Statement: a good author uses allusions to show their purpose.

In this essay I will be discussing how Margaret Attwood uses biblical and religious allusions to expose how religion can be used to suppress women.

Religion is a fundamental part of what makes us human. The immense power of religion, especially Christianity, has had an immeasurable influence on society. But is this a good thing, or is it encouraging outdated practices and opinions? In her dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” Margaret Atwood skilfully exposes how men use religion to control women by alluding to religious practices that exist in the real world today. These implications cause the reader to reflect on how much power religion has in their lives and succeeds in issuing a warning: “Everything that has happened in this text has happened before and there is nothing to say that it won’t happen again.”– Margaret Atwood.

Christians view themselves as moral, but some of the most horrific crimes in history have been committed by Christians. So how are they able to do terrible things while still retaining Christian values? Well the answer lies in the Bible. The book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is set in the not so far future, where the fertility rate has dropped dramatically. A totalitarian theocracy takes over most of  the USA, inflicting strict rules on its citizens. We follow the life of Offred who is a handmaid, a woman with viable ovaries who is forced to bear offspring for the elite. Once she has been impregnated by her commander and given birth to her child, it will be taken from her and given to the commander’s wife to raise as her own. Offred will then be transferred to another family and will never see her child again. This ‘baby farming’ scheme is a cruel sort of slavery, where women are reduced to nothing more than the function of their body.  “We are two-legged wombs, that’s all”. Surprisingly, this is all done in the name of God. If one looks in the Bible for Genesis 30:1-3, they will find a quaint little story about a woman who is unable to bear children for her husband, and so she has her handmaid, Bilhah, do it for her.  “And she said, behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.” Shockingly, this story was used by the theocracy in The Handmaid’s Tale to justify systematic rape and forced pregnancy. This Biblical reference shows that men are capable of using religion to get away with just about anything. You might be thinking that this is far- fetched, that this sort of thing would never happen in real life. To that I say think again. It has happened before, with Christian slave drivers going about their work with the assurance that God warranted slavery in the Bible. The quote “And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren” from Exodus was thought of by many as being a confirmation that slavery was all right by God. Stories like that of Bilhah the handmaid and the curse of Canaan are common in the Bible, which is a rather perturbing fact given that Christianity is such a big part of our society. If such a gross misconception of religious texts can happen once, then there is nothing to say it can’t happen again, a fact that Atwood makes sure her readers understand.

Many of the most prestigious universities in the world were built on the backs of male dominated religious societies. The irony of this is not lost on Margaret Atwood. As a woman who experienced sexism in education first hand, she decided to make Cambridge Massachusetts the setting of her book The Handmaid’s Tale. Not only is this city the home of Harvard university (her Alma Mater) but also an area with a history of suppression of women. To the English Puritans who first settled the area, women were believed to be subservient to men, as well as a lesser form of life. “The society in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a throwback to the early Puritans whom I studied extensively at Harvard”. As we know from the book, Offred is well educated, but the theocratic system is not interested in intelligent women, as it only poses a threat to male control. They would much prefer women to be meek and compliant. “All you have to do, I tell myself, is keep your mouth shut and look stupid.” This is another strong allusion to the Puritans. They were a society that used religion to achieve male dominance over women, part of this was restricting their women’s access to education. In fact women were only fully integrated into Harvard university in 1999. It is concerning to find out that a prestigious school like Harvard, could have such a draconian past. Another form of female oppression in the book is the women’s restrictive uniformes, reminiscent to the puritans.“Inside it you can see paintings of women in long somber dresses, their hair covered by white caps, and of upright men, darkly clothed and unsmiling. Our ancestors.”  This helps to expose the dark history of Harvard. Margaret Atwood’s experience of attending a historically Puritanical institution, showed her how the outdated morals of its founders can influence people’s attitudes for hundreds of years. This is a reminder of how old fashioned religious beliefs die hard. All over the world there are 130 million girls who are kept home from school for various reasons. The most common cause is the inequality that stems from the patriarchal nature of religion. Atwood takes the reader on a journey, exploring the darker side of society that is often overlooked, as is customary to the genre. For me the thought of having my right to an education denied is repulsive, however belief systems are constantly being used to achieve this, which is what Margaret Atwood wants her audience to know. 

Another example of how religion abuses women, is the story of Jezebel. Jezebel was, by all accounts, a good wife, however she was convicted of adultery when she chose to worship more than one god. Although her crime had nothing to do with her sexuality, she came to be known as the “whore of the Bible”. Now the term Jezebel is given to any woman who is sexualised, or who is deemed a danger to men’s power. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood alludes to Jezebel and all she stands for. There is a place were the commanders (the men in charge) go to engage in extra marital sex. This place is called Jezebels. Some of the women who provide these ‘services’ to them were once activists for women’s rights, and are highly educated. “She’s a sociologist. Or was. That one was a lawyer, that one was in business, an executive position.” All are reduced to little more than what their bodies can offer to men. This shows how religion is used by people to dis-empower women. “From each according to her ability to each according to his needs”. The Bible is full of references that reinforce the supremacy of men. For example, Timothy 2:12-14 says: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.” As a young woman, I find the fact that the largest religion in the world has quotes like this in their holy book deeply disturbing. Sexism is ingrained into the very nature of Christianity. By alluding to Jezebel, Atwood brings the long history religion being a means for men to mistreat women to the surface, reminding us of the danger it poses to our freedom.

Long held religious beliefs are so insidious within our society that they almost go unnoticed. They are so widely accepted that people neglect to question their morality. Margaret Atwood believed that it’s time to challenge the misogynistic nature of religion. She shares this viewpoint with her readers through the exaggerated society in The Handmaid’s Tale which is still somehow believable. Atwood demonstrates what living in a theocracy would be like for women through biblical and religious allusions. These insinuations cause the reader to reflect on their own experiences with religion and consider if it has a place in the future. After reading this book, I found that I am now concerned with the astonishing power Christianity holds over the western world. It is unsettling to think that much of our world is built on such sexist values, making me rethink how much power we should allow religion to have, for as Margaret Atwood says: “Nations never build apparently radical forms of government on foundations that aren’t there already.”