Article summary
Abstract
The feminist dimensions of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, examining how the novel interrogates patriarchy, bodily autonomy, language, and resistance within the dystopian theocracy of Gilead. Through a feminist theoretical framework, the study analyzes the regime’s systematic control over women’s identities, reproduction, literacy, and social mobility. Gilead’s hierarchical caste system dividing women into Handmaids, Wives, Marthas, and Aunts demonstrates the politicization of motherhood and the reduction of women to reproductive instruments. Drawing upon historical materialist feminism, radical feminism, and intersectional theory, the paper investigates how the state regulates female bodies through surveillance, linguistic manipulation, and institutionalized sexual coercion. The erasure of personal names, restriction of reading and writing, and the normalization of reproductive exploitation illustrate how discourse operates as a mechanism of power. At the same time, the narrative foregrounds subtle and overt forms of resistance, including acts of memory, storytelling, female solidarity, and bodily defiance. By focusing on Offred’s first-person narration, the study highlights how voice itself becomes a feminist act of reclamation. The novel ultimately reimagines feminism not as a fixed ideology but as an evolving struggle shaped by class, gender, and socio-political context. Reading The Handmaid’s Tale through feminist theory underscores its enduring relevance to contemporary debates surrounding reproductive rights, state control, and women’s agency