handmaids tale and frankenstein essay plans

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Comparative essay plans - Frankenstein and The Handmaid's Tale, Quotes…

• Moira's escape provides hope for Offred as one of the handmaid's has done what once seemed impossible for them. Moria never loses hope leading up to her escape
• The wardrobe engraving - despite the woman being dead, it is still hope that the previous handmaid had an inner resistance like Offred
• The end - despite the readers not knowing where Offred has actually been taken to, there is hope that she has gone into the light and been saved by Nick and May Day
• Offred's inner thoughts - hope for what has happened to her daughter and Luke
• The pin cushion in Offred's bedroom - FAITH been left there to remind Offred to never lose her faith/hope
• When the creation says he will go away if Victor creates a companion for him
• Victor has hope in his studies of galvanism
• The creature is left hopeless after it's birth as it gets abandoned
• The creature hopes his good nature will win over the DeLacy's instead of them being put off by his looks
• Ambition and desire making people do the wrong things which leads to destruction. Victor's ambition to 'play god' led to the creation which led to the deaths of all his family members
• Shelley criticises and mocks male arrogance in Walton's letters and throughout the novel
• Unreliable as Offred herself said the events may not be in order. Only what she can properly remember
• Unreliable as we learn in the historical notes that it is actually a patrichacal reorganisation of Offred's accounts by Piexoto
• Non-linear and fragmentary - reflecting on the fragmentary of Offred's identity
• 'Night' and 'Day' sections - Offred's inner thoughts imbedded in her day to day life as a handmaid
• Open ending - creating ambiguity in what actually happened to Offred in the end. Open to interpretation of the reader (darkness and light)
• Unreliable as it is Walton's biased retelling of Victor's experience
• Multiple male narrators but no female narrators
• Epistolary novel and frame narrative of Walton around the story
• The three male narrators - Victor, the creature and Walton - showing the mirroring between the characters and how similar the characters are
• Unequal distribution of power in relation to gender. Victor is a male scientist acting alone. The three male narrators within power of adventures and science - no females. Links to Shelley's mother Mary Wollstonecraft who was part of major feminist movements
• Victor over powers the role of the female in reproduction when making the creation
• Lack of parental responsibilities - gender roles in society, maternal ideologies that the woman should stay at home to look after the children
• The misuse of science in Gilead allowed men to oppress women in general but specifically sexually
• distorting biological functions because of typical gender powers
• birthting ritual
• the women are reduced to house duties
• Ending - Victor does not accept responsibility or learn from his mistakes
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Elizabeth being left responsible for the children
• Elizabeth responsible for Caroline's death
• Victor doesn't accept responsibility leading to cyclical stucture
• Parental responsibility for Victor to look after the creature
• Responsibilty for own actions - victor's dangerous ambition and desire
• Responsibility of justice system
• Handmaid's responsible for man's ('rapist') death in the salvaging
• Commander being partly responsible for the creation of Gilead
• GIlead in general
• Parental responsibilty of Handmaid's to carry a child
• Responisbility for own actions - affair with Nick and the commander
• Quotes for responsibility - Frankenstein - "and on the morrow Justine died" "Elizabeth my love, you must supply my place to my younger children" "which might have staggered anyone who had not such proof of her innocence as I had" "did I not as his maker owe him all the portion of happiness that was in my power to bestow" Handmaid's - "don't be stupid he wasnt a rapist at all, he was political, he was one of ours, I knocked him out, put him out of his misery" "i was her hope, i have failed her, now she will always be childless" "The Ceremony goes as usual"

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• Frankenstein and The Handmaid's Tale Comparisons
• Created by: olivialcock
• Created on: 03-06-19 15:48

PROSE COMPARISONS:

Both novels function as  cautionary tales  against:

-         abuse of science/power

-         dangers of apathy

-         dichotomous readings [favour of multiplicity = endings of both texts]

-         any form of extremity 

PARENTAL FIGURES:

Frankenstein: Victor is blessed with a fantastic upbringing and an excellent paternal role model, yet he fails to live up to Alphonse’s reputation and abandons the Creature at birth

The Handmaid’s Tale: Offred remains apathetic and fails to appreciate or reciprocate her mother’s efforts by moving the feminism movement forward

Frankenstein: Whilst Victor makes a conscious choice to isolate himself away from his family, for the Creature, having a family is only ever a possibility which fails to materialise 

The Handmaid’s Tale: Offred’s estrangement from her family is out of her own control but rather enforced by Gilead – however, it could be argued that [like Victor] Offred’s own choices contribute to this loss, especially her apathy and nonchalance 

FEMALE COMPLICITY

Frankenstein: Caroline is submissive to the patriarchal expectations placed upon women, and perpetuates such ideals through her daughter Elizabeth

The Handmaid’s Tale: The Aunts are complicit in the abuse and degeneration of the handmaids in return for personal privileges. Equally, Serena Joy partakes in the mistreatment of other women when she digs her rings into Offred during the first Ceremony. However, her female complicity in the sexual violation of Offred stems from her own unhappiness. 

