Paper 2: Prose - interesting points

analyse: 'he inserts the key, opens the box, takes out the bible' (chapter 15)

this act could be representative of the sexual act as the key (male, phallic) enters the locks (mysterious, female) to release their faith as God blesses them with a child. this could then show women can only gain access to the word of God through a man

analyse: 'obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated' (letter one)

this line puts Walton's account into doubt, as it makes his clear his intentions are to garner literary fame, and could therefore sensationalising events to fit the popular travel and gothic fiction styles of the period. it could also show Walton presenting himself or Victor, a man he admires, in a certain light

context: Schlegel quote

"Every human being who is cultivated and who cultivates himself", namely, the person who achieves Bildung, "contains a novel within himself"

explore: the interpretation of Moira as a saint

- 'Moira was our fantasy' (chapter 22) - Offred projects onto Moira the virtues of bravery, daring, freedom, and sexual autonomy as she rejects the model of womanhood established by Serena Joy, the aunts, and even Offred's own mother - Moira is first introduced in chapter 7 wearing 'purple overalls'. as well as not being a colour found in Gilead purple is often associated royalty and religion due to the rarity of the dye in older times - Offred feels inferior to Moira as she remarks that Moira's story is a 'better' one especially as her presence in Offred's narrative is always as a subversive figure who stands against the regime - Moira's presence therefore provides Offred with spiritual sustenance which offers alternative understandings and values to the institutional 'stones' (Sufi epigraph) of Christinanity - Moira's position as Offred's spiritual saviour is what makes her submission to Gilead more crushing for Offred

context: what did the Toronto star say about Maraget Atwood which provides insight into her female characters?

"her men continued to be weak and petulant, but the villains of her fiction turned out to be female"

context: what quote by critic Sandra M. Gilbert can be use alongisde Paradise Lost context when analysing Frankenstein?

'Frankenstein is a version of the misogynistic story implicit in Paradise Lost'

context: what quote by Judith Butler links to THT and why?

'Identity categories tend to be instruments of regulatory regimes' ecause in Gilead gender and class classifications are used by Gilead to construct specific roles for its citizens in order to prevent an organised resistance

quote: what quote best shows Walton's insecurity?

'Now I am twenty eight, and in reality more illiterate than many school boys of fifteen' due to his 'gentle and feminine fosterage' (letter 2)

critic (?): William Godwin on solitude

'To be virtuous, it is requisite that we should consider men, and their relations to eachother'

critic: Ruth Perry

'epistolary structure dwells on responses to events rather than on the events themselves'

context: what Mary Wollstonecraft quote can be used to comment on womens' entrapment in the domestic sphere?

'strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obdience'

context: what Mary Wollstonecraft quote can be used to criticise Walton and Victor's internal philosophies?

'the welfare of society is not built on extraordinary exertions'

quote: which quote presents the faith leaders of Gilead as like the Regan-era capitalists?

'these days they [Preachers] look a lot like businessmen' (chapter 14)

critic: Elizabeth Campell

'women's writing and the epistolary style are generally the responses of those who have been oppressed and silenced'

context: key points regarding Shelley's use of the 'Sorrows of Werter'

- 'Frankenstein' establishes a link to Goethe's fiction both through the self-questioning and bleak alienation of the creature as well as the obsessive behaviour of Victor who turns away from the commonplace Genevan expectations he was raised to fathom a new mode of being - what the monster responds to in 'Sorrows of Werter' is the sense of moral emptiness Werter finds in the world as a preconscious intellectual with a late adolescent intensity. Werter seeks to understand his identity admit a middle-class milieu of prudence, seen in 'Frankenstein' through Alphonse, Walton, and Clerval's fathers

context: key points regarding Shelley's use of 'Plutarch's Lives'

- 'Plutarch's Lives' continues the gender distinction that men lead from noble public positions and women remain silent in this narrative - the book educates the creature in the wider realm of human organisation and nation building to which he is excluded. this only renders him more desperate for inclusion - the book contains 46 biographies of Greek and Roman statesmen and thinkers who are paired to emphasis their similarities that span their respective cultures and historical eras.in their emphasis on morality as the central issue in both biography 'Plutarch's Lives' constituted a source book for British writers from the 16th century onwards - in stating that the monster likes 'Numa, Solon, and Lycurgus in preference to Romulus and Theseus' (chap 14) Shelley shows him valuing peaceful, as opposed to violent, leaders as the basis for his own morality - ancient Greeks and Romans are constantly referred to in the novel on a meta level to establish the masculine ambition fuelling male characters

explore: the descriptions of the Commander in chapter 15 (the first time he is really seen)

- 'a museum guard': the commander is the gatekeeper to the past as he hoards artefacts of the old world in his office and protects them from the women. he is also guarding the bible, and historical narratives - 'he looks like a vodka ad': like the magazine he gives Offred, the Commander emulates himself in marketing terms. - 'he looks us over as if taking inventory': this again shows how the household diminishes individuals, from having unique identities into objects to be owned - 'a midwestern bank president': this could relate to how the bank accounts of the women were frozen just before the formation of Gilead. the midwest is also a protestant area of the USA

explore: a Marxist view on the creation of the monster

- 'as the minuteness of the parts formed a great hinderance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of gigantic statue' (chapter 4): Victor compromise value for efficiency, treating the creation of a living being as equal to the production of goods on the factory line. in fact, Victor's compromise later causes the monster's social isolation due to his gigantic statue (similar to how the ruling classes claimed the poor were evil due to their physical features)

explore and analyse: 'to arrive at once at the summit of my desires, was the most gratifying consummation of my toils' (chapter 4)

- 'consummation' means the act of making a marriage or relationship complete by having sexual intercourse. in creating the monster, Victor is consummating only with himself as he attempts 'the creation of a being like myself'. in a show of his own narcissism, Victor wants to reproduce alone - this narcissistic desire must be attributed to the masculine, as in order to gain the knowledge required to carry out this reproduction, Victor first had to 'penetrate the secrets of nature' with 'penetration' having sexual connotations, nature as a she - Shelley could be showing the consequences of the narcissistic pursuit of knowledge without social obligation, as while Victor attempts to sublimate his social responsibility through isolation, the repressed moral obligation returns in the form of the monster - the monster's repulsive appearance is a symbol of Victor's turn away from social obligation because the monster looks so hideous he can build social ties

analyse: 'loaves and fishes' (chapter 27)

- 'loaves and fishes' is a store which the girls walk past. it references the biblical story in which Jesus manages to provide 5000 people with a satisfying meal using just 5 loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21) - however, in Gilead, the shop 'doesn't sell loaves' showing that biblical symbolism is a marketing tool rather than a reflection of the truth - the shop is also 'hardly ever open' again hinting at the infallibility of religion in Gilead as the regime does not feed the many, but provides only for the select few

explore: otherness as a critical theory and in Frankenstein

- 'the Other' is an individual who is perceived by the group as not belonging, as being different in some fundamental way. any stranger becomes 'the other'. the group sees itself as the 'norm' and judges those who do not meet the 'norm' as the 'other'. perceived as lacking essential characteristics possessed by the group, the Other is almost always seen as a lesser of inferior being and treated accordingly: they may have no/few legal rights, or be regarded as sub-human, unintelligent or immoral - Shelley writes what is essentially an allegory on the dangers of othering and objectification - Walton describes the monster as 'a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island' thus showing a clear link between Frankenstein's monster and foreign cultures, displaying the mentality of otherness in Captain Walton. his framing narrative is an example of how the British people received news of the 'Oriental' or 'exotic' world and formed their perspective of people in these cultures through the white male, privileged perspective - Vlasopolos claims that 'law and religion unite to uphold the inequities of society' in Frankenstein, and this bias is present as Victor's status as a man in the upper class is able to beat his murder accusation. the aristocratic class, in seeing itself as the primary form and everyone else as the Other, engages in incest to sustain the purity of their dominion. this is evident in Victor's self-reproduction - the aspect of the monster's appearance described as individually pleasant are features used to define race. Frankenstein is able to consider the monster as its own separate race simply by its appearance and is thus making a generation of an entire race - the term 'subaltern' designates the colonial populations who are socially, politically and geographically outside the hierarchy of power of a colony. Safie is thought to, as Other, occupy this position in the novel

quotes: identity in THT

- 'the heads are zeroes' (chapter 6) - the men on the wall have their identities reduced to nothing but the idea of absence itself

quotes: Offred's internalisation of fertility imagery

- 'worms evidence of the fertility of the soil, caught by the sun, half-dead; flexible and pink, like lips' (chapter four) -

quotes: body imagery in THT

- 'worms evidence of the fertility of the soil, caught by the sun, half-dead; flexible and pink, like lips' (chapter four) - 'the heart of Gilead' (chapter five)

link 'you will never be subjected to the temptation of feeling you must forgive, a man, as a woman. It's difficult to resist believe me. But remember, forgiveness too is a power.' (chapter 23)

- Atwood could be seen as presenting too different moral positions on the same issue here - whether to forgive Gilead's leaders - as Piexoto goes against Offred's warning to use forgiveness wisely by stating 'we must be cautious about passing moral judgement on the Gileadeans' - likewise, in Frankenstein, both Victor and Walton caution readers against selfish pursuits of greatness, yet when Victor addresses the crowd of sailors he changes his message - therefore in both novels, we can see literary power as a incredibly fragile force, shifting depending on who is controlling the narrative

context: 'The Second Sex' (1949) by Simone de Beauvoir

- Beauvoir argues that men force women to assume the position of 'other' by putting a false aura of mystery around them and using this as an excuse to subordinate women - in comparison to womens' position as 'other', men assume that of 'self': 'he is absolute, essential, and transcendent... she is inessential, incomplete, and mutilated' - Beauvoir makes a distinction between outward-acting men and women 'doomed' with interiority - she shows, at each stage of a girls' upbringing how she is 'formed' by conditioning into accepting passivity, dependence, repetition, and inwardness. denied the possibility of independent work or creative fulfilment, the woman must accept a dissatisfying life of housework, childbearing, and sexual slavishness

context: Burke's reaction to the French Revolution and its link to Frankenstein

- Burke provided one of the most famous and jarring critiques of the French Revolution, comparing 'the faults of the state as to the wounds of a father' to which the ungrateful child had hacked to pieced - Burke identified 'ingratitude to benefactors' as the first of revolutionary values. he claimed the radicals were creating a distorted body politic as the population could no longer be considered connected under a single ruler. to Burke, the pioneers of revolution created a 'monster of a state' due to their ingratitude to their father. - he compared the radicals to sorcerers, alchemists and fanatics believing the whole revolution was an experiment

link: Caroline's death to THT and collectivism/individualism in both novels

- Caroline must remain stoic in the face of death in order to protect the tranquility of the family: 'I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death' (chapter 3). this is reflected by Elizabeth, who 'veiled her grief, and strove to act the comforter to us all' upon becoming woman of the family. Victor remarks on how Elizabeth had 'been taught' to act this way, showing that the repression women undergo to retain the sanctity of the domestic space is a virtue for women in the society of the period - Atwood also presents women as controlled by their domestic duties to the point where they lack a connection to their inner selves. Serena Joy is forced to hide her love for her husband during the ceremony, Handmaids are forced to donate their babies to their superiors and Janine is pressured into taking the blame for her own rape. throughout the novel, female individualisation is sacrificed for collective, domestic 'worth' - however, make characters are allowed to pursue individualism to such an extent that it destroys the collective. Victor exemplifies this: first creating something supposedly beneficial to humanity but really a symbol of his own prowess, then rejecting this creation from the social communion he once enjoyed, and finally encouraging Walton to ignore the collective voice of the crew. the Commander remarks 'better doesn't mean better for everyone' which shows again the toxic devaluing of the greater good by men in power whose position requires the women around them to subordinate their own sense of self

explore: the links between women, writing, and language in Frankenstein, through the quote (from Elizabeth) "I have written myself into better spirits" making one connection to THT

