The Handmaids Tale as a Biblical Allusion Essay -- Handmaids Tale Es

The Handmaids Tale A biblical AllusionImagine a state where choice is non a choice. integrity is labeled by their age and economical status. The deep red cloaks, the robust embroidered dresses, and the pinstriped attire argon all uniforms to define a persons standing(a) in society. To be judged, not by beauty or reputation or talents, but by the ability to multiply instead. To not suppose in the Puritan religion is certain death. To read or print is to die. This definition is found to be true in the book, The Handmaids Tale (1986) by Margaret A cardinalod. It is a heartbreaking story of virtuoso young woman and her interlingual rendition into the Gilead society, the society described above. In the book, we meet Offred, the narrator of the story. This story is not the prototypical to create a society in which the only two important beliefs in a society are the ability to procreate and a strict belief in God. It is seen several times in the Old Testament, the Bible. The Bib lical society is not as rigid as the Republic of Gilead, which Margaret Atwood has built, but it is very similar. The Handmaids Tale holds several biblical allusions. The first biblical allusion is that of the Republic of Gilead. Gilead is menti nonpareild several times in the Bible as a place of fertile grounds. The Bible states, To the east the Israelites occupied the land. . . , because their stock had increased in Gilead (Numbers 321, NIV) and The tribes, who led very large herds and flocks, truism that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock (1 Chronicles 59, NIV). The Biblical land of Gilead was a land of prospering livestock. Families and tribes came to Gilead because of the lands lush, green and fertile soil. The Republic of Gilead was also... ...n individual, but each person is noticed only by the clothing that they wear. Imagine a country where the husband is the head of the family, and no other members of the household hold whatsoever rights at all. Imagine a country where reading and writing are crimes punishable by death. One can imagine, but no one can comprehend the pain and suffering and emotional death that one must acquire to live in a society such(prenominal) as the Republic of Gilead. This story of the future may very good be a story of the past a story base upon principles found in the Bible, but taken so literally and compel so strictly that the country becomes a theocracy to hate. Bibliography Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaids Tale. Boston, Massachusetts Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986. The NIV Study Bible. Barker, Kenneth habitual Editor. Grand Rapids, Michigan The Zondervan Corporation, 1995