Frankenstein: Victor bypasses the female reproductive function in order to render birth a strictly masculine/scientific experience 

The Handmaid’s Tale: Gilead completely removes all scientific intervention from birth in order to render it a strictly female/natural experience 

LIFE AND DEATH

Frankenstein: Victor blurs the boundaries between life and death by grave-robbing and bestowing life upon dead matter   

The Handmaid’s Tale: Gilead draws an inextricable connection between life and death, as the punishment for failing to pro-create is death

Frankenstein: Elizabeth defies the expectations of women through her courageous decision to speak out in defence of Justine 

The Handmaid’s Tale: Ofglen exhibits tremendous courage when she defiantly puts an alleged ****** out of his misery to prevent him from suffering a pain-staking death

Frankenstein: The Creature develops an extreme self-loathing of his appearance, for his aesthetic defects become massively restricting to his identity. Equally, it could be argued that the Creature is never given a proper identity, for the only impression he internalises of himself is that vocalised by other people

The Handmaid’s Tale: After her body becomes the property of Gilead, Offred develops feelings of estrangement and alienation within her own skin – she is merely reduced to her biological function which diminishes her identity as a woman. Nevertheless, although Offred’s superficial identity is overridden by patronymics, she still holds the knowledge her true name [unlike the Creature]

Frankenstein: Whilst both Walton and Victor possess a strong desire to metaphorically penetrate the secrets of Mother Nature, there is a possibility that Elizabeth is physically *****…

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Comparison of settings used in Frankenstein and The Handmaid’s Tale

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The Handmaid's Tale

Different voices: a comparison of the handmaid's tale and frankenstein anonymous 12th grade.

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood, and ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley use different voices within their novels to achieve greater success in delivering the messages of their texts. Shelley, through her novel, is warning readers about the transgressions of exploring science too deeply; this is in part due to her being a romantic writer, cautious of the Enlightenment era’s quest to push scientific knowledge to explain the world. However, Atwood warns her readers about the dangers of theocracies and the conflicts that occur when science and knowledge are not taken control of equally. This is most likely based on Atwood’s first hand experience with extreme dictatorships during her visits to Iran and Afghanistan, where she has witnessed the impacts of these restrictions. The two authors stress these warnings through the way in which they have constructed their respective texts.

Both novels use different narrative structures to portray the different voices the authors choose to use. In ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, the novel is narrated through a fragmented structure; Offred states throughout the novel that her retelling of the experiences she went through is a ‘reconstruction’ and that whilst she does not ‘want to be telling this...

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A-Level English With Miss Huttlestone

A FULL MARK ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Essay

The following essay, penned by Heidi in year 12, captures the essence of the top band – it is developed, has true voice, and supports each ambitious idea with extensive textual evidence. Heidi’s knowledge of theorists, and her passion for debate adds enviable flair to the response .

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is not primarily about the suppression of women but about their defiance. To what extent to you agree?

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a piece of speculative fiction about both the extensive oppression of women and their attempts to defy it, however their attempts exist in accordance with the misogyny that existed in the time before Gilead and this greatly limits the effectiveness of it. As philosopher Christopher Lasch would say, their protest is incurvatus in se or turned inward. This means that the protest throughout the narrative is lacklustre and far more about the actualisation of the self than the organised movement against total oppression. Atwood’s writing in the era of Reganism, where the rights of women were being pushed back against and thus the narrative reflects the internalised misogyny that each woman possessed via social conditioning that lowers one’s ability to protest effectively. Characters who defy do so by becoming more masculine as the culture hegemonic standard is that men are strong, and women are weak that existed long before Gilead came to be. Atwood seems to say with the lack of effective protest that the suppression of women existed before, it harmed women before, and it will continue to do so unless far greater pushback is made.

