Hypocrisy In The Handmaid's Tale
In “The Handmaid's Tale”, a novel written by Margaret Atwood, the Gilead society is largely built upon hypocrisy because it doesn’t truly follow the religious beliefs. Even though the whole society is shaped by religion, the people with authorities stealthily break rules and punish rapists due to religious beliefs when every single handmaid is trained to be pregnant against their desire which is considered rape in a way. Raping is perceived as a sin according to every religion and the Gilead society made a justified decision to punish the rapist, but they were also hypocritical to proceed the ceremonies that involve commanders to basically demand sexual intercourse with handmaids and sexually use the reproductive slaves against their wish,
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They labeled pornography and sex symbols as sin and attempted to destroy them. However, the existence of the Jezebel's and some saved prohibited items doubts their belief. The Commander requests Offred to meet him every night and simply spend time together. As they continued this routine, one night the commander offered her a Vogue magazine, which depicts a picture of revealing women. Offred says “I thought such magazines had all been destroyed, but here was one, left over, in a Commander’s private study, where you’d least expect to find such thing” (157). She also mentions what the commander said and says“ Some of us, he said, retain an appreciation for the old things” - (157). There shouldn’t have been any existence of such magazines when they were required to be destroyed under the Gilead law. Nevertheless, many items survived the fire, which the commander said it himself. Some commanders saved these magazines and kept them including many other items.The Commander also saved revealing clothes of Serena Joy and took Offred to a brothel called the Jezebel's. He knew where it was located and sneaked her there. Offred states,“ He’s showing me off, to them … they review my breasts, my legs as if there’s no reason why they shouldn’t … he’s breaking the rules, under their noses, thumbing his nose at them, getting away with it” (236). The commander visited the Jezebel’s prior to this trip, breaking the rules perhaps with
They labeled pornography and sex symbols as sin and attempted to destroy them. However, the existence of the Jezebel's and some saved prohibited items doubts their belief. The Commander requests Offred to meet him every night and simply spend time together. As they continued this routine, one night the commander offered her a Vogue magazine, which depicts a picture of revealing women. Offred says “I thought such magazines had all been destroyed, but here was one, left over, in a Commander’s private study, where you’d least expect to find such thing” (157). She also mentions what the commander said and says“ Some of us, he said, retain an appreciation for the old things” - (157). There shouldn’t have been any existence of such magazines when they were required to be destroyed under the Gilead law. Nevertheless, many items survived the fire, which the commander said it himself. Some commanders saved these magazines and kept them including many other items.The Commander also saved revealing clothes of Serena Joy and took Offred to a brothel called the Jezebel's. He knew where it was located and sneaked her there. Offred states,“ He’s showing me off, to them … they review my breasts, my legs as if there’s no reason why they shouldn’t … he’s breaking the rules, under their noses, thumbing his nose at them, getting away with it” (236). The commander visited the Jezebel’s prior to this trip, breaking the rules perhaps with