Hunger For Power In The Handmaid's Tale

Hungry for power. Querulous. Weak. The Commander is the representation of male insecurity. This character is derived from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood’s novel reveals that hunger for control can lead to the oppression of women, this is demonstrated through the Commander’s characterization, the Aunts attitudes, and some of the Gileadean rules/laws. Having the world at the tip of your fingers, and still feeling as if that is not enough, is the reason for the oppression of women in this novel, this is shown through the Commander’s characterization. In this scene, the Commander is explaining to the protagonist why society is how it is. “You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, is what he says. We thought we could do better. … Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse

Gileadean laws were only intact because of the Aunts’ enforcement. “But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up one plump finger. Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison” (Atwood 72). The Aunts tried to make the Handmaids believe that any mistake or tragedy that occurred to them was their own fault. It was them who “provoked” the situation. There was to be no blame on men. Men were never at fault. This was yet another way men tried to be in control. They tried to control what women thought. They made them suffer. The Aunts forced the Handmaids to watch films where women were being beaten, cut, or killed. “Consider the alternatives, said Aunt Lydia. You see what things used to be like? That was what they thought of women, then. Her voice trembled with indignation” (Atwood 118). The Aunts tried to scare the Handmaids into believing that because there were no rules to set women straight and no barriers with men, women were treated like gum under a shoe. Again this is just a demonstration of how men set the Aunts to brainwash the Handmaids into believing whatever they