Firstly, the character of Serena Joy is created such that her defiance comes from her personal brutality and masculinisation of the self. She is a character who smokes, a recurring motif seen in all protesting characters, however smoking itself is seen as a masculine trait throughout history, with instances such as the Nazi regime totally banning smoking for women when they came to power. Further, the image of a cigarette is incredibly phallic, and the fact that this phallus is used as a semiotic representor of protest reflects the nature of such an act for women. They see no other alternative but this masculine object to use as their defiance, the social conditioning from year of demonisation of feminine power stemming long before Gilead has run so deeply into the psyche that the characters look for a phallic object to protest using. Serena, in her smoking is described by Offred by putting ‘the cigarette out, half-smoked, decisively one jab and one grind’, this imagery is violent, it is the pressing of the cigarette downwards and crushing of its end. The use of the repetition of the determiner ‘one’ creates the imagery of conclusion, she has done this action before and she is used to pushing the cigarette out, she needs no further courses of action. These traits embody the stereotypical masculine, she has decisiveness and not the stereotypical questioning femininity that has been so greatly propounded by wider society. This line also relates to Offred later recognition that she must ‘steel herself’ when partaking in the ceremony, Serena seems steely here, she seems solid, she seems in practise and almost robotic. Further, the way Serena acts is told to be opposing those in in the same social class as her and Offred goes on to say that they ways she puts out her own cigarette is different to the ‘many series of genteel taps favoured by many wives’. Not only does this quote indicate that there is protest and the taking up of black-market objects across the female hierarchy, but it separates Serena and solidifies her as a far more masculine and expectation defiant character. The other wives are dainty and adhere to gender norms that were present pre-Gilead, their actions are graceful and ladylike, they are far more the ‘Angel in the House’ than Serena seems to be. In addition to this, to tap a cigarette is to remove the ash, presumably a fully smoked one, since the Wives cannot work they are reliant on their husbands for the money to buy the black-market cigarettes, yet Serena disrespects this, her cigarette is wasted. She defies the view of ‘waste not want not’. Atwood has stated previously that there are droughts and struggles to get things into the regime, but Serena does not care, her protest here is one of apathy. She removes herself from the feminine doting stereotype who cares over all small details. The character of Serena Joy is one of two opposing sides, on the one hand she is the defiant strong masculine woman who acts aggressively and appositionally, yet her protest is about becoming a man more than it is becoming a defiant individual. She is far more preoccupied with masculinising herself to remove from the expectation of women than fostering true escape from Gilead. This makes her character one entangled with both the suppression of women and the feminine and the defiance of expectation. 

Moreover, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ presents the extent that misogyny invades the self through the internalisation of Gileadean and pre-Gileadean ideas of women and stereotypes. Throughout the novel, the ideas of Gilead are presented through the character Aunt Lydia, who remains a construct within the mind of Offred until the near end of the book. In turning the character in to a construction, Atwood is able to expertly show just how pervasive and condemning misogyny is to the minds of women, just how easily it finds itself inside the heads of those it infects. She uses no quotation marks around Aunt Lydia’s remarks to emphasise the degree at which it has been absorbed into each person. ‘Yours is a position of honour, she said’ is something Offred repeats in her internal narrative within the story. This idea has embedded itself in the protagonist and she speaks of how her ‘flesh arranges itself differently’ and she is less a woman and more of a ‘cloud’. Through this metaphorical imagery, the reader is shown the degree at which Gilead breaks the psyche of women. Offred is within Gilead to the point at which it ahs changed her flesh entirely and is no longer herself, no longer bodily autonomous. To include this detail, Atwood creates the impression that the ideas of the patriarchy imbed themselves so deeply within the women subjected to them that they gain the ability to almost change their existence and self-perception entirely. A feminist reader would conclude from this that the character of Offred is one afflicted with internalised misogyny, she becomes her own oppressor and the oppressor of those around her due to her social conditioning. This is backed up by the recollection of a session within the Red Centre that was reflective of the struggle sessions of Maoist China where in abuse was shouted at a central, labelled dissident – in this case Janine. She says that ‘We meant it’, the ‘it’ in reference to the psychological attacks levied against the rape victim, yet she refuses to label it such due to well-placed shame, replacing it with a mediator, replacing it with the innocent and decent sounding ‘it’, she attempts to remove herself from her own actions. In using a collective pronoun, she is implicating the entirety of the Handmaidens who were with her in this abuse, she acts as though she understands their thoughts and in many ways she likely does as they were all put through the same cycle of abuse. It also creates the idea of togetherness and sisterhood; however, this is sisterhood that has been manufactured by the state to abuse someone, it is sisterhood that exists because of women coming together to attack another. So often in the modern media, women are pitted against one another and there seems a great manipulation to make them hate each other. This sisterhood is contrived, it is there because Gilead understands that they must give these women a slight amount of togetherness, so long as it is to attack another individual. This defiance here is a reflection of the patriarchy.