- Elizabeth dwells on the importance of writing and encourages Victor to pick up the pen, yet in his own narrative he scorns the importance of studying the languages, labelling Clerval's interests as a 'temporary amusement' for him - the position of Clerval's study as "oriental" also links them to the feminine as Victor compares the Asian works to the 'manly and heroical poetry' of Greece and Rome'. from such poetry arose the figure of Prometheus and the narrative structure from which Victor constructs his own story of a tragic fall - in denying that alternative narratives are not useful for anything other than amusement, Victor is enforcing the dominance of his masculine narrative, as in Percy Bysse Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound', Asia is an archetypal feminine figure of emotion and intuition in comparison to Prometheus 'the male avatar of the analytical European intellect' - through both the monster and Elizabeth's upholding of language and the written word in the face of Victor's dismissive view proves that writing is a necessary vessel for women to partake in wider society. Elizabeth's letter and its empathy for Justine disrupts Victor's narcissistic narrative - Offred's personal narrative also challenges the narrative structure under which she lives. by embodying the Asian Sufi tradition of wordplay and spiritual intimacy, Offred is challenging the Western, formal biblical narrative which usurp the female from stories

context: how could the monster be likened to Eve in Paradise Lost? + feminist criticism + quote from Sandra M. Gilbert

- Eve was created to become Adam's mate, and Victor often refers to the creation of the monster as a result of 'comsummation', and Elizabeth inadvertently sees the monster as Victor's affair - the monster was created from parts just as Eve was created from Adam's rib - both Eve and the monster are rejected by their creator and fall from innocence following their discovery of sin (Eve and the forbidden fruit; the monster's rejection by the De Laceys) - in this interpretation, Victor's rejection of the monster can be seen as symbolic of his rejection against his own female side- considering how when he is in control of it (when the creature is still dead) he loves his creation, but when it comes alive (the liberation of the female) he sees it as abhorrent - the story of the monster explores what it means to be 'other': to be a creature of the second sex. despite appearing to begin as Adam as he learns to live in the woods, this role is tainted by the monster's arrival at painful self-consciousness which denies his world the Edenic value of innocence. - the monster thus, therefore, be compared to Eve as he cannot be Satan: he did not choose evil, fell from no heaven, and has no companions in evil - the critic Sandra M. Gilbert claims the monster's 'intellectual similarity' to Shelley herself must make him a female in disguise - Eve was created in the image of a man (Adam) who himself is made in the image of a male creator (God) and so her femaleness appears 'a sort of defective masculinity' (Gilbert). the monster too is deformed and hideous

context: explore original sin in the Frankenstein family, using the critic Sandra M. Gilbert

- Gilbert notes how the universal sense of guilt over William's death in the Frankenstein household is a component of their original sin - the household can be compared to Eden, in light of its air of domestic harmony during's Victor's childhood. however such a paradise is tainted by an Eve-like fall from innocence symbolised by the death of William. - William could be argued as inciting the monster to anger as he called the creature a 'hideous monster' and then used his father's position as a threat. William's 'sin' is judgement of the monster based on his appearance: a sin his older brother Victor is also guilty of as he runs away from the creature based on its ugliness - this rejection of the aesthetically impure could be traced back to the boys' parents who chose to adopt two girls were 'beautiful' and 'pretty' - in this sense, the Frankensteins' piecing together of their household from seemingly 'beautiful' parts resembles Victor's own construction of the monster - furthermore, William's 'little wives' (chapter 6) resemble Victor's possession of Elizabeth from a young age, therefore proving the Frankenstein household is responsible for upholding gender roles based on outward appearances as while Justine and Elizabeth are forced to sustain domestic relationships, Victor and William are able to control their relationships through possession - the doubling between Victor and William continues through their possession of attachment to their deceased mother. Victor's creation of the monster can be seen as originating from a desire to reanimate his mother, and William's death was triggered in part by the pendant of his mother he possesed around his neck. - and, as the death of Caroline sparked Victor's departure for Ingostalt then it is right to say that the lack of the mother is the true Original Sin of both Eden and the Frankenstein household, as both contain men who possess women throughout the rigidity of gender roles within the patriarchal reign of the Father

analyse, using context, and link to THT: 'The most grateful little creature in the world' (chapter 6)

- Justine can be seen as a foil to the monster in that they can both be seen as representing the lower, oppressed classes yet Justine is thankful for her lot whereas the monster rejects it - Burke remarked about the French Revolution that 'ingratitude to benefactors is the first of revolutionary values'. the monstrosity of the revolution was seen as a result of ingratitude to the reign of the monarchy and aristocracy; Justine contrasts this image as she welcomes her position of servitude in the Frankenstein household, even though her duty of care towards Caroline nearly kills her - in fact, it is Justine's very conformity that does kill her, as she fails to defend her innocence against the justice system in later chapters. Justine's inability to fight for her own sense of self can be attributed to her role not just as a member of the lower classes but also of the female sex, which at the time was denied independence. - women, denied formal education in the legal system, were rendered subordinate to the male juridicial powers which ruled them - Justine's acceptance of her subordinate position in the Patriarchal order resembles that of Janine in THT. both are forced to blame themselves for crimes (murder of William; Janine's gang rape) they didn't commit, and this denial of individual worth forces the two women to submit themselves to judgement by masculine state institutions

context/criticism: the abject in THT

- Offred admits: 'I want to keep on living, in any form. I resign my body freely, to the uses of other. They can do what they like with me. I am abject' in chapter 45 - the abject is a complex psychological, philosophical and linguistic concept developed by Julia Kristeva. the abject is the human reaction to a threatened breakdown in meaning, usually a breakdown in distinction between self (the subject) and 'other' (the object) - the abject exists somewhere between the concept of an object and the subject representing taboo elements of the self barely separated off in a liminal space - Kristeva claims that within the boundaries of what one defines as subject (a part of oneself) and object (something that exists independently of oneself) resides pieces that were once categorised as part of oneself that has since been rejected: the abject - the abject includes the idea of the corpse, because it exists as neither subject nor object. our mother is also an abject concept, as she is someone who was part of us who we grow to reject - at the land strand of her symbolic order, in which Offglen is a saint (literally being crucified, as Jesus), falls away, Offred loses association with her body as a subject, which she earlier describes as 'our fantasy' and identifies only with it as an object, dissociated from her self. perhaps she can only now identity with the 'abject' because her subservience to the regime is everything the heroes of her symbolic order: her mum, Moira, Offglen, are not. In the face of her heroes fading, Offed rejects herself and her own passivity in letting the regime win, as it won against her mum, Moira, and Offglen

evidence: what are the signs that Offred has been indoctrinated?

- Offred doesn't realise that her dislike of the other women could be an aim of the regime in order to prevent a female uprising, Offred even shows an enjoyment at Serena Joy's suffering 'I now had a power over her' (chapter 26) - she never tried to escape or openly rebel - 'I'm ravernous for news, any kind of news; even if it's false news' (chapter 4) - Offred regularly uses the semantic field of pregnancy and fertility to describe her experiences such as describing the bed as 'a sail of a ship. Big bellied sails' (chapter 16) - Offred describes herself attracted to the TV presenter: 'I sway towards him, like one hypnotised' (chapter 26) - upon finding out Janine's baby died, Offred feels 'an illness in the pit of my [her] stomach. Not an illness, an emptiness' (chapter 33)

analyse: 'nolite te bastardes carborundorum' (chapter 9)

- Offred doesn't understand what the words means but attaches meaning to them, and they become a symbol of rebellion for her. this could show that the symbolism we attach to things carries more importance than their actual meaning - the literal meaning of 'bastardes' meaning a child born out of wedlock, which potentially all children in Gilead are, because their biological mothers, the handmaid, are not married. the children who aren't bastards are those born of the Econowives, as they play the role of both handmaid and wife, making their children born by a married mother. this could be a satirical point by Atwood, as bastards have typically been viewed as sinners and lower class, but in Gilead the bastard children belong to the most pious and wealthy of all the classes - this fits in with the novel's wider critique on the ironic practicalities of Gilead's puritan leaders - in chapter 29, Offred finds out the phrase is a joke written in the commander's schoolboy latin book. the fact that Offred's guiding symbol of hope is for the Commander just schoolboy scrawl shows the difference in their lives and how barren hers is of pleasures. the reveal also shows how a man can diminish a woman's sense of rebellion - jealously: the discovery that the previous handmaid must have had the same experience incites a sense of worthlessness in Offred as she spits 'if your dog died, get another'

consider: a positive view of Aunt Lydia

- Offred has a habit of saying 'saif Aunt Lydia' between sections of her 'speech'. these gaps could show that Offred is omitting parts of Aunt Lydia's speech, possibly framing her as this villain to excuse her own passivity (this could equally be a construct by Piexoto to demonise Aunt Lydia, and women) - 'don't think it's easy for me either, said Aunt Lydia' (chapter 10) - this phrase hints at Aunt Lydia's fragility, a possible awareness that the regime she participates in is corrupt and unholy. perhaps she knows that the Aunts are involved with Jezebels, an institution which by nature goes against all her teachings. maybe this weakness hints at her personal struggle accepting the lower state the handmaids are put in the Gilead hierarchy, when she believes they're the most worthy women in Gilead

explore: 'I wait. I compose myself. my self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born' (chapter 12)

- Offred here is explaining how her identity is purely performative, an act she puts on to serve the state rather than individual desire. this can be seen through the separation of 'my' and 'self' from 'myself' showing that Offred's own mind has been objectified by the regime as she is no longer the subject - this sense of dissociation is also key to Janine's narrative, as she has separated so much from her own mind that she blames herself for being gang-raped - this line also exposes the irony of Gilead, as despite attempting to install the values of fertility into every aspect of society, Offred doesn't consider herself as 'something born' naturally by artificially constructed - there is also a contextual link to the feminist philosopher Simone De Beauvoir who said 'one is not born, but becomes a woman'

evidence: similarities between Luke and the Commander

- Offred is Luke's affair 'imaginary to him' just as the Commander treats Offred as a prostitute freeing him from his wife. when Offred sees Luke in the hotel memory (chapter 9) she wears opium on her ears, when she goes to the hotel with the Commader she wears sexual clothing - in the memory of the hotel room, it is Offred waiting for the Luke, just as she waits outside the Commander's office for him. this links to Aunt Lydia's teaching 'they only serve who stand and wait' - both Luke and the Commander play language games and make chauvinistic jokes - the Commander takes Offred to the same hotel room in she had her affair with Luke in

analyse: 'we were the people not in the papers. we lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print' (chapter 10)

- Ofrred here is referring possibly to the marginalisation of certain groups in society, as the blank white space at the edge of print is the margin - marginalisation refers to the treatment of a group as insignificant, a group which Offred places herself in by referring to herself as living in 'the blank white spaces at the edges or print'. - she claims this is freedom, in comparison to the 'headlines': the stories of women being mutilated and attacked. Offred assumes the marginalised position in order to be safe, therefore validating Aunt Lydia's teaching that 'freedom from' (being mutiliated and attacked) shouldn't be valued against 'freedom to' - Atwood could also be using this line to directly adress any readers who may be defending themselves from the novel's message by using the excuse 'it will never happen to me' by having Offred desscribe herself using the same response - where Offred was a blank space between headlines, the reader is a blank space in-between the words of the text, assuming the position of onlooker

context: Serena Joy

- Serena Joy represents the 1960s and 70s TV show host Tammy Faye Bakker, a Christian televangelist - Tammy Faye and her husband Jim established an entire Christian television network which they called the Inspirational Network - with financial contributions from their loyal audience, Tammy and Jim were able to finance a vast Christian theme, called Heritage USA - they became celebrities with an audience of 13 million viewers and an opulent lifestyle to match - their empire began to unravel in 1980s when Jim's adulterous affair with a church secretary was revealed. over the next few years, more evidence of affairs was released and Jim lost his ministerial credentials - Serena Joy resembles Tammy Faye, in that she is trapped by the image of the woman she performed as a Christian TV singer, and is married to a man who has constant affairs with prostitutes. Serena loses her identity as a singer, and becomes reduced to a flat, TV character in a constructed reality

context/criticsm: Spivak key points

- Spivak uses womens' literature to explore the portrayal of the "third world" in nineteenth century culture - Spivak attributes Victor's laboratory as a symbol for the subliminal womb (women's physiological prerogative) that cannot produce a daughter. she believes this narrative allowed Shelley to criticise 'the eighteenth century European discourses on the origin of society through (Western Christian) man' - Spivak likens the monster to the subaltern figure because he exists outside of all societal structures and is even rejected by Safie, the oppressed women

context: what does the Jonathan Swift epigraph tell us about THT?

