Similarities Between Frankenstein And The Handmaid's Tale

In both novels Frankenstein and The Handmaids Tale the question of what it means to be human is a reoccurring theme in which emphasizes the passions and desires every individual may have... There are both dark and bright sides of being human as overcontrolling passions may lead to madness, distress, and use of violence. Victor 's overpowering passion for knowledge led to him doing the extreme by playing God and bringing a creature to life in a world where it would never be accepted as society tends to only accept humans that are visually appealing- as for society what it means to be human depends mainly on the outer appearance. The monster wanted nothing more but compassion and human contact, something babies desire for the most, but since

Society would never accept him as society treats outcast and people that are any 'different ' atrociously. The monster acquired books of "Paradise Lost", "Plutarch 's Lives" and "The Sorrows of Werter", which "gave him extreme delight" as he studied and exercised his mind. When he came across the DeLacey family, hope sparked inside of him as he believed he would finally be accepted by at least a small part of society. Intelligently enough the monster made his move and approached the blind old man, in which he knew wouldn 't be able to see him or judge him by his distorted appearance. He finally grasps the chance into talking to the old man, De Lacey and he acknowledges that if he fails in being accepted by them he will be "an outcast in the world for ever". The creatures first encounter with a human being only proves how humane it is, despite his horrid appearance as the old man is delighted with him "I am blind, and cannot judge of your countenance but there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere". However, the younger citizens of the cottage enter and the creature is back to square one as they immediately react defensively against it- conveying how the creature will never be accepted with such distorted appearance since it is immediately identified as inhumane and

The suffocating society of Gilead is presented where individualism is completely taken away from them, and what it means to be human has been completely eroded away from what we know today. To be human today means, to be honest, affectionate, caring, understanding and to have passions. However, being too passionate for something only leads to chaos as seen through Victor 's overpowering desire for knowledge that led to chaotic results. Offred 's identity and individualism have been completely stripped away from her as he legal rights, name and clothes have been destroyed. She 's just another cog in a machine as she is labeled as a handmaid, only valued for her "viable ovaries". Atwood evidently shows that being human means rebelling and resisting any system imposed on you as it is in our nature to go against a system we don 't agree on and are pressurized to be a part of. Offred silently resists the system, in contrast to Moira that rebels against it openly and loudly as she fought for her individualism. Moira presents a more honest and abrupt human that has a passion for freedom as she goes against the whole system imposed on them. Being human in this novel means being different as an individual, however, this is very hard to achieve as the totalitarian government of