love

point 1 - dystopian love

love as a form of resistance in a dystopian regime

point 1 quotation - physical rebellion in love

“I hunger to commit the act of touch” (ch2, pg17)

point 1 quotation - execution of loving touch

“It’s so good to be touched by someone, to be felt so greedily” (ch17, pg106)

point 1 AO3 - real world totalitarian inspiration

Atwood drew inspiration from real-world totalitarian regimes that sought to control women’s bodies, such as the Puritan theocracy and Margaret Atwood’s observations of Iran’s post-revolutionary policies. the Handmaids' enforced celibacy, except for state-sanctioned reproduction, mirrors the historical oppression of women’s autonomypo

point 1 AO4 - compare to 1984 » criminalisation of love

love is criminalised because it fosters loyalties outside of the Party. Offred and Winston’s secret relationships (with Nick and Julia, respectively) are rebellions against state control

point 1 AO5 - feminist criticism: love under a patriarchy is oppressive

Some feminist critics, like Simone de Beauvoir, argue that love under patriarchy is inherently oppressive

point 2 - objectification n valuation of women

the commodification of love n women’s bodies

point 2 quotation - women = wombs

“we are containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important” (ch17, pg103)

point 2 quotation - newfound pessimism of love

“for him, I must remember, I am only a whim” (ch25, pg164)

point 2 AO3 - larger extent of marginalised female commodification

Gilead reflects historical practices where women’s bodies were commodified, such as 19th-century coverture laws and the treatment of enslaved Black women in America, who were forced into reproductive servitude. Atwood critiques how patriarchal structures reduce women to their reproductive functions

point 2 AO4 - compare to The Yellow Wallpaper:

the female protagonist is similarly reduced to a role—childbearing and submission—while her emotional needs are dismissed. like Offred, she struggles against a system that denies her humanity

point 2 AO5 - Marxist criticism: capitalist prevalence

Marxist critics argue that Gilead operates as a capitalist-patriarchal state, where women’s bodies are commodities

point 3 - psychological power of love

love as a psychological construct under oppression

point 3 quotation - absence of real Love = optimism

“the more difficult it was to love the particular men beside us, the more we believed in Love, abstract and total” (ch34, pg233)

point 3 quotation - love in the backseat, functionality in the front

“love is not the point” (ch34, pg228)

point 3 AO3 - historic reproduction restrictions

Atwood’s dystopia reflects how oppressive regimes manipulate emotions to maintain control. The Nazi Lebensborn program, for example, enforced state-controlled reproduction under the guise of nationalism, while Communist China’s Cultural Revolution suppressed romantic relationships deemed counter-revolutionary

point 3 AO4 - sex over genuine love

love is replaced with casual sex to prevent deep emotional bonds that could threaten the state. Similarly, Gilead seeks to redirect women’s affections toward the state and God rather than individual relationships

point 3 AO5 - psychoanalytic criticism: Offred’s tainted perception of love

Psychoanalytic critics might argue that Offred’s perception of love is shaped by trauma and loss