This thesis analyzes the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and the first three seasons of the HULU series in their historical contexts, and relates them to feminist activism in both eras...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and the first three seasons of the HULU series in their historical contexts, and relates them to feminist activism in both eras. The thesis investigates how relevant literary representations of injustice and oppression are within the broader discourse of human rights, equality and freedom. By juxtaposing the Feminist views of the writer, producers and its political climate in the 1980s during Ronald Reagan's administration and during the 2010s Trump administration the radicalisation of its activism and the change in current political protests are shown.Show less
In this thesis, the concept of identity as presented in The Handmaid’s Tale - both the novel and the Hulu series - will be dismantled to reveal the identity politics within its narrative and...Show moreIn this thesis, the concept of identity as presented in The Handmaid’s Tale - both the novel and the Hulu series - will be dismantled to reveal the identity politics within its narrative and literary context. In the first chapter, identity politics within the 1985 novel will be explored, to find out how these fit in with the contemporary identity politics debate. The second chapter will contain an analysis of the 2017 series, which will be compared to the 1985 novel, to further explore how the book's identity concepts have been adapted for the modern small screen. Furthermore, the second chapter will critically discuss which adaptation choices have been made and how these affect The Handmaid’s Tale (2017- ) as an updated version of the book. The second chapter will also display the use of The Handmaid’s Tale within contemporary identity politics, to show how The Handmaid’s Tale - both the novel's source material and the series' adaptation - have become part of the current popular culture. As this thesis will show, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) contains the identity politics elements that are necessary to adapt it to a twenty-first century version. The Handmaid’s Tale is a still relevant speculative version of reality that (1) explores a possible outcome of the essentialism - constructivism debate, (2) where totalitarianism is used as a political framework, inspired by historical politics - and where (3) the exploration of gender identity, minority identities and identity in general is a main objective. Through these elements, The Handmaid’s Tale has been able to participate in critical debates concerning the construction of identities, especially gender identities, in the broader context of feminism and identity politics as a whole, and to establish itself as a symbol of the modern identity politics debate featured on the small screen.Show less
This MA Thesis has sought to highlight the extent to which the dystopian genre foregrounds the role played by language in controlling people's perception of reality. As such it is a study that...Show moreThis MA Thesis has sought to highlight the extent to which the dystopian genre foregrounds the role played by language in controlling people's perception of reality. As such it is a study that reflects on the meta-textual themes in dystopian fiction, rather then socio-political themes, which is an original approach. It builds a methodological framework by bringing together critical concepts from major scholars within formalist and structuralist literary-critical theory, to show that the manipulation of language, using various tools, is of paramount importance in maintaining the ideology that the dystopian society aims for. This thesis concludes that language can be manipulated in many ways to gain power, but also, that with the correct tools, such as defamiliarization, one can escape these manipulative approaches.Show less
This thesis looks into two of Margaret Atwood's famous novels, Alias Grace and The Handmaid's Tale, to analyse how the female protagonists of both novels illustrate the marginalisation of women who...Show moreThis thesis looks into two of Margaret Atwood's famous novels, Alias Grace and The Handmaid's Tale, to analyse how the female protagonists of both novels illustrate the marginalisation of women who were being suppressed in a patriarchal society during Atwood's own early adulthood. Furthermore, it looks into how the women in Atwood's novels respond to this marginalisation and whether the response is comparable to the ideals of feminism.Show less
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopia set in the near future. Written during the second wave of feminism (1985) it describes a country in which a fanatic Christian regime, The Republic of Gilead, has...Show moreThe Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopia set in the near future. Written during the second wave of feminism (1985) it describes a country in which a fanatic Christian regime, The Republic of Gilead, has seized power and has assigned the last remaining fertile women to high-ranking men with the sole purpose to reproduce. These women, including protagonist Offred, are called Handmaids. Her narrative of her oppressed situation and her memories of times before Gilead give the reader a view of what life in this regime may be like. The style of her narration provides a good view of the effect the regime has on Offred’s actions and thoughts. How does this manifest itself exactly? How and why does the regime affect her? Sigmund Freud, the forefather of modern psychology, created a theoretical framework to understand the functioning of the mind that is still implicitly influential today (even if it is often explicitly disowned). His theory makes many conjectures on how suppressed material, such as thoughts and wishes, become unconscious, and if unconscious how they may be retrieved and understood. The analysis of conscious and unconscious faculties of the mind, and the mind’s tripartite structure (ego, id and superego), underlie Freud’s master theory on the human psyche: psychoanalysis. Much of Freud’s grand theory is laid down in his dream theory. He believed that dreams were “the royal road to the unconscious” (Storr, Freud: A Very Short Introduction). This method can help to further grasp Freud’s theories on the mind. Discarded as Freud’s theories may be in psychology today, they remain influential in literary studies. Freud’s theoretical framework illuminates clearly the psychological workings of the Gilead regime, as exemplified particularly in Offred’s case. This thesis tries to understand at a psychological level how Offred functions within her society, and how she reacts to it. Therefore, like Freud would analyse a patient, this thesis will analyse Offred and her surroundings. The aim is not to simply identify Freudian elements, such as anality, orality, denial etc, but to show how these underlie an understanding of Offred, and of the novel as a whole. An analysis such as this creates and understanding of Offred’s narration and narrative, making her tale more narratable. This thesis will therefore explore The Handmaid’s Tale in a Freudian context.Show less
