a governmental commander, while her hands are tightly gripped by Selena, in order to bear a child for the commander and his wife. The physical and psychological trauma inflicted upon Offred, the Handmaid, as well as her friends, are transmitted through the nonlinear and introspective style of narration and stand as proofs of the suppression of women’s reproductive rights and female subjectivity as a whole. Offred’s physical and psychological freedom, as a human being, are usurped due to political and religious strict pretexts. The Governmental perpetual violent discourse against Offred will be studied as a case in point of futuristic patriarchal assault towards women, unless fairer legal and social laws will be established across the globe to protect women’s reproductive rights and status within society. Though the novel is dystopian, it still bears a cautionary orientation for feminist trends and groups to move from theories to more practical actions towards ensuring women’s rights and gender equality.