- Swift's 'A Modest Proposal' is one of the novel's epigraphs - this work is a satire on how the poor were ignored in starving Ireland. Swift uses a ridiculous essay suggesting cooking the children as a way of ridiculing the upper classes who let the poor starve - the epigraph prepares the reader for Atwood's satire in THT which is used in a similar style to Swift's with the satire in each case depending on ironic narration who reports on horrors with flat style - both texts have an uncertain voice. Swift's proposer is ambiguous, as is Atwood's Offred (considering 'historical notes') - Swift's problem is Irish overpopulation, Gilead's is underpopulation - in each case the measures taken to rectify the population are draconian - the voice of the Proposer is excessively harsh to women, expecting them to appropriate their sexuality and commodify their children - in both texts, grotesque comparisons of body parts are common in dehumanising processes

context: how could Victor be likened to Eve in Paradise Lost?

- Victor births a new species, similarly to Eve as 'the mother of Mankind' and his plagued with pain after doing so - Victor, like Eve, pursues 'nature to her hiding places' - he seeks knowledge, simply, just as EVe was curious enough to eat the forbidden fruit - Victor's discoveries reveal the intertwining of sex and death just as Eve's sin commits humans to mortality

analyse: 'the author of unalterable evils' and the 'giver of oblivion' (chapter 9)

- Victor calls himself 'the author of unalterable evils' with the word 'author' implying that Victor has brought a monstrous tale into the world as much as the monster himself. Victor's narrative is like an autobiography 'a kind of self-reproduction', his life created in his own retelling of it. Both the story and the monster expose Victor's desire to immortalise his existence. - however, at the end of this chapter, Victor exhaust sleep as the 'giver of oblivion' suggesting that at this point, he wants to be forgotten rather than externally remembered through his story. this change could be due to the uncanny horror which emerges from Victor's self-reproductions, as he is forced to face himself (if you view the monster as a manifestation of the repressed elements of Victor's psyche) through his works.

explore: the links between appearance and gender in Frankenstein and THT

- Victor remarks on while he has the ardour to 'penetrate the secrets of nature', Elizabeth is happy to dwell on their exterior beauty. Science and reason are defined by the masculine, phallic act of penetration whereas poetic fancy is relegated to the realm of female passivity. - likewise, in Gilead, women are completely barred from taking on roles in politics, law, and science are used primarily to promote the outward appearance of the regime, as is evidence by Offred's behaviour in the scene with the Japanese tourists and the wife's cultivation of the garden - in THT, the women are completely trapped in the world of appearances, as even the language they use serves the purpose of maintaining outward conformity. - despite the commander remarking that in the past women were controlled by magazine ideals of outward beauty, in Gilead, women are still valued not on their intrinsic characteristics, but their superficial position in the regime. - in Frankenstein, Victor's parents select Elizabeth and Justine to join the family because of their beauty and appearance, not because of their intrinsic characteristics In both novels, the appearances of women are compared to flowers ('lilies of the field' in THT, 'fairer than a rose', 'like a fair exotic' in Frankenstein) used to benefit men who pursue self-interested to disrupt the harmony of nature. (in THT a mechanical society, in Frankenstein a mechanical man).

analyse and link to THT: 'I only hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been' (letter four)

- Victor's adivce to Walton shows how little he has learn. despite experiencing the suffering which arose due to the gratification of his own wish, Victor does not encourage Walton to reassess his own desires. Victor, potentially to justify his own actions, places all in hope in fate and chance. - like Victor, in order to pursue his desires, the Commander continually takes chances which result in the suffering of others, as seen by the suicide of the previous Offred. - neither man learns, as the justice system' corruptions allows them to avoid persecution and sustain their personal power - furthermore, the biblical allusion to 'a serpent to sting you' strengthens the connection between the two men, as while Victor transgresses God's power by distorting the workings of nature, the Commander also gives in to his desires by taking the 'fruit' that is Offred for his own pleasure. - both men also lose their 'eden' due to their abuse of power as a result of hedonistic and thoughtless desire. for Victor this is the perfect household he grew up in. for the Commander, this is his excursions to Jezebels leading to the visit by the Eyes/Mayday meaning his perfect construction, the household, is taken from him

analyse: 'my father was not scientific and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness' (chapter 2)

- Victor's neglect of the monster is opposite to Alphone's 'neglect' of Victor. Victor is being ungrateful, picking at a father who dedicates his life and time to raising his children whereas the monster has genuine reason to believe his father, Victor, rejected him. - this could be used to show how in the literature surrounding the French Revolution, both sides were portrayed the same way in reactionary literature (as monsters), but had very different justifications for their actions.

context: how could Victor be likened to Adam in Paradise Lost?

- Victor's upbringing was similar to Eden in that he was 'sheltered by the gardener from every rougher wind' by his omnibenevolent parents - later, Elizabeth 'heaven-sent' to him to become his possession just as Eve was created from Adam's rib - Victor blames his fall from 'Eden' on his 'deific father' as he dismisses his interests in science: an act of curiosity similar to stealing the forbidden fruit - Victor and Elizabeth are incestuous like Adam and Eve - Victor's fixation on the 'blasted stump' could be seen as symbolic of the tree of knowledge, particularly as the force controlling Victor at this point is the female-gendered 'Destiny' who could be regarded as Eve in that she is blamed for the act of sin

analyse: Walton's description of the monster in letter four as 'the savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island'

- Walton's description of the monster mirrors contemporary, colonial views on the treatment of colonised peoples as 'nobles savages' or exotic 'others' beyond the moral rationality and objectivity of the European - yet, it is the monster who 'guided the dogs' whilst Victor appears with 'only one dog [that] remained alive'. the monster has a greater affinity with other creatures and is a better nurturer than Victor, who abandons his own 'child'

analyse+connect: the character of Wilaiam to THT using the critic Vlasnopolos

- William is constantly portrayed as innocent and a 'dear angel' but the boy shown in the monster's narrative contradicts this image as William uses his lineage to establish a sense of superiority and authority over the creature as he invokes his 'papa' as an omnipotent representation of society's law (and the biblical Father). William seems to have an acute understanding of his position in society. - Vlasnopolos theorises that the aristocratic class saw itself as the primary form and everyone else as 'the Other' resulting in their extreme 'sameness' expressed through incest. the aristocratic class view everything in relation to themselves ('ugly wretch! you wish to eat me' - William chapter 16) due to their centralised position in society - the overuling 'sameness' of the aristocratic class is seen in THT as the commanders and wives rule over the public and private spaces of Gilead. Vlasnopolos' notion of (social?) incest is also present in the Prayvaganza ceremonies and reduced gene pool due to the infertility crisis

context: repression of women in Romania (abortion laws)

- before 1967, the Romanian abortion policy was one of the most liberal in Europe. through a combination of modernization of the Romanian community, the high participation of women in the labor market and a low standard of living, the number of births significantly decreased since the 1950s, reaching its lowest value in 1966. - however, the leaders saw the decreasing number of births mainly as a result of the decree issued in 1957 that legalized abortion. - to counter this sharp decline of the population, the Communist Party decided that the Romanian population should be increased. in October 1966, Decree 770 was authorized and abortion and contraception were declared illegal - all women were forced to be monitored monthly by a gynecologist. Any detected pregnancies were followed until birth. Secret police kept close eyes on operations in hospitals. - sex education was re-focused primarily on the benefits of motherhood, including the ostensible satisfaction of being a heroic mother who gives her homeland many children.

analyse and link to Frankenstein: 'As in those pictures, those museums, those model towns, there are no children' (chapter five)

- children are often seen as the individual libelled from conformity and corruption (Rousseau) so their absence in the public eye of Gilead, despite it being implied that children do exist, could show that the natural state of humanity is not as the Sons of Jacob would admit to be true. Children could provide a symbol to the captives of Gilead that humans in their true state are free. - this belief was key to the Romantic movement which saw writers and poets such as William Blake celebrating the child's soul against the factor system which tried to reduce it - in 'Frankenstein' Victor forgets childhood exists so he creates a monster born fully formed, and then neglects the business of nurturing him. therefore, in both novels, children are mostly absent unless echoing their parents: William in 'Frankenstein' and the daughters in THT

context: Gilead

- in the Bible, Gilead is an ideal land which is mentioned a number of times in the Old Testament. it was one of the twelve traditional divisions of the land of the Hebrews - in Hebrew the name means 'heap of stones' though the region is also abounded with spices and aromatic herbs - as a frontier land and a citadel 'Gilead' projects the ideal image for an embattled state, run on fundamentalist religious and patriarchal principles - the 'balm of Gilead' was a rare fragrant perfume obtained from certain trees which was believed to have incredible healing properties - in the Bible, the prophet Jeremiah refers to the coming of Jesus Christ is the verse 'Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?'. in this verse, the 'balm' represents Christ, viewed as the ultimate source of healing

explore: 'But I keep going on with this sad and hungry and sordied, this limping and mutilated story' (chapter 41) using critics and connections to Frankenstein

- critic Elizabeth Campell writes 'women's writing and the epistolary style are generally the responses of those who have been oppressed and silenced. this writing is emotional, angry radical, and markedly different in style and form from that of the dominant culture' - the 'mutilated' social fabric in each of Atwood and Shelley's novels is reflected in their use of the epistolary form - like Atwood, Shelley uses the epistolary novel form to deconstruct the linear narrative. both 'Frankenstein' and THT are composed of interweaving voices and time frames, and these heighten the reader's awareness to connections between otherwise separate stories. for example, in THT, the similarity between Luke, the Commander and Piexoto is made present by the use of this form. In 'Frankenstein', the same is true for the connections between Caroline, Elizabeth and Safie - therefore, the very act of creating a story from a multitude of narratives builds a deeper understanding of the fractured social narrative from which they emerge. this fractured element is embodied by Shelley's monster, whose narrative voice echoes that of the 'l'ectriture feminine': a theory that explains how women who may be positioned as 'other' in a masculine symbolic order (Paradise Lost, Gilead' theology) can reaffirm their understanding of the world through engaging with their own otherness via writing. - while the monster is male, he frequently seeks the guidance of female symbols such as the moon. like Offerd, the monster can use narrative to make sense of his place in the world beyond his mutilated appearance given to him by the epitome of masculine social order: Victor. In fact, the power of voice is so vital to his character, it is the only way he can connect with humanity - emale narratives through the epistolary form also provide an antithesis to conventional male narratives of glory, pursuit and heroism as they emphasis the connections between stories, and thus breakdown the masculine narrative of progress without consequences (insofar as Victor creates a monster without considering how it will be received by society and the Commander helps create a society built on oppression)

analyse: 'a depraved wretch' (chapter 7)

