Themes of Handmaid's Tale: Hypocrisy

Simply a facade

Because the rulers of Gilead are invisible, it is difficult to see what they ultimately hope to achieve, but Atwood leaves us in no doubt that most of what the state apparently stands for is a facade. In showing this, she is prompting us to ask ourselves how far we, and our religious, political and other organisations, can stand up to scrutiny. Satire.

Community

In Gilead, divorce and adultery are crimes, and those who have been involved in such behaviour - including Offred and Luke - are condemned; this means that their family is torn apart - which is ironic in itself since the Handmaids are victims of adulterous acts. Homosexual love is punishable by death. Love between men and women is strictly regulated. Marriages are arranged by those in power, and the girls who take part in the mass wedding at a 'Prayvaganza' have no choice of partner - Patriarchy. The state now organises the family. Children are in short supply, so the offspring of offenders are forcibly removed and women are forced to become 'Handmaids'. As we see from the behaviour of the Wives in the section 'Birth Day', the Commanders' wives bitterly resent these women.

The state of Gilead

The Republic of Gilead is ostensibly founded on Christian principles. Cars and shops are named after events, places and people in the Bible and the Aunts apparently quote the Bible frequently to support their ideas. Yet the totalitarian state is hypocritical as a whole; The biblical quotations spouted by the Aunts are twisted, misquoted or selectively incomplete, just like the cushions in Offred's room where only 'Faith' remains and 'Hope' and 'Charity' (love) have been removed. The new state's name presents a false idea of its values. It calls itself Gilead, after a mountain mentioned in Genesis 31:22, on which was taken an oath to let God be the judge in human affairs and disputes. But God is not the judge in the Republic of Gilead. Meanwhile, the state's leadership is completely anonymous, since democracy has been done away with in a violent coup, and freedom is now unknown.

The ignorance of principles

The principles which are supposedly the raison d'être of Gilead are never seen in practice. The most obvious example of this hypocrisy is Jezebel's, which practices the reverse of the ideas of sexual purity and morality so frequently mouthed by the Aunts at the Red Centre. Aunt Lydia preached that Gilead protected women from pornography and sexual violence, yet Jezebel's, where those with some power in Gilead go to be entertained.