Despite this internalisation, there are many instances of the creation of distinction between us and them within the narrative. Although much of what Aunt Lydia has told Offred is presented uncommented on and internalised, we are still seen some instances of the opposition to her word such as the criticism of her cherry picking of the Bible verse ‘Blessed are the meek’ and her decision to not ‘go on to say anything about inheriting the earth’. The Bible verse blessed are the meek was debated in DH Lawrence’s novel ‘The Rainbow’ wherein his defiant female Ursula character criticized the term due to the connotation it holds that you must be poor and weak to be ‘blessed’ by God. Her character believed that this term is used to satiate the poor and those in unfortunate positions. In many ways, Aunt Lydia’s statement of this term represents that, she is trying to say that the women are weak and must stay ‘meek’ to be drawn under God’s Grace, however Offred unpicks this and criticizes her use of the term in the fact it has so clearly been cherry picked for this purpose. It is meant to satiate the handmaids, lower their drive to protest and suppress them. Yet in Offred educated background she is aware that this is not the full quote and defies expectation by finishing it herself. A reader may believe that this means she sees a life outside of Gilead, that she believes she will ‘inherit the earth’, or rather there will be some form of balance restored. The use of ‘they’ within this recital also indicates a belief in a collective of Handmaids that will work to subvert the rule of Gilead, she does not talk about herself here and rather talks about a collective of the ‘meek’ who shall take over and repossess what they have been stripped of. Further, this idea of the collective ‘meek’ being together is emphasised in the idea that comes after Ofglen’s taking of Offred into the resistance. Offred thinks ‘there is an us then, there is a we’ before going onto say ‘what about them’. These three collective pronouns create the idea that there are two groups of people in Offred’s mind and that she is separate from the regime and its agents. The ‘them’ is in reference to the state actors that exist within Gilead and their violence. Offred separates herself from the violence in the recognition of a ‘them’, she is no longer a part of what has placed others on a wall, what has murdered those around her because she is able to self-actualise and join a group, to join a ‘we’, to join an ‘us’. and while this sentiment is incredible, it is short lived and just a few pages onward Offred reverts to the personal. The chapter ends with the pronoun ‘me’ in Offred joy that she was not taken away by the Eyes. This is a sad reflection that relates to the thesis that protest within Gilead is protest governed by laws of self-actualisation and not true revolutionary action. Offred creates an ‘us’, joins it, and, due to social conditioning, leaves it at the first sign of struggle.  

Finally, the way protest within the novel creates itself is in line with the concept of inward protest rather than outward revolutionary action. This is called incurvatus in se in the words of Christopher Lasch and generally forms itself in the self-actualisation over active opposition against injustice. One example of this is the stealing of a ‘withered daffodil’ from the kitchen by Offred. The daffodil is named after the Greek myth of narcissus and semiotically reflects narcissism. For Atwood to specify this flowers breed she creates the impression that what Offred is doing is to oppose standards of beauty set out by Gilead. However, a Laschian reader would take this symbol far differently. The fact that her protest is the taking of a symbol of narcissism is a reflection of the inability to protest non-narcissistically created in the 1980s during the creation of neo-liberalism. This phenomena praised the individuals actions over anything else and thus the individual saw themselves as more important than the collective group. Atwood, writing at a time where neoliberalism was being created, places her character past in the same time line as her own and thus Offred is afflicted by the same hegemonic standard. Offred exhibits much of the narcissistic tendencies that are noted by Lasch, namely the taking without much real action and what little action that does take place being to self-actualise. Her decision to take the Daffodil was arrived at because it ‘will not be missed’, this is an example of ‘meek’ defiance, and the aforementioned internalisation of such a thing. We have seen how Aunt Lydia wanted the handmaids to be ‘meek’ and Offred still acts in this way, she still internalises her message. The daffodil is ‘withered’, it is presumably about to be thrown out, it is dying. And Offred recognises this and takes it, because this protest is about self-actualising more than it is protest. 

Overall, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a novel that cannot be split into the suppression of women and their defiance. It must be viewed as a conjunction of the two; how the suppression of women harms their protest, how the protest of women changes their suppression. These two concepts exist in symbiosis, the protest of the female characters is in accordance to hegemonic weakening female stereotypes, the women are forced to internalise ideas about their own gender that are near impossible to refute. 

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Published by gcseenglishwithmisshuttlestone

Secondary English teacher in Herts. View all posts by gcseenglishwithmisshuttlestone

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Religion in The Handmaid's tale and Frankenstein

Subject: English

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

22 June 2022

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Here is an essay plan answering the following question: Compare the presentation of religion in The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Frankenstein’.

This essay plan includes all of the assessment objectives that are assessed in the prose exam. (A01,A02,A03,A04)

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