- depravity is a biblical concept which describes the 'innate corruption of human nature due to original sin'. a depraved person is thus someone with corrupted morality - Victor sights the monster behind a tree, strengthening this connection to Original Sin (tree of knowledge or good and evil) and to the monster as an Eve figure - however, Victor's conviction of the monster as depraved has no grounding in his morality. Victor has no seen the monster commit any acts of violence, he has only seen his appearance as a wretch. Victor therefore connects physical deformity with moral deformity - in doing this, Victor actually condemns himself as the creator because it is him responsible for the creature's physicality - physical deformity is also a quality of Eve created 'less/His image' (Milton) than Adam. Eve's female body resembled God's image less than Adam. Eve was responsible for OS. physical deformity is again synonymous with moral deformity - this could therefore be seen as place blame not on females for sin, but God himself. in creating the structure of power that renders women 'other, God created sin. in creating the monster as an other, Victor created his sin, as the monster murders due to his social isolation

link: self-consciousness in THT and Frankenstein

- during the second ceremony, Offred is more self-conscious in the presence of the commander. in Frankenstein, the monster becomes self-conscious after seeing his reflection for the first time in comparison with other humans - Offred's time with the commander pulls her from her private existence, in which she accompanied only by herself. she is now seeing her reflection in the previous handmaid, pressured into providing something sexually for the commander. - both characters are victims of the expectations of what 'should be' (as defined by oppressors) in society

context: Geneva

- during the summer of 1816, Mary and Percy went on a tour of the city aimed with viewing the location associated with its most famous citizen: Jean-Jacques Rousseau The first paragraph of Rousseau's 'confessions' is 'I was born in Geneva' whereas the first line in Victor's account is 'I am birth a Genovese' - Geneva was a king city in the development of the Enlightenment and was generally seen as a city of peace and natural beauty

analyse: 'If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, should be wretched' (chapter 12) and link to THT

- even before he is rejected outwardly by the De Laceys, the monster begins to alienate himself through the use of binary lovely/wretched distinctions, showing he has internalised the views of society. he views himself as he is seen, lacking distinction between self and object. arguably, this internalisation causes him to work endlessly to mimic the De Lacey's behaviour, in an attempt to mould himself in their image - there is also evidence in THT that Offred internalises the ideology of Gilead. for example, she describes the Commander's bed drapes as 'big belled sails' showing that Gilead's continuous focus on reproduction has influenced the way she sees the world. Offred's internalisation of society's philosophy also changes how she views herself, like the monster she looses the subject/object distinction, coming to view herself as nothing more than the state's tool, as evident in her declaration 'I am abject'

explore: two views behind Victor's dream in which Elizabeth becomes his mum

- feminist angle: the interchangeability between Victor's sister and mother reinforces the domestic stereotype both women are locked into, so far so that Victor cannot distinguish between them. Shelley could be commenting on how women are raised to become mothers, formed in the image of Caroline. throughout the novel Victor compelles himself to believe he loves Elizabeth, but in truth he is in love with the ideal of womanhood she represents - psychoanalytic angle: Freud believed it was common for people to look to inanimate objects as replacements for unobtainable love. Victor's creation of the 'creature' could be viewed in this context as the representation of his unconscious desire to re-create his mother

context: Mary Shelley birth and death

- her mother died ten days after her birth, leaving the family traumatised. Mary's early years were dictated by horrendous births, beginning with her mother and following on to her own series of miscarriages and dead children: her daughter died in 1815, her son William and second daughter Clara in 1922, the year in which she almost died due to a miscarriage. this association with birth and death is core to the novel

analyse: ''Pen is Envy', Aunt Lydia said' (chapter 29)

- here Atwood puns on the Freudian idea pf 'penis envy': that woman are somehow jealous of male genitals. for Atwood however, it is the pen - the act of writing that is the truly desirable power - words are also important to Offred as her life consists of decoding the symbolic undercurrent of Gilead such as the commander's pose. her own diaries allow her to retain a sense of control over sensory ambush and attempts to take her sense of identity away by diminishing her into the wider narrative - throughout the novel Offred explorers male dominance of language such as the arguement she has with Luke over the word 'fraternise'. postmodernist philosopher Derrida believed written language was always seen as superior to spoke language and that this binary should be deconstructed

analyse: 'I fear, my friend, that I shall render myself tedious by dwelling on these preliminary circumstances' (chapter 7) and link to THT

- here, Shelley brings direct, explicit awareness that the narrative has the potential of untruth as Victor is controlling the flow of information, selecting what to include and what not to. by continuously dwelling on the such 'preliminary circumstances' unnecessary to the core narrative, you could argue that Victor is attempting to direct Walton's attention from his own 'sins'. - this focus on circumstances also allows Victor to frame his narrative. by describing the violent scenes of nature around him, it is like Victor is manipulating Walton into empathising with him. considering that Victor is just about to describe the death of Justine for his own crime, this manipulation is enforced. - in THT, Atwood also continually makes the reader aware that it is Offred (or Piexoto) telling the story, and not an all-knowing narrator. in fact, at one point, Offred tells the same story of her sex with Nick in three different versions, and the same is true for 'Frankenstein' as both Victor and the monster recount the circumstances of his birth. therefore, the use of metafiction devices in both novels show truth to be a malleable concept, rooted in individual experience. this contrasts the view that there can be an absolute truth as in religious texts. - both THT and 'Frankenstein' use metafiction to retell such texts, again showing the multiplicity of truth within stories. individual experiences make-up parts of a wider narrative, as seen by the construction of Frankenstein's structure and the 'historical notes' section of THT which proves Offred's story is a mere fragment into the whole inquiry into Gilead

context: what are the origins of the key gothic features which impact Frankenstein?

- in 1764 the first gothic novel was written: 'The Castle of Ontario' which features key elements such as: a foreign location, a dark and ominous castle, and a naive, young woman fleeing from an evil, lustful man - in 1794 Ann Radcliffe introduces the concept of the 'explained supernatural' with her novel 'The Mysteries of Udolpho'. this was a technique that gives terrifying, supernatural incidents logical explanation - in 1796 Matthew Lewis' novel 'The Monk' upsets its contemporaries by featuring the story of a spoiled young priest engaging in incestuous necrophilia, matricide, cannibalism, voyeurism, and a satanic pact - other key elements of the gothic novel were: wild mountains, formulaic plots involving persecution and incarceration of the heroine and her escape through labyrinth passages - sometimes, a Byronic antihero who is typically rebellious, arrogant, anti-social and enticingly romantic

context: the Iranian Revolution

- in 1929 Iran underwent the liberation movement which led to a westernisation of dress and education, as well as social transformations in womens' rights - however the Iranian revolution occurred so quickly that a counter-movement formed which undid all the reforms, turning back the clock - especially for women who were now forced to wear a burka - the compulsory veil is seen in Iran through the burka and in tale through the 'wings' in that both cover the face - both examples feature a prosperous, Western/westernised government overthrown for theocracy. both cases occur as a reaction against liberal values. both as revisions to the past which happen extremely quickly

link: the Frankensteins' adoption of Elizabeth and Justine with THT

- in Frankenstein, Victor's parents adopt Elizabeth because she is of 'a different stock' to the four vagrant children also living in poverty with her, believing she will become a suitable wife for the young Victor due to her Milanese noble heritage. - later on in the novel, the family adopt the lower class Justine who, whilst being 'extremely pretty', becomes their maid - this idea that everyone had a predefined role from birth is prevalent in Gilead, as those of a higher social rank assume leadership roles whereas those beneath them perform manual work - both households in the two novels maintain a facade of beauty. the Frankensteins choose their adoptive children based on their looks despite maintaining their 'benevolent disposition'. likewise, in Gilead, Serena Joy cultivates a controlled garden to front the corruption found inside the household. Again, in Frankenstein, the women are described as 'flowers', 'fairer than a garden rose among dark-leaved brambles' (chapter 1) - Victor's assertion of Elizabeth as his 'gift' is similar to how the handmaids' names are taken 'of' their commanders, and are treated as possessions - Victor's parents pre-planning of his marriage with Elizabeth could be likened to the Prayvaganza ceremonies in THT where the daughters are gifted to successful Angels. in both cases, women are reduced to gifts for noble men

explore: the language Offred uses to describe sex with Nick

- in Offred's first account of her visit to Nick's room, she relies heavily on the language of Harlequin romances with their sexually explicit elevation of male sexual partners. Offered describes Nick as 'a man made of darkness'. however this first account is made up entirely: a fantasy - in the second version, Offred and Nick are awkward, tossing eachother lines 'from late movies' yet acknowledging at the same time how unreal those movies are. attempting to find reality in the fabrication of a fabrication, Nick and Offred remain detached - in either account, Offred relies on the established language and plots of Romance novels. Nick is either a prince or a shadowy, alluring figure of darkness. She relies on 'the magazines', as the Commander notes in chapter 34 as he talks about how set narratives on love were used as marketing tool. it is these narratives upon which Offred relies to tell her story. furthermore, the influence of Piexoto as editor must be considered, as Offred's reliance on romance narratives frames her as weak

explore: Victor and the monster's summoning of night and day deities, link to THT

- in chapter 24, Victor commands 'O Night, and the spirits that preside over three, to pursue to daemon, who caused this misery' whilst the monster monster curses Victor 'by the sun, and the blue sky of heaven' - for Victor, night is the most terrifying threat. it represents the uncertainty and chaos beyond the control of his laboratory - whereas, for the monster, day is a greater fear. in day, the monster can be seen and therefore judged by the eyes of society. - it's also interesting that Victor invokes the power of a typically female deity whereas the monster alludes to the realm of the Patriarchal God. Victor fears female reproductive power whereas the monster is protected by it. - for Offred, night is also a time of solace rather than danger. like the monster, she is pursued by the watching gaze of society which threatens her survival.

explore: Jezebels (including one link to Frankenstein and context)

- in the old testament, Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab, and was responsible for the death of Nabath who was killed so that they could gain his vineyard. she was renowned for painting her face and adorning herself to taunt King Jehu. likewise, sexually deviant women in Gilead are known as 'Jezebels', but this is ironic because they have no real sexual freedom and are just trying to survive - Jezebel convinced her husband to stop worshipping the true God and to worship false idols. in Frankestein, Victor considers himself as God, a false idol. the commanders arguably loose their faith in Jezebels and create a false religious facade. both novels show the corruption of powerful men - the extravagant make-up and emphasis on cosmetics can be seen as symbolic of the mask of Gilead exposed by the existence of Jezebels which proves Offred's commander is not the only one committing sexual sins contrary to his public persona

analyse: 'God is love, they said once, but we reversed that' (chapter 35)

- in the past, people believed 'love is God' so society was constructed upon the relentless search for completion in a Romantic partner. - those unable to find love were social dissidents 'like a mutant'. the elusive power of love is amplified by the struggle to achieve it - in Gilead 'God is love': society is constructed upon the desperate need to conform to religious standards based on your social group. those nonconforming to such standards were shipped off to the colonies to clear up toxic waste, and thus become mutated 'unwomen'. Gilead's system of faith plays a similar role in that image of it takes over the thing itself. for example, Offred has no idea who Offglen really 'is' under her pious guise. - the similarities between how the old world's pressure on 'love' as a social requirement created by marketing and Gilead's religious regime treat women proof that both faith - a connection beyond desire, and sexual intimacy, need to be combined for true value

context: how could Victor and Walton (before he turns back) be considered fallen angels in the Miltonic tradition?

