Introduction
I agree that we must be cautious when passing moral judgment when. Reading the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is accurate in terms of Offred, the Commander, the Commander’s wife and the Angel, when examining the decisions and actions they take. However, universal laws of human morality will have value regardless of the realities of the human world. ‘Cautious’ means taking into account the circumstances that prompted the hero to act in a certain way, and ‘moral’ implies observing universal spiritual norms. Offred’s qualities, such as complaisance and humility, make her accept the existing totalitarian way of life.
Body
The maid Offred describes in her diary day after day: she feels, thinks and suffers. However, instead of protesting, the woman grieves; her thoughts are heavy and joyless. She longs for the old days when she was free and hoped for something, but she does not try to change anything. ‘The circumstances have been reduced, and we are ladies in reduced circumstances’, she says. Thus, Offred shifts responsibility for what is happening from herself to the surrounding reality. She is right: it is not her fault that she accepts totalitarianism and does not strive to fight against it. In society, there has been a shift in emphasis from personal, internal spheres, the spheres of family life and the birth of children to public life. Therefore, the fault of the conformism of Offered is not the weakness of her character but the realities surrounding her.
The Commander treats the maid – a living person – as his property. He plans her life, and it is the norm for him that Offered is forbidden to own any property and even read. It does not seem inhuman to the Commander that women are forced to obey absurd prohibitions. Even when Offered gets the Commander’s favor and he gives her permission to use the library, the woman speaks of the books as an ‘oasis of the forbidden’. This is because the main character’s reading is perceived by both the Commander and herself not as the norm but as an exception to the rules.
However, the reason for this attitude of the Commander to the maids is not his natural cruelty. As can be seen from the things he allows a woman, on the contrary, he is a good person by nature. The society that surrounds the Commander has gradually made such an attitude the norm. The need to treat the maid as a thing is indicated even by the name given to her: of Fred – owned by Fred, his property, which the Commander can dispose of as he pleases.
The next character who has come to terms with the inhumane treatment of maids is the Commander’s wife. This is an infertile woman who silently tolerates her spouse’s behavior: ‘Your relationship with Offered should be reduced only to the procedures of conception’, she notes, but she cannot object when her husband begins to spend more time with the maid. Society is arranged so that it opposes the rich ruling elite, to which the Commander’s wife and the maid belong. Therefore, despite the fact that they are both women, it is the social system that separates them, and not such vices as jealousy.
Moreover, the Angel is a demonstration of the influence of society as a whole on a particular person. The government states: ‘No guns though, even they could not be trusted with guns’. Addressing the characters with the impersonal ‘they’ shows that treating people as things has already become the norm in this society. Therefore, the Angel cannot be blamed for the cruel treatment of the maid because he also sees such treatment in relation to himself.
An important symbol in the text is the red flat shoes worn by the main character. It is said that shoes are devoid of heels in order to ‘save the spine and not for dancing’. These shoes are becoming one of the symbols of feminism. This is an allusion to the film “Red Shoes”, in which a woman, realizing that she cannot be a ballerina and a mother at the same time, since both of these hypostases need to be paid a lot of attention, throws herself under the train. Atwood resented such unconditional acceptance of the situation and willingness to sacrifice one’s own life.
Conclusion
Thus, before condemning the heroes of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, it is necessary to assess the realities surrounding them. Caution in judgments, which must be possessed, implies that morality undergoes modifications, and universal mental norms are violated gradually. The heroes of the novel are not responsible for the fact that the society around them is totalitarian, as they are victims of cruel circumstances.
Historical Notes
Gilead – a historical region of ancient Israel on the east bank of the Jordan River (hence the biblical references in the book).