Commodification of Women's Bodies in The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale , a dystopian novel by Margret Atwood was published in 1985. It is set in a dystopian society of the Republic of Gilead, a Christian fundamentalist theocratic regime that emerged due to the threat of fertility crises. Women are categorized according to their ability to bear children. Women, especially the handmaids are denied the ownership of their own bodies. The leashes of their bodies lie in the hands of the Gilead regime. Handmaids are fertile women who are assigned to elite houses of commanders and wives due to their inability to bear children due to infertility. These handmaids are kept under strict surveillance. Their menstrual cycles and their sexual activities are also recorded by the regime. The commodification of women's bodies is the main theme of the novel. The whole novel brims with instances that highlight the objectification of women's bodies which is more unsettling due to its parallels that can be drawn to the real world. Handmaid...