- like Satan, Walton is exploring a frozen hell in attempt to return to Heaven: the 'country of eternal light' envisioned in the pole, which resembles Milton's 'Fount of Light'. Victor later enters this realm. - Victor Satan and Walton all violate the rule of a patriarchal father figure. Walton remarks on his father's 'dying injunction' forbidding him to embark on a seafaring life. Victor scorns his father's lack of scientific knowledge. Satan refuses to stay obedient to his father in heaven - all three 'fallen angels' pursue self-interest

explore: interpretations of the moon in Frankenstein

- lunacy: when Victor sights the monster in moonlight 'a sensation of madness' comes upon him. this could link with the moon's female symbolism to suggest that Victor fears the female and it is this rejection which fuels his madness - artemis: the Greek goddess of the moon. girls joined the Hunters of Artemis (and renounced men) usually when they were outcasted by society. they share the sense of otherness with the monster but have other of their 'kind' whereas he has none - maternal: if you follow the interpretation that Victory rapes nature to produce the monster, his attachment to maternal moon imagery can be considered a reaction to his lack of a biological mother figure. the moon is a maternal figure because it embodies the menstrual cycle required for a mother to bear children. (in the Handmaids' Tale, Offred also measures time by the moon)

explore: gender differences in Justine's trial, including links with THT

- neither Alphonse nor Victor outwardly protest against the treatment of Justine or vouch for her good character as Elizabeth does. Alphonse is a public figure, who rather than using his privilege to sway the court's decision, tells the family to 'rely on the justice of our laws' - another gender difference can be observed in how Victor and Elizabeth act towards Justine whilst she's in prison. Victor isolates himself in 'a corner of the prison room' and dwells at length on his internal anguish. however, Elizabeth 'wept also' with Justine and even says she wished to die with Justine. the strength of female bonding is strong, as Elizabeth and Justine see each-other principally as friends rather than mistress and maid - in THT, female communities are more complex, as class differences separate the different womens' ranks. however, when the class system is removed, for example in the Red Centre, women form strong connections. therefore, implying that it is wider Patriarchal structures which really threaten female friendship - Justine's sudden persecution forces her to see herself as a murderer. this view of oneself through the eyes of the oppressor is mirrored in THT as Janie is forced to confess to a crime she didn't commit and Offred is forced to see herself as 'abject'

explore: Aristotle's spheres and Marxist feminism in Frankenstein

- originating in Ancient Greece, the philosophy that the two genders operated primarily in separate 'spheres' was effected during the industrial revolution. on the one hand, the spread of enlightenment thought allowed feminist writers to produce searing attacks on the confinement of women to the domestic sphere - however, Marxist commentary suggests that with the rise of capitalism, the home lost its control of the means of production and consequently its nature as a private, separate sphere grew. as a result, women were excluded from participating directly in the production process and were neglected to the domestic sphere - the evidence to support this fate in the novel arrives in chapter one: 'she procured plain work; she plaited straw, and by various means continued to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to support life' - in Frankenstein, the work Caroline carries out literally carries no/little value having been relegated to the ineffectual realm of the home. - Shelley furthers this sense of separation between the spheres by continuously throughout the novel as when Caroline marries Alphonse, the actual marriage is never mentioned, she simply 'became his wife'. the role is defined by its relation to him, he is the centre of her intrinsic value - likewiese, the 'union' between Victor and Elizabeth is also burdened by Victor's male passion to hunt the monster, and, the creation of the monster himself further emphasises the separation of the spheres, as the monster - resembling the contemporary proletariat - usurps the female role in production. as man makes life mechanical, he steals the power of the domestic sphere

analyse: 'my prudence and considerateness' (letter 2)

- prudence relates to the Greek philosophical concept of Phronesis: practical wisdom used in difficult times to know when to take a risk or not. it is based on balance, a concept which Victor lacks - considerateness is expressed through Walton's care of the men when they demand he turn the ship around, therefore lacking the purity of thought and individualistic 'greatness' to which Victor aspires - both of these qualities position Walton as an anti-Victor by the end of the novel

explore: 'It's a barren landscape, yet perfect [...] I think this is what God must look like: an egg. The life of the moon may not be on the surface, but inside' (chapter 19)

- the 'desert' her most likely alludes to the same 'desert' in the sufi epigraph, especially considering this passage about Offred's egg is incredibly sufi, in its emphasis on 'interiority' and private, mystical union with God - in this case such a 'desert' is Gilead, with its diet of stones and Puritanism devoid of personal feelings and ideas ('we are hers to define') - yet, Offred's image of the inside of an egg is fundamentally spiritual, referring possibly to the New Testament write Matthew who wrote to 'take my yoke upon you and learn from me' - in Matthew's gospel, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for laying heavy burdens on the shoulder of the people. the 'yoke of the Pharisees' is the burdensome yoke of self-righteousness and legalistic law-keeping. Jesus was saying that the life lived by faith is a much lighter yoke and a much easier burden to carry than the heavy yoke of self-righteousness under which some continually strive to make themselves acceptable to God - Offred's delight in the insides of her egg - its yoke - shows her deep sense of inward spirituality sued to counteract Gilead's Pharisees-esque system of outward conformity. the character who displays such conformity most vividly is Janine, whose voice Offred describes as 'raw egg white', thus proving her disconnect from the true core of the religion, the very yoke of God

explore: the entire concept of soul scrolls (chapter 27)

- the 'soul scroll's is a shop in Gilead which sells mass produced payers made by printing machines - the 'franchise' represents the artificiality of religion in Gilead, and perhaps the concept of organised religion as a concept, in that the members of society deemed most piois ('ordering prayers from soul scrolls is supposed to be a sign of piety') are the richest. these people lack any individual, personal connection to God as they simply order prayers as if faith was a commodity. to Gilead, religion is a brand, a franchise, a marketing tactic created to justify its actions - in 'historical notes' it's revealed the commander may have had a career in marketing, and so it is made apparent his connection to this system of control - a further emphasis on this contradictory religion is the 'shatterproof glass' which protects the machine. the leaders of Gilead do not expect their citizens to have a genuine connection to God, so feel the need to protect their machine. in doing this, they recognise the falseness of the regime. - the shop is also built on an old lingerie store, again showing how Gilead is hiding the state-run prositition buisness of Jezebels under its masked facade of faith and piety - the machines repeating prayers could also be seen as a representation of the handmaids who repeat prayer phrases such as 'praise be'. the action of the paper as it 'rolls back into a another slot' could also be taken as a sexual symbol representing the 'recycling' of the handmaids from house to house - context: at the time of writing, the phenomenon of 'drive-thru churches' was popular in America

context: Ronald Reagan and the Christian Right

- the Christian Right was a right-wing political and social movement which believed that political law should be based off biblical doctrine - Liberty University was a christian university that forced students to follow its honour code: the 'Liberty Way' - 'The Moral Majority' was a christian political group founded by the teleevangelist Jerry Falwell, created in response to the cultural revolutions happening in the 60s and 70s such as womens' liberation and civil rights. many fundamental christians felt their 'American' values compromised by these movements

context: Romantic view of the duality of mind in relation to gender, link to Frankenstein

- the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau strongly argued that the divide between reason and sensibility was synonymous with the divide between masculine and feminine. he believed that gender roles actually resolved the tension between these qualities, and that nature gives precedent to this division by giving women the ability to rear children, and thus assume her position in domesticity and allow the male to take public roles. - on the surface, 'Frankenstein' adheres to this gender binary in that all its female characters seem engaged in domestic roles, and enjoy aesthetic and emotional passions. however, Shelley also shows the horrific effects of such a binary. Elizabeth exemplifies this, as in the scene of Justine's trial. she provides an entirely rational defence of the accused, using clear evidence to counter the appearance of Justine's guilt, despite its validity, the court abhors Elizabeth's defence, therefore proving how incongruous logic and women are in public affairs - however Shelley shows that womens' sensibility strengthens their morality. upon hearing of the colonisation of America, and 'the hapless fate of its original inhabitants' (chapter 13) Safie proceeds to weep. unlike the imperialist men, Safie is sensitive to lives beyond her own moral sphere just as Elizabeth is able to surpass the grief over the death of William to expand her empathy for Justine - however the men of 'Frankenstein' constantly downplay the role of sensibility, with Victor commanding Walton's sailors 'Do not return to your families with the stigma of disgrace' (chapter 29)

context: identity in Nazi Germany and the Red Shoes

- the Jewish people murdered in concentration camps were stripped of the identity as they had to strip naked before entering camps, give up all personal property and take on a stamped identity number instead, similar to how the Handmaids are branded, whilst the colonies could be compared to forced labour camps - the 'Red Shoes' was a fairytale written by Hans Christian Anderson in which a woman finds a pair of red dancing shoes which allow her to dance perfectly but keep her confined. Like this ballerina, the handmaids are confined by their red dress, forced to perform a role like a dancer. In both stories, red can also be associated with sexual sins and desire - the Nazis also attempted to destroy modern culture and revert to traditional German ways. As well as this they manipulated religion and persecuted certain sects - much like the Sons of Jacob - the way that Hitler began targeting Jews and other marginalised groups using small measures that build up and erupted other time mirrors how the Sons of Jacob targeted women, first through credit card bans etc

analyse: 'I will not be tempted to set myself in opposition to thee' (chapter 20) and link to THT

- the creature almost immediately attempts to dispel the tension between them, this contrasting the volatile Victor. the monster's use of the verb 'tempted' also shows that his moral outlook is built on the values of free will and self responsibility, again in contrast to Victor who frequently blames 'destiny for his faults - the power dynamic is similar in THT as Janine takes blame and responsibility for her baby's death, whereas the Commanders assert all responsibility onto abstract 'nature'

context: Romantic view of nature and science (quotes from Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy)

- the Romantics aimed to re-enchant nature in the face of modern science. they were worried that science alienated rational and free human beings from nature, which, through the lens of new science has been viewed as a domain of 'brute, determined, mechanical causality' (Stanford). - they believed nature was an organic whole interdependent on its parts self-organising in holistic unity, as opposed to mechanical creations dissociated from their parts. - the Romantics believed the way out of this lost unity with Nature was to create a new scientific methodology not based upon calculative, quantitate and mathematical uses of pure reason, but one which included practical reason, sensibility, feeling, imagination, and the aesthetic capacity of the mind. this new science was akin to the Romantic poem, which fuses and mixes opposing forces - Shelley could be seen as constructing her novel in this manner, as the way in which one reads the story is through a combination of different voices which only together can create a holistic picture of the story. the discovery of truth through reading the novel therefore contrasts Victor's singular pursuit of 'truth' through modern science alone. - the result is that Victor's science results in a being whose parts, even though they were 'selected as beautiful', combine to create the image of disfigurement of nature's self-organising unity whereas the 'science' of reading the novel proves its parts are interdependent on each other: 'the letters of Felix and Safie, which he showed me, and the apparition of the monster seen from our ship, brought to me a greater conviction of the truth of his narrative' (chapter 24)

context: Romantic view of the duality of mind, link to Frankenstein

- the Romantics' concerns over human alienation emerged from their worry that modernity had forced man to create an inner duality between reason and sensibility - reason = the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgements logically. sensibility = the quality of being able to appreciate and respond to complex emotional or aesthetic influences - the German poet and philosopher Freidrich Hölderlein believed that this duality divided man from himself. in 'Frankenstein', Victor's upholding of his scientific pursuit as separate from emotional and aesthetic qualities ('while my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied sprit the outward appearance of things, I delighted in investigating their causes', chapter 2) arguably causes him to split a part of himself which emerges in physical form as the monster: a being highly emotional and attune to the sensitivities of others - true morality was thought to lie in the intersection of reason and sensibility. Shelley shows their pure forms to be disastrous. Victor's 'sole occupation' (chapter 4) of science results in the creation of the monster. Caroline's pure sensibility in caring for Elizabeth also proves disastrous, as it causes her death and all which spirals from it.

context: what are the links between the plot of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Frankenstein?

