Discrimination In The Handmaid's Tale

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood are two significant pieces of literature that, when read together, have many identifiable similarities. One similarity between the two novels is the motif of the suppression of power among women. Throughout Pride and Prejudice and The Handmaid’s Tale, the men within these novels suppress the power of women through the abolition of a woman's ability to possess anything physical or to move upward in class.
Possessing anything gives one power someone, directly or indirectly, and the people within Pride and Prejudice along with those in The Handmaid’s Tale all realize this truth. Therefore, the males within both of these societies oppress women by taking their possessions and handing it off to a male. Within Pride and Prejudice, Austen uses history’s utilization of entailment to convey this within her novel. Mrs. Bennet expresses the unfairness of this entailment by saying, “‘I do think it is the hardest thing in the world that your estate should be entailed away from your own children; and I am sure if I had been you, I should have tried long ago to do something or other about it.’” (Austen 46). This entailment will end up to the next
male heir which continually leaves males in total control and powerful. The problem is, Mrs. Bennet will never have a say where her husband’s property will go ultimately leaving her powerless once Mr. Bennet dies and once again reliant upon another male.
Along with the example of suppression of women in Pride and Prejudice, the women in The Handmaid’s Tale are also taken of their items and it is always given to a man.
Once the equality crumbles within Atwood’s society, all the power and items are immediately taken away from the women. Moira describes the new situation to Offred by explaining, “Luke can use your Compucount for you, she said. They’ll transfer your number to him, or that’s what they say. Husband or male next of kin.” (Atwood 178-179). Much like the women in Pride and Prejudice, the women in The Handmaid’s Tale are revoked of the privilege to have their own property. Now with no property, the women are left under the rule of men and ultimately powerless and suffering the oppression of male
ruling.
Those in a higher class, economically and socially, typically have more power among more people in lower classes. However, a recurring similarity of this is seen within both of these novels where women once in their classes are unable to rise. Therefore, with the lack of power there comes a lack of change among the gender equality in both of these novels. In Pride and Prejudice, the women are unable to rise in their economic class by themselves. Due to this, in order to live more comfortably and better, they are dependent on marrying a man who is able to rise in class or already in a higher class. This oppresses women in lower classes because it is difficult to marry into a higher class. For example, Elizabeth can’t rise to a higher class and it is difficult for her to because of the higher classes preservation of their ranking, specifically Bingley. One can see this during Bingley’s first proposal to Elizabeth, “His sense of her inferiority—of its being a degradation—of the family obstacles which had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.” (Austen 142). In this situation, one can see that the higher class typically avoids marrying lower class people due to their lower class. This leaves the lower women stuck and powerless in their class due to the fact that they are rarely desired by the upper class.
Much like Pride and Prejudice, the women in The Handmaid’s Tale are unable to rise to a different class. However, this class type would be a social class due to the seemingly unimportance of economics in the novel. For women in The Handmaid’s Tale, they are segregated into groups based on their social functions with no hope of upward mobility. The only mobility that they are allowed is the downward drop in class which leaves them to even less power. This is a problem of oppression for the women because they quickly lose their individuality and become victims of stereotypes and ultimately prejudice. This prejudice is seen between Rita and Offred due to Offred’s class and job. “Her face might be kindly if she would smile. But the frown isn't personal: it's the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for. She thinks I may be catching, like a disease or any form of bad luck.” (Atwood 10). The social class that Offred is stuck in leaves others disgusted by her and Offred is powerless to change her social standing due to the oppression that she faces.
The two novels, Pride and Prejudice and The Handmaid’s Tale, have many similarities if read together. The similarity of women’s oppression by men, through the confiscation of property and individuality through class, is seen constantly within the novels. These mistreatments of women ultimately take the power from women and leave the world within the novels in an unchanging and static life.