Biblical Appropriation in the Handmaids Tale

Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale, constructs a near-future dystopia where human values do not progress and evolve, but instead become completely diminished and dominated under the Republic of Gilead. This powerful and secure new government gains complete political control and begins to abuse their power by forcing fertile women to reproduce. The Gileadean society is enforced by many Biblical laws, morals, and themes, yet the Gileadian religious ideologies are based on only a few specifically selected Biblical passages that are taken literally. The selection of certain passages in the Bible helps control and manipulate the women that are being enslaved by giving them a false sense of justification and security for the treatment they must endure. This literal connection between the manipulative use of religion with the Gilead government is first truly seen when Offred is patiently waiting in a sitting room and comments on a preacher that she notices on the television by saying: "These days they look a lot like businessmen?(82). Atwood is implying that these new preachers are not preaching on television for the moral benefit of the public, but are now used by the Gileadian government to help support their religious identity by brainwashing the public with propaganda. Atwood includes this small comment to illustrate how religion is now used for the benefit of the preachers and not the public; this self-centered view is similar to how businessmen treat business. Atwood depicts Gilead to illustrate her concern with the negative use of religion in society by demonstrating how a totalitarian-like government can simply justify all of these unequal rules and harsh values by appropriating the Holy Bible.
The Bible is taken literally and completely distorted out of context by the Gilead government to enforce the new laws that harbor in their theocracy. Subsequent to Offred watching the television in the sitting room, the Commander enters the room and begins to read a