- the ancient mariner captures a young man and he is transfixed by the mariner's 'glittering eye' whilst Victor's tale transfixes Walton, his voice is 'soul-subduing music'. both narratives feature a framing device - in the mariner's story, an albatross arrives and the ship is freed. the men see the animal as symbol of good luck but the mariner shoot it. Victor's rejection of the monster can be seen as the reason for his misery, as if he is shooting luck? - in the mariner's story, after the albatross is shut down, the ship sails into stagnant waters and slimy creatures crawl from the sea. the mariner is blamed the dead albatross is hung around his neck, whereas, in Frankenstein, the dead albatross could be the mark the monster leaves on his loved one or Victor's entrapment in hunting and running from the monster. he says in chapter 18 'Could I enter into a festival [marriage[ with this deadly weight around my neck' - everyone on the mariner's ship is killed by dehydration and the mariner is visited by death and life-in-death who gambled together, resulting in the mariner being visited by the sailors' ghosts. Victor is also visited by the spirits of those who died because of his neglect of the monster - the mariner takes responsibility for killing the albatross but Victor refuses to admit to his neglect - at the end of the mariner's story he is told by a hermit that he must tell his story and pass the moral on in order to be reconciled to God. Victor also tells his tale, but Walton (in my opinion) only takes on the message when he is told the story by the monster, who could then be viewed as another 'mariner' figure, desperate to be reconcilled with God

context: the connections between the reception of the French Revolution and Frankenstein

- the association between Victor and Rousseau can be seen in their shared Genevese heritage and by Victor's likeness to the alchemists and fanatics Burke believed started the revolution. Victor is also ungrateful towards his father, and his revolution is the 'hacked to piece' body politic the monster represents. - the monster can also be seen as the proletariat rebelling against his truly negligent father: Victor, the aristocrat. The monster represents the revolution in Wollstonecraft's eyes: violent, but provoked by the continuous neglect of his father. - both Victor and the monster can be seen as revolutionaries, but Victor the privileged leader able to unleash violence with no consequences, and the monster the true proletariat seen as a 'wretch' by polite society

analyse: the elements of the setting of the Doctor's office (chapter 11) as a microcosm for Gilead

- the barren and pure 'white. featureless' room could reference the state of Gilead as it promotes piety and represses the desires of its citizens - the only desire of sexual acts is the handmaid, red like the 'red cloth stretched on a frame' in the room - on the cloth, and the handmaid, is an eye waching her from above which could be the eye of God, or the spies of Gilead known as 'eyes' - the 'snake-twined sword' on the cloth beneath the eye could be an allusion to the Garden of Eden. these symbols are painted gold on the cloth because they're divine, but are ultimately (like the eyes being references to the Nazi Gestapo or Soviet NKVD) 'bits of broken symbolism'. - furthermore, the red cloth desects the naked individual in the office, representing how the women are only valued for their genitals as 'two legged wombs'. - the cracking paper could represent the pure ideals of Gilead breaking, as the Doctor commits sin by offering to make Offred pregnant

analyse: 'it's papered in small blue flowers, forget-me-nots' (chapter 12)

- the colour blue links the bathroom wallpaper to the wife, as she wears blue (see here how the symbolic control of Gilead has affected even the reader's perception of seemingly irrelevant details) - like the handmaids who are represented by tulips, the wives are also represented by flowers, however unlike the handmaids who will forgotten instantly (they don't even have their own name), wives have a chance to form a legacy through the family - yet the phrase 'forget-me-not' comes across as demanding, and so could represent a sense of desperation in the wives to be remembered. this anguish can be seen in Serena's Joy attempts to have a child

explore: Offred stealing the daffodil in chapter 17

- the daffodil is alos known as a narcissus. narcissus was also a figure in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own reflection and as cursed to stare at it forever - this could mimic Offred's affair with the Commander in its similarity to her relationship with Luke. like Narcissus, Offred is forced to stare at both her own reflection in the relationship and the reflection of the former - the daffodil could therefore symbolise the entrance of the Commander into Offred's private life, her 'night' - this is ironic, because in one of her memories, Offred's mother is holding a sign which says 'take back the night'

explore: the concept of the doppelganger in Frankenstein

- the doppelganger describes a duality of self in which a shadow, or alter ego, manifests itself to the original subject, and the subject had a simultaneous consciousness of being both its present self and the external other observing himself - horror is produced at the recognition of seeing oneself from an external other observing himself from an external position, in the realisation that the tragic figure the subject has been observing is actually his own. the projection of fear and anxiety to the external agent returns to haunt the subject - Victor's doppelganger is the monster, however Shelley blurs the classic binary good/evil divide of the trop because neither Victor nor the monster is fully good or fully evil. so rather than a manifestation of his 'evil side' the creature can be seen as the embodiment of other hidden aspect's of Victor's psyche: - sexuality: the vampire (who Victor likens the monster to) is frequently a sexualised creature within folklore and literature. Victor's association with his creature as a vampire could suggest he fears his own sexuality or sexual intercourse in general, considering his usurping of the act with mechanical reproduction - mothers: the doubling relationship between Victor and the creature can be read as invoking the relationship between Eve and motherhood, as Eve became the 'mother of mankind' due to Original Sin, just as Victor 'births' a new species. the monster could therefore be Victor's 'sin' in that he is often seen and associated with trees like in Eden - Marx: in 'Das Kapital' Marx writes 'Capital is dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour'. Victor's evocation of the creature as a vampire could be read in Marxist terms as a comparison of him to capital itself. the results of Victor's labour which haunts his life increasingly throughout the novel

explore: Safie's education

- the education Safie receives can be likened to that Shelley likely received from her mother's, Mary Wollstonecraft, literature - Wollstonecraft was one of the first thinkers to assert that women should receive an education, were "companions" to their husbands rather than wives (possessions), and could provide valuable input to society and were not just its ornaments - Safie's mother's education mimics these values in that 'she taught her daughter to aspire to higher powers of intellect' (chapter 14) - Safie's mother actually appears (structurally) at the very middle of the novel's narrative of concentric circles, and from her teaching radiates the other feminist lines of narrative, perhaps showing this philosophy to female rights to be the true core of the novel

context: Sufism in THT

- the epigraph is the Sufi proverb 'in the desert there is no sign that says 'thou shall not eat stones'' which summarises Gilead's attitude towards spirituality as a desert offering only 'stones' as spiritual nutrition, especially considering Gilead means 'heap of stones' in Hebrew - Sufism is the pursuit of spiritual experience by bodily disciplines and mystical intuition - Offred resembles a Sufi mystic in her lifestyle, clothing and breathing - her spiritual practice is focused on her own inner feelings and complex wordplay contrary to the practised and formal doctrine of Gilead - through the use of food imagery, Atwood reveals that modern Christianity offers "stones" in its desert as nourishment to human needs such as self-expression and sensual enjoyment, actually encouraging the practitioners to partake in non-nutritional experiences (eating stones) on many psychic levels - night is significant to the Sufi religion as Night is typically regarded as a woman named Laila who is the goal of all spiritual journeys. likewise, Offred's nightime journeys symbolise her own searching for the divine in obscure places and events

quote: 'By your language, stranger, I suppose you are my countryman - are you French?' (chapter 14)

- the fact that the Creature lacks a national identity, however, throws into relief how deeply embedded are national prejudices even among the enlightened. - we have already witnessed in the French reaction to Safie's father and in his abuse of Felix's kindness how mean-spiritedness is served by national identity. - part of Volney's aim in 'Ruins of Empires' is to eradicate such defining ideological concepts. - that the Creature is thus born without them indicates his superiority and, ironically, is a further example of how he does not fit into normative human society.

analyse: the structure of the final chapters of THT in relation to Nick

- the final events of the novel follow a crescendo pattern that begins with Offred's first sex with Nick and ends with his rescue of her. throughout this sequence, the pace is notably quicker than the rest of the novel, showing that Nick is driving the action forward. - his presence in the narrative begins to affect Offred's action significantly in chapter 17, as he prevents her from stealing a flower. in that sense, Nick prevents Offred's from seeking her own rebellion which culminates in her loss of touch with mayday as her risk-taking efforts are concentrated in seeking sex with Nick. - she believes she is being subversive: 'I became reckless. I took stupid chances' but she is falling into the classic love story plot in which women are subordinate and dependent on men. her knock to Nick is a 'beggar's' knock, as he becomes her fairytale prince just as Luke was during the Sons of Jacob takeover: 'How will I be able to hold onto Luke?' - both men prevent Offred from carrying out her own personal agency, insisting instead they rebel for her. Luke drives Offred to Canada; Nick orchestrates her escape. in that sense, the structure of the novel's end mirror the beginning (chronologically), and literally driven by men by men to whom Offred is a fallen women, both in the sense that Luke has a wife and her relationship with Nick is outlawed - Offred's repeating of both classic romance plots and biblical narratives could show her narratives is being controlled by Piexoto

analyse: 'the path of my departure was free' (chapter 14)

- this is the same quote from Percy Shelley's 'Mutability' that Victor uses in his ascent to Monavert in chapter 10 - this establishes a link between them through their shared experience of 'mutability'- that is, the changeability of emotions - indeed, at points the position of the creature and creator appear to be 'mutable' (liable to change) as their power dynamics and moralities remain in a constant flux and it is difficult to distinguish where one characters ends and the other begins

critic: key points of Laura P. Claridge's 'Parent-Child Tensions' [in Frankenstein]

- the fundamental parent neglect of the novel - Victor's rejection of the monster - is reflective of all the strained parental relationships hidden within the story - the love Victor receives from his parents either places him an an object 'their plaything and idol' or as lesser than his father who scorns his love of science as 'sad trash' - despite Victor claiming his childhood was perfect, almost Edenic to Walton, the values he claimed his parents taught him ('patience, charity, self-control') are exactly those he lacks - Victor's anger against his father is replicated by his progeny. in fact, the monster's murder of William is influenced by Alphonse himself, as in yelling 'my papa is a syndic', William alerts the monster of the boy's heritage. furthermore, the Frankenstein's family's emphasis on beauty causes William and Victor's disgust of the monster

question: how might the character of Serena Joy and the monster be considered similar?

