Power In The Handmaid's Tale

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In a society within The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood where men control women and have all of the power, Offred must stay strong and not give in to the pressure of Gilead. While it might seem like the Wives dominate over the Handmaids within Gilead with a naturally more desirable position within society compared to the Handmaids, this is not the case. Every Wives quest for a baby has a journey featuring social sacrifices of their own as they try and reach the end goal of peace with their own child. Along the way, the Wives get caught up in a power struggle between what they think is rightfully theirs, and what the Handmaids helped create through their own hard work. The conflict between the two creates a divide that separates them from …show more content…

Offred also mentions in the quotation how Serena Joy desperately wants Offred to succeed in becoming pregnant. Offred knows however that Serena only needs her for her fertility, and acknowledges that Serena despises her in all other aspects of her life. This symbolizes that Serena Joy is losing hope and that the relationship between the two is quickly dwindling. The meeting between Offred and Serena is not the only instance where it is revealed that the Wives might want to escape the social pressure that comes with trying to conceive a baby via a Handmaid. While Aunt Lydia is lecturing the Handmaids, she addresses the Wives and tries to get the Handmaids to sympathize for them: “It's not the husband's you have to watch out for, said Aunt Lydia, it’s the Wives. You should always try to imagine what they must be feeling. Of course they will resent you. It is only natural. Try to feel for them... try to pity them. Forgive them, for they know not what they do... You must realize that they are defeated women” (46). In this quotation, Aunt Lydia tries to make the Wives appear and weak and

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