Analysis Of Mary Atwood And Sylvia Plath s The Handmaid...

Death is a part of Life. Ironically, despite this inevitable truth, many people spend the duration of their lives fearing death. In a way, the concept of living seems rather futile if the end result remains inalterable. Why fight to live if death is inevitable? It is in this despondent frame of mind, the woman of Sylvia Plath’s poem, Edge, and Moira of Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaids Tale, find themselves accepting their condemnation as their destiny. Both Margaret Atwood and Sylvia Plath use their works as emotional outlets to express the hopeless disposition one comes to embrace having reached the point of exhaustion. Together, Moira from The Handmaid’s Tale and the â€Å"perfected woman† from Edge exemplify the quality of life or lack†¦show more content†¦Looking at both works comparatively, Plath’s poem acts as a foreshadowing for the potential downfall to come in Atwood’s female characters if they do indeed allow â€Å"t he bastards to grind them down†. The Handmaids Tale follows multiple women through their experiences with oppressive forces ranging from government to the male population as well as the female population. Of these women, the character of Moira proves to be the most determined in her efforts to resist conformity. Through the protagonist’s perspective, we learn Moira is Offred’s best friend from pre-Gilead days. Since Gilead has come to replace The United States in this dystopian novel, women’s rights have been revoked entirely leaving them vulnerable to the men monopolizing the power. In fear for their lives, most women become complacent accepting their new roles in this patriarchal society, Offred included. Unlike Offred and these other women, Moira refuses to succumb to her position in the new system. Offred portrays Moira to be an image of inspiration for all women too frightened to mimic her actions. Just as Offred, Moira has been captured and is in the process of being trained as a handmaid at the Red Center. To further enhance the gender divide, Atwood uses the role of a handmaid to explore the connection between gender and politics, specifically women’s bodies being viewed as property. Being that handmaids are of the few fertile women left in this toxic