Women in terms of Gilead are possessions of men and have no liberty of choice. They are not free to choose when or who to have sex with, they are banned from relationships and are not able to choose what to do in life. Women are prohibited from speaking or using language in anyway or form. This enables women not to become rebellious of the system, as you can only become rebellious with the power of language.
The handmaids in Gilead are also deprived of their identity, as they are the possessions of the commanders, and so are named after they commanders e.g. “Offred” and “Offglen”.
However, the jezebel sequence approaches the roles of women in a different manner. The club of jezebels demonstrates that men in Gilead approve of casual sex. The men are able to choose whom to have sex with, and the women are capable of having sex with numerous men, all of which are condemned by the society in the preceding chapters. The main reason why Gilead came about was because of sexual freedom and because of pornography and prostitution. The Commander says in chapter 32 that in the previous society sex was “too easy” and this made sex lose its true meaning creating what the commander says an “inhibiting feeling” or in other words no real feeling. However, this is exactly what is happening with the club of jezebel’s in which sex is easy to have.
Again in jezebels, Atwood shows that in Gilead women are possessions of men. This is highlighted when The Commander takes Offred to the club of Jezebels. The Commander is “showing off” Offred in front of the other men showing that Offred is of his ownership.
In the jezebel sequence The Commander is presented differently from the previous chapters. In the novel, when Offred first started seeing The Commander, The Commander simulated an understandable and likeable character towards Offred. He understood the needs of Offred and tried to in somewhat help her and bring her some enjoyment in which she required.
However during the chapters in the Jezebel sequence The commander is presented in a more colder and crueller approach.
When the Commander comments on the handmaid before Offred he says that she hung herself after Serena found out that she was seeing him forbiddingly. This shows that in some way The Commander is selfish and insensitive in that he has no concern for the handmaids but only thinks about himself and his own pleasures. Once a handmaid has been caught, another would come and it makes no difference to him if Offred gets caught.
When Offred sees The Commander just before they go to the club of Jezebels, The Commander treats her in someway equivalent to a child. He firstly greets her by saying “how is the fair little one this evening?” and also by saying “up for a little pleasure”. This makes The Commander sound patronising and this differs from previous chapters when he in some ways respected Offred and respected that they are both prisoners of Gilead. He also dresses her up with clothes and makeup for his own pleasure and again treats her to some extent like a child.
During they time in the hotel The Commander uses Offred as a means of showing off and shows her lack of esteem. This makes Offred feel “pathetic” and “silly”. He later finishes the night of by having sex with Offred and to which Offred “fakes”. She fakes it because of the commander’s change of attitude and character in jezebels and her change of approach towards him.
However, in some occasions in Jezebels, Atwood makes us feel sympathetically towards The Commander. For example, at the end of Jezebels, Offred says that The Commander, “without his uniform, looks smaller and older like something being dried”. This shows that the society is “drying up” the commander. The reason why Atwood chooses to show both sides of The commander is to illustrate to the reader that although the commander behaves selfishly and even with the power he has, he is nevertheless a victim of Gilead and he too is suffering because of Gilead.
Another major aspect to Jezebels is the development of Offreds character. Atwood deliberately uses her narrative style by mentioning different parts to Offreds character at different times.
Firstly, the jezebels sequence starts off by Offred saying “every night when I go to bed I think in the morning I will wake up in my own house and things will be back the way they were, it hasn’t happened this morning either”. This shows to the reader that Offred is losing hope. She’s losing hope in that she’s started to give up on any chance of breaking free from Gilead. Here Atwood presents to the reader a downbeat approach by Offred.
Later on in chapter 31 Serena calls Offred towards her and talks about how The Commander could be the one that’s sterile. She suggests to Offred that she should have sex with Nick in order for her to become pregnant. This gives Offred some aspiration and hope as she can finally have a meaningful sexual relationship with Nick, something that she’s wanted since she’s set eyes on nick. Serena’s comments also gives her some hope, as she feels unified with Serena in that they both think the commander is sterile, and they both are against the system of Gilead, Where by the system refuses to acknowledge that men can be sterile. Here, Atwood approaches Offred in a more positive manner.
In chapter 35 Offred says ”the arrival of the tray, carried upstairs as if for an invalid. An invalid, one who has been invalidated. No valid passport no exit”. What Offred means by saying here is that in Gilead she and other women have been invalidated. Just like an invalid passport, the women of Gilead have no real identity and they are of no use. Again here Atwood presents Offred in a negative manner.
Atwood then from showing Offred in a negative way, to positive, then back to negative, she shows us the club of Jezebels and shows us hopes for Offred again. She shows us that there are possibilities for Offred.
The reason why Margaret Atwood chooses to continuously show the positive and subdued attitude of Offred, is to show the reader that in Gilead there are ways out and ways of breaking the laws however, there are also ways in which Gilead represses you and its up to the individual in this society to choose whether not to take the risks.
The Jezebel sequence on the whole is highly significant to the novel. We many different insights into Gilead in jezebels in contrast to the rest of the novel, which makes it one of the most important sections in the novel of “The Handmaids Tale”.