- the human's reaction to the monster saving a young girl is to shoot him. this scene escalates the monster's sense of injustice as he is not only being judged by his appearance but his actions also - Serena Joy, despite acting in an ideologically just way (in the context of Gilead!) is limited and judged by her gender. therefore, both the monster and Serena are defined by society by their appearance and biology more so than their inherent morality even though such morality is compatible with their societies

analyse: 'There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia, Freedom to and freedom from' (chapter five)

- the irony of this phrase is that, in suggesting the women of Gilead are being given freedom from anarchy, Aunt Lydia is blaming male uncontrollable desire for harming women - now they are 'free' from the threat of unwanted sex and pornography, the women of Gilead should - in the Aunts' view - be grateful to the loving, fatherly Sons of Jacob who provide such protection - Atwood suggests some Feminists may have contributed to these ideas of freedom in the scene where Offred's mother burns porno magazines, creating 'freedom from' sexual exploitation - the 'said Aunt Lydia' phrase could show information Offred is not including about what Aunt Lydia said in order to frame her in a certain way (or for Piexoto to frame Aunt Lydia as the oppressor) - the speech marks show Offred has memorised the phrase word for word, as if was repeated to her many times

explore: slang, Offred's word games, and the formal biblical discourse

- the language the Handmaids are forced to use to communicated is censored and imposed on them, in strong comparison to the use of slang used in Offred's flashbacks which is an identity defining device that helps social groups connect (slang can create a bond of association between those who share it) - however, between the freedom of slang and the formality of Gileadean discourse lies the surreal language of Offred's inner world. in which she is able to deconstruct her reality using wordplay and metaphor, as only at night is she able to explore her experiences

analyse: 'the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life' (chapter 5) with 'I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing'

- the monster and Victor give alternative versions of the creation. Victor treats the monster as if he has moral agency: intention and responsibility, whereas the monster claims his early actions were driven by raw sensory input and he could not interpret the world around him - this narrative inconsistency impacts the corrupt nature of truth in the novel, as the event shows that we can become rooted in misconception by only perceiving externals- Victor observes the monster's behaviour, and imprints on him his own mind's opinion about the monster's intentions. so Victor, in failing to account for internal experience, lives a false truth: he believes the monster to be evil because this what his mind wants him to believe as it removes his own responsibility from the monster's later actions - through the use of two narratives, Shelley exposes how we can live in false truths in order to sustain an intact moral position in the world. we alter our own reality in order to avoid breakdown

quote+connections: analyse 'I allowed my thoughts, unchecked by reason to ramble in the fields of paradise... but it was all a dream' (chapter 14) and link to THT

- the monster becomes increasingly desperate as he becomes more aware of the self-deception his life is under. a great tension exists between his reality and imagination and so he struggles to orientate himself - Offred also experiences this tension as the visceral world of her 'night' collides with the bleak reality of her 'day'. Offred's imagination creates a martyr-figure of Moira, crushed by reality. the destruction of Offred's imagination with the realities of survival through sensual pleasure (Nick) is similar to the monster's loss of faith due to his inability to be fulfilled sensually. this implies 'imagination' is an ability of 'superior' beings due to the often degrading way sensual desire is portrayed (Victor usurps sexual reproduction - inherently sensual - for his 'imaginative' inventing)

context: Godwinian philosophy in regards to solitude in THT and 'Frankenstein'

- the monster demands a companion from Victor, essentially presenting sympathy as a human right. this is an echo of William Godwin's 'Political Justice' - Godwin said 'To be virtuous, it is requisite that we should consider men, and their relations to eachother' - using Godwin's logic, it is impossible for the monster to be virtuous because solitude is imposed on him from birth, potentially due to his creator's choice to ignore his relations and embark on an absolutist, scientific, self-serving pursuit - in THT, Offred also has solitude imposed upon her and she is refused relations to those around her ('the Marthas are not supposed to fraternise with us' - chapter 2). when asked to improve Gilead by the Commander, she tells him love was forgotten. in a Godwinian sense, this doesn't jsut mean private affections, but political sympathy

analyse: 'Each thing is valid and really there, it is through a field of such valid objects I must pick my way, every day and in every way. I put a lot of effort into making such distinctions' (chapter six)

- the red of the man's smile comes from his murder, the tulips' redness comes from the other womens' bodies which are sacrificed so that she [Serena Joy] can play with the flowers - for her to enjoy the red of the tulips, other women must wear the red of the handmaids, - however, Offred wants to stop herself from making connections, adhering to the deconstruction theory set out by Derrida, in order to stop herself from associating herself with the flowers (symbolic of her controlled fertility) and the red smile (symbolic of her oppression)

context: the significant points about 'Ruins of Empires' in Frankenstein

- the short passage dedicated to Ruins of Empires in the monster's narratives shows his perspective on history being transformed. at the beginning, he is merely digesting the biased and imperialist view of history recounted by Felix, but at the end he is forming his own belief on the consequences of such 'grand' history. he empathises with the subaltern position of 'the original inhabitants' as he too has the place of 'other' in society - despite the colonial labelling of 'slothful Asiatics' and 'stupendous genius' of Grecians, 'Ruins' is one of the genuinely radical documents produced in the early years of the French revolution- a work that severely critiques all the reigning ideologies of the world, whether political of theological, and proposes their destruction. Volney highlights the constant tension between the higher and lower classes as the source of all social conflict, and he proposes that through the progress of science, all people will become enlightened and will work for another's interest

context: behind Offred singing 'Amazing Grace' in chapter ten

- the song is outlawed in Gilead because of the notions of freedom it celebrates - however, the song was composed by a christian convert and former slaveholder: Jonathon Newton, who believed God has given a 'wretch' like him salvation. - this theme of conversion was furthered by the use of the song in the 'Second Great Awakening' religious revival of the early 1800s. women in this period used the song to liberate their own sense of salvation and connection to God - the denominations whose converts increased in particular were the Baptists and Methodist which gave women trapped in patriarchal domestic systems a chance to assert a sense of self within a communal female identity and peer support system - their connection to God was seen as equal to man's, so it is no wonder the song is outlawed in Gilead

context: Genesis 30 in THT? summary of the story and its relevance to the novel

- the story features Rachel who cannot bear children for her husband Jacob. she's jealous of her fertile sister, Leah, and eventually tells her servant, Bilhah, to sleep with Jacob to produce a child. Leah then gives her servant to Jacob in order to reproduce. Jacob eventually bears twelve sons and one daughter, with all four women - the ruling elite in THT call themselves 'the sons of Jacob' whilst mimicking the childrearing process in the biblical story as Commanders have sex with multiple women in order to reproduce - as well as validating the 'ceremony' of Gilead's society. the passage is used to show how devoid biblical text is in Gilead from emotion , as the story is isolated from its context and turn's a woman's (Rachel's) desire into an instrument of male control - in Gilead, upper class women are devalued by the system and must bear the feeling of jealously towards eachother and their handmaids for 'taking' their husbands - similarly, fertile Handmaids are denied any emotional or sexual desires as they become 'walking wombs'. this is seen in the Genesis passage by the lack of speech for Bilhah and Zilpah as they are exploited by the ruling class to produce children

context: key points from Carol J. Adams' 'Frankenstein's Vegetarian Monster'

- the theory of concentric circles suggests that humans construct moral codes around the social groups connected to them: the wider the circle, the less collective empathy reaches - the monster is locked within this framework as humankind, seeing him as outside their circle, rejects him. the structure of the novel reflects this as the frame narrative places the monster's story within the centre of a concentricity he must overcome to be heard - the monster's vegetarianism, then, can be considered itself a rejection against this self-enclosed structure of man's moral code. in including animals within his moral circle, the monster breaks down the binary of 'us' and 'them' which has defined his position of 'other' in human concentricity - this expanding of human morality was also a task undertaken by Romantic vegetarians such as Percy Shelley

explore: Offred imagining Luke as a gravestone with 'an achor and an hourglass' painted upon it

- these are two classic Puritan symbols - the hourglass represents the passing of time and how that is fininite - the anchor was used to disguise the symbol of the cross - this might suggest that Offed's security, her anchor, with Luke stopped her from paying attention to his Christian values underneath

explore: the 'colonial' style bed on which the ceremony takes place (chapter 16)

- this could be a reference to how white men raped native women for pleasure and power - this could also show the irony in how the white leaders of Gilead think they are reverting the country to a glorious past, but the real past of America is pre-colonial, pre-Christianity - the colonisation of America was, like Gilead, driven by a Christian Mission

explore: 'She tried to explain it to me afterwards; to tell me the things in it has really happened, but to me it was only a story. I thought someone had made it up' (chapter 24)

- this could be another reference to Piexoto as he labels Offred's account a 'tale' and denies it authority as a historical document all the while praising Gilead's 'genius'/ this view of history is dominated by powerful male role models, much like how in real life the history of slavery and colonialism is told through the narratives of European Explorers and merchants. - Atwood shows here how individual victims can be left behind in history due to an ignorance of their narratives due to lack of importance in public sphere - such is also the case in Frankenstein as the novel is dominated by the recorded narratives of men who are dominate in public pursuits such as trade, law, and science

explore THT using this context: 'I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children' (Genesis 3:16)

- this is God's punishment for Eve after Eden. Offred remarks on how she was told this by Aunt Elizabeth at the centre, in a teaching about the dangers of birthing technology - despite admitting these are 'better for the baby' the aunts remain intolerant to subverting scripture, instead insisting that society should return to natural practises because God wants women to suffer 'in sorrow' as they bring forth children due to Eve's transgression - this proves the Aunts care little about 'the fruit' and the repopulation of Gilead, and more about sustaining the stones of the past - 'we can feel it like a heavy stone moving down, pulled down inside us' (chapter 21): Offred's comment about the birth of Janine's baby shows that the indoctrination of the stones of Christianity has entered the inside of the girls. the baby is the core of their indoctrination, which Offred feels 'like a heavy stone'

analyse: 'I hear that's where the Eyes hold their banquets' (chapter 31)

- this quote alludes to the last supper, ironic because the Eyes are actually responsible for the 'crucifixion' of many of Gilead's criminals. This shows the hypocrisy of Gilead's religious faith. this is backed up by the description of the Eyes' meeting place as 'more or less a church', again showing how religions is used only in Gilead for its symbolic power, not spiritual value - the line could also be referring the Jonathan Swift epigraph in that it presents an unequal distribution of food: the 'rich' (eyes) enjoy a 'banquet' whilst the majority suffers in the colonies - there is a strong sense contextually of Stalinist Russia as it was a society in which, despite advertising itself as a communist utopia, poverty and famines were common despite the ruling party class living affluent lifestyles

analyse: 'and now, with the world before me, whiter should I bend my steps?' (chapter 15)

- this quote is an allusion to Paradise Lost. as Adam and Eve leave Eden these lines are said: 'The world was all before them; where to choose/ Their place of rest, and providence their guide' - the monster is not guided by Providence (that is, the protective care of God as a spiritual power) as his creator is Victor, who does indeed guide him, but as an object of revenge. - this distortion of the roles of Paradise Lost exposes the moral ambiguity and emptiness of the novel. as, while characters seek to define their world using heaven/hell binaries, the truth is that they live in a godless universe with no absolute judgement - the use of the allusion also links the creator to Victor. as, in letter four, Walton tells Victor 'you have hope, and the world before you' which connects them through their shared position as 'fallen' innocents leaving paradise

explore: 'the mutant strain of syphillis no mould could touch' (chapter 19)

