Idealism In The Handmaid's Tale

Throughout the novel The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood portrays a world built upon the ideals of male leaders through the lens of a woman subject to the terrors that this world inflicts. In response to falling fertility rates and progressive ideologies, a group of powerful men are motivated to concoct a society based entirely upon their religious ideals to further both their reign over the female population and their success as leaders. Through the experience of a woman living at the expense of these ideas, Atwood communicates the negative consequences of idealism in the hands of a man, and the consequences of a religion-based idealistic world. Throughout the Handmaid's Tale, Atwood portrays a dystopian world by the name of Gilead, where

The society itself is called Gilead, which is a name derived from the Bible and is known for being a mountainous land valued for its fertility. In light of fertility rates dropping, this world reverts to traditional forms of thought to coerce women like Offred into submission and childbirth. With this focus on the male desire for children and fertility, Atwood portrays the subsequent objectification of Offred to the extent that her worth diminished to only her womb. An adjacent consequence is its harmful effect on Offred's identity as in the wake of this new society Offred was forced to abandon her name from before Gilead. The name Offred represented that she was Fred's handmaid, and she was only to be referred to as such. The Commander also has the power to break the rules that govern men and women, forcing Offred to do what he wants regardless of the possibility of her punishment. The Commander takes Offred to Jezebels, a prostitution hub, actively putting her in danger without consequences of his own, all of the blame being shifted onto Offred. Furthermore, the Commander gets to indulge in aspects of life deemed illegal, like board games, magazines, and infertility without consequences. However, if Offred is found to be participating in these acts with the Commander, as he repeatedly requests, then she will be sent away and possibly hung for public speculation. The Commander's indulgence and biased perspective of the world as a result of his idealism, results in putting Offred's life in danger. Additionally, gileadean women don't have the right to literacy, prompting signs to be purely photos and reading and writing to be strictly prohibited. By robbing this basic right from the women of Gilead, the Commanders can further their manipulation and control of their subordinates as it is substantially easier to indoctrinate