- this quote shows the infertility crisis was caused, in part, by an STI and this allows Gilead's leaders to assert that sexual freedoms result in disease: punishment from God - there is no evidence that this is true, as Offred says she learned it at the centre, where information i biased, so this could be considered indoctrination - Offred also claims her flesh is polluted, a belief echoing the biblical notion of 'mortification of the flesh', a ritual which associated the flesh with sin, 'polluted' by lust - Gilead's leaders uses the girls' own fear that their flesh has been polluted by nuclear waste to shame them into thinking their own flesh is the cause of their sin which only childbearing can save them from

explore: 'we make her salivate morally' (chapter 19)

- while Offred's hunger is often synonymous with desire, for touch and love and spiritual meaning, Aunt Lydia's hunger is to form the handmaids - as Gilead offers little spiritual nourishment for its citizens, as symbolished by the 'stones' of the Sufi epigraph, 'soul scrolls' and the bland food on offer, the only satisfaction arises from the manipulation of others, as Aunt Lydia subjects the girls to shaming, indoctrination, rape, and boredom. she does this to fulfil herself 'morally' salivating at her hunger because despite shunning the material world, the girls are her possessions, 'hers to define'

quotes + analysis: food imagery in THT

Atwood is able to interweave the magery of hunger with that of other desires which are starved in Gilead. which, aluuding to the Sufi epigraph, is a barren 'desert' of Puritan Christinaity. the idea of food being related to the subversive is inherent in Christian docrtrine as the fall of man is a result of the forbidden fruit, and Eve's desire - the young, sexually starved guardian who Offred comes across at the road blocj has a 'peach coloured mustache' (chapter 4) - 'like the candy I hoarded as a child' (chapter 4) - 'blessed be the fruit' '- I'm ravenous for news' - Lack of oranges in the store (chapter 6) - 'feels on wheels' as a pun of 'meals on wheels' - 'I wait, washed, brushed, fed, like a prize pig' (chapter 13) - 'we make her salivate morally' (chapter 19)

explore: Offred's version of the Lord's Prayer?

Offred's Lords Prayer represents the personal religious connection devoid from Gilead's formal theology. her statement that God is 'within' is fitting with the Sufi tradition, furthered by Offred's remark about choking on bread, which could be considered as 'stones' in the Sufi epigraph. the spiritual nutrition of Gilead is unwilling 'stones' rendering its citizens more hungry and desirous than before. Offred is able to recognise the failure of this by developing her own personal dialogue with God beyond the set prayers given to her by the false God: her commander.

explore: Serena Joy's offer

Serena breaks the rules by suggesting the Commander isn't fertile by advocating sexual relations between a handmaid and guardian, by lying to the commander ad by offering her handmaid a cigarette. this law-breaking suggests she is both desperate for a child and for Offred to leave the household. it also shows that religion for her is not a spiritual commitment but a social fulfilment

critic quote: Spivak

Shelley uses the narrative to criticise 'the eighteenth century European discourses on the origin of society through (Western Christian) man'

context: Philosophical support of the French Revolution and links to Frankenstein

Thomas Paine's 'Rights of Man' established aristocracy as a monstrous parent to counter Burke's monstrous child. this criticism was continued by Mary Shelley's mother: Mary Wollstonecraft, who claimed the revolution did not expose the innate evil in 'the slaves' (the revolutionaries) but reflected the evils of government. She condemns the violence of the mob, but she doesn't blame them, as she strongly felt they were provoked as 'a blind elephant lashing out indiscriminately under provocation'

link to THT: Victor's mother 'possessed a mind of uncommon mould'

Victor remarks on how his mother 'possessed a mind of uncommon mould' yet was confined to domestic duties expected of her a woman. likewise, Offred is an educated woman and Serena Joy an intelligent public speaker yet both are rendered incapable of affecting the world beyond the household

compare: the irony of the monster's creation compared to the irony of the creation of Gilead

Victor's creation of the monster out of 'bones from charnel houses' (dead body parts) is ironic because Victor is attempting to give life, not death. this is similar to the creation of Gilead from the dead parts of history, ironic as the regime was meant to promote life through fertility

context: how do Walton, William Godwin, and letter 2 link?

Walton longs for a friend who can 'repair the faults' of his character and prevent his ambitions from overcoming him. this relates to the Godwinian ideal that 'love conquers all difficulties'

why might we doubt the validity of chapter one in Frankenstein?

as Victor describes the circumstances of his parents' marriage, he creates a foundation of benevolence to frame his own story. their good natures set him up to be a good man, and therefore Victor's telling of his backstory from so far back in time could be considered a narrative manipulation, especially as it is impossible for him to know the exact circumstances in such detail

question: what is atavism and how is it relevant to THT?

atavism is the reversion to the appearance and behaviour of ancestors. it is relevant to the THT because it describes the state of Gilead

context: 'electric cattle prods' (THT)

electric cattle prods were used by police in the US civil right and race riots of the 1960s

context and links to THT: postmodernism and language games

context: - the philosopher Wittgenstein argued that how a word is used can change its meaning postmodernists

context and links to THT: postmodern and deconstruction

context: - the term 'deconstruction' was created by the French postmodern philosopher Derrida to describe the process of dismantling our excessive loyalty to any idea and learning to see all aspects of truth that might lie buried in its opposite - in his 'Of Grammartology' (1967), Derrida argues that Western philosophers since Socrates had systematically privileged speech, which was seen as authentic communication compared to writing seen as a mere transcript. Derrida used this idea to reveal the many binaries in society in which one side is privileged over the other. Derrida wanted to show that the 'lesser' part was equally worthy - to deconstruct an idea, then, is to show that it's confused and riddled with logical defects - Derrida wanted to uplift the position of confusion which he marked as the natural state of humans, rather that asserting false truths about things. Derrida called the aporia - Derrida also critiqued what he labeled 'logocentrism', or too great a reliance on reason and its use of language to communicate links to THT:

explore: knowledge in THT

due to Gilead's system of speech, Offred is stuck in an incredibly subjective state of knowledge, in which her personal judgement comprise her understanding more so than facts and context. this is the the case with Offglen, as she knows nothing about the woman and must pry around the edges of the set phrases to find any hint about who she maybe. this sense of not knowing can be used a control methods by the regime, as in the same way Eve let her curiosity front her knowledge of good and evil, Gilead's citizens incriminate themselves simply by knowing, and the Sons of Jacob know such a desire to know is in human nature. furthermore, the consequences of knowledge is torture in which Offred will 'incriminate anyone... confess to any cry' in a similar way to 1984's Winston Smith in Room 101. Knowledge in Gilead is a bitter trap

explore: Offred's references to 'sororizing' (chapter two) - three interepretations

feminist: - second wave feminists addressed each other as 'sisters' and encouraged women to share roles so one woman wouldn't be overloaded. this contrasts Gilead, as women are encouraged to identify with their roles, with their separation from other women, leading poorer women to be forced into the 'econowife' position marxist: - in Gilead the separation of women's work (the division of labour) could be described in Marxist terms as "alienation" as women loose control over the (re)productive process, for example the handmaids loose their children. this feeling of alienation is intensified by the womens' inability to 'sororize' with eachother postmodernist: - Offred's comment on that fact that there is so word to describe behaving like a sister is an expression of the postmodern belief that all language is performative

recall: the differences between the first and second scrabble match

first: - focused on the regime's ideology - indoctrination into Gilead - Offred is keen on displaying her intelligence to him, she is under threat, proving herself - protecting herself from attraction to the commander second: - focused on uncertainty and escapism - her internal state of confusion rather than the regime's ideology - losing a sense of her place within the regime

quote(s): key points about the words from the scrabble game

first: - larynx: throat, strangled, voicebox/she lacks voice, scientific detatchment - valance: curtains, the commander is muffling her view of the world, window=door=opening, bed canopy - the ceremony - quince: a pear-like fruit 'blessed be the fruit', hunger and desire, forbidden fruit, similar in sound to 'wince' - zygote: scientific term for a fertilised cell, shows indoctrination, also links to the idea of new life, a sexual rebirth for Offred? second: - prolix: a person given to speaking or writing at length, could show Offred reflecting on her own narrative - quartz: healing crystal to find balanc, white - christian purity, self-hardening properties, common mineral, reflects what Offred has become - slpyh: mythical air sprit, part of Offred's private spirituality, contrary to regime - rhythym: the beat of her life, life becoming monotonous yet harmonious, the Commander making her forget rebellion

question: what is interesting about Walton's geographic position in letter one?

he is situated between two towns - St Petersburg and Archangel - which entrap him in domesticity and religion, due to the connatations of the place names

context: how does this quote 'if our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might as well be nearly free' (chapter 10) link to Rousseau?

in asserting that man is most content in the state of nature (a state in which only his most primal needs must be fulfilled), Shelley, through the voice of Victor, uses three of Roussau's key beliefs: man is most content in the state of nature, society is what corrupts him, and once corrupted, he can never return to his natural state

explore: the older woman in THT

in four cases throughout the novel (Offred's mother, Rita, Aunt Lydia, Serena Joy), older women are seen as unhappy and dried-up. despite their differences in personality and beliefs, they all grow intolerant of youth and stubbornly defensive. this could show that due to Patriarchal systems, there is a single path for all women that forces them to close up to the world. Offred undergoes such a transition as her symbolic flower: the tulip becomes drier course of the novel, as she herself is taken advantage of by men posing 'love' as a survival technique. this forces Offred to close off from Offglen and rebellion

question: what does 'context is all' mean, put simply?

that you must read THT within the frame of Piexoto, because how characters are portrayed is a result of his editorial guidance (likewise, in Frankenstein, Walton is the final narrator)

analyse: 'nature demands variety, for men'

the commander's belief is ironic, because he repeats what he did with his previous handmaid, in taking her to Jezebels and inviting her into his office, with Offred. his behaviour is similar to what other commanders do, considering the existence and popularity of Jezebels. furthermore, there is the possibility the commander believes he has biblical precent to demand variety, considering the actions of Jacob and his four sexual partners. this contrasts the bible's other teachings on loyalty and sexual purity. these continuous layers of irony choke Gilead, creating a web of confusion and hypocrisy that give its leaders complete power over what is permissible in line with religious law. finally, this knowledge that the commanders have complete access to sexual pleasure stops any sense of sympathy the reader may have for their 'repression' considering this too can be seen as an act when put in the context of Jezebels.

analyse: 'faith' cushion symbolism in THT

the regime messed up when planning Offred's room as the cushion allows Offred to read. this could show how the rulers mistook 'faith' itself for a decoration, overlooking its true meaning

analyse: 'For him, I must remember, I am only a whim'| (chapter 25)

the significance of this quote is that it reveals Offred's awareness of the relationship's truth beyond the narrative imposed on it by the Commander as he attempts to construct the relationship around various set pieces: the kiss scrabble, a gift etc. he uses mock subversion to make Offred feel as if she's not controlled, when in reality due to the power dynamics she's still subservient to him the entire time. due to the standard ways in which he tried to seduce her, she is able to recognise the relationship's hidden politics

analyse: 'it would indeed be very impertinent and inhuman of me to trouble you with any inquisitiveness of mine' (letter four)

unlike Victor, Walton seems to be aware of the effects of unchecked curiosity. curiosity is a metaphor for sexual desire/lust, and Victor let it take over him, leading to the 'rape' of nature seen by the creation of the monster whereas Walton restrains it and respects normal human community by turning the ship away from the artic and protecting both the sailors and the natural world. it is likely that if he discovered his 'Northern Passage' human trade would decimate the region. resulting in a second 'rape of nature'