"The Handmaids Tale" By Margaret Atwood, "The importance of being Ernest" by Oscar Wilde and a speech by Margaret Thatcher at Brighton at a Conservative party conference in 1969 on a motion to increase the equality of women in society.

Coursework

My coursework concentrates on the presentation of the power of women in the world. The aim is to show that women in fact have more power over men than the other way around which is the most widely held belief and also over each other.

The pieces I have chosen for my coursework are “The Handmaids Tale” By Margaret Atwood, “The importance of being Ernest” by Oscar Wilde and a speech by Margaret Thatcher at Brighton at a Conservative party conference in 1969 on a motion to increase the equality of women in society.

To begin with I will describe and explain each piece separately and then bring forward links of similarities and differences in more detail.

“The Handmaids Tale” is a novel set in the near future after what is implied to be some kind of nuclear disaster or war upon which the government collapses leaving the way clear for religious fundamentalists to take control. The main character is known as ‘Offred’ which is an interchangeable given name and not her original name which is never given throughout the book, also no women throughout the novel have their real names spoken, in their society they are known only as ‘Handmaids’ in Offred’s case and even the higher station of ‘Wives’ do not have names and are only known as their position in the social order, taking away any individuality and independence they may have had in the ‘Time before’. The only people to have power are males, only high ranking males known as ‘Commanders’ but what they are commander of is never revealed but these are the only persons permitted to procreate, and if their ‘Wife’ is unable to produce offspring then a ‘Handmaid’ is allocated to the Commander as in Genesis, 30:1-3 in the bible where Rachel, the wife of Jacob is unable to reproduce so offers her handmaid to him so they may have children, this is where the Gilead society gain their ideas of handmaids for breeding, showing that it is an traditional and outdated society. If Offred or any person deviates from the rules they are sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness or hanged at ‘The wall’. The section I have chosen is the first time Offred is introduced to the Commanders Wife in chapter three.

“The importance of being Ernest” is a play and is the story of Jack, and through his friend Algernon meets the beautiful Miss Fairfax and he falls in love with her. The extract I have chosen is the scene when Jack is trying to win Gwendolyn’s heart, which results in the objection of her Mother, Lady Bracknell.

Finally I will be analysing most of Margaret Thatcher’s speech about women becoming equal with men, but I will be focusing mainly on the relevant sections about women in society.

In “The Handmaids Tale” Offred is at first glance, powerless in her position, the lowest on the hierarchy, below the cooks and cleaners, seen as unclean but necessary, which makes her feel as if she is merely being tolerated, even by the lower members of the household including the cook and the housekeeper, but she still retains some power as everyone is relying on her to bear a child by the Commander, her status is shown by her privilege of arriving at the front door rather than the back, and also the escort salutes her as he leaves, showing she has some importance. Gwendolyn has the greatest control in the conversation with Jack because she has a very strong personality and is exaggerated against Jack’s nervous disposition around her so she has the greatest control over the topic which is shown when she steers the conversation to encourage him to propose, which breaks the normal rules of gender interaction. In this play it is the women that have the greater control, it is the women who speak the most, keeping their supremacy over the relations, they are at the top of the hierarchy, but Lady Bracknell has the most authority that is shown through Gwendolyn going from assertive with Jack to submissive to Lady Bracknell. Offred also acts rebellious in small ways to make herself feel that she has some control of her life which have little impact or significance other than on a personal level, such as stealing butter to use as face cream and refusing to call her room ‘my’ room, so The Commanders Wife loses some of her control over Offred especially when she begins to see the Commander behind her back making her the character with the power over Serena Joy and also the Commander as well as she is a sort of mistress and could tell Serena about her husband and his secret life in the underground clubs and his connections with the black market, she feels like she is laughing at her behind her back. This is similar to when Offred is describing Serena when she first sees her; she describes her face having ‘a permanent look of surprise, or outrage or inquisitiveness, such as you might see on a startled child’ with blue eyes that shut you out and a once ‘cute nose but was now to small for her face, she is insulting her mistress’s looks; this shows that she still has some power, even if it is only in her own mind.

This is a preview of the whole essay

“The Handmaids Tale” is a book about the past, in the ‘Time before’ women were equal to men, they could have jobs and bank accounts but once the shifting of the government started women were stopped from working and holding property, it was like society were taking a step backwards into the Victorian era instead of moving forwards as it should do. This is shown through the repeated mentioning of memories of places or practices such as the mentioning of lip cosmetics and face cream or what people were like before, such as the inclusion of Serena Joy who used to be a singer on a Biblical television program. When Offred is left at her new ‘posting’ for the first time she doesn’t like her escort from her previous post leaving because it felt like a “Protective arm were being withdrawn”, Offred holds onto the past in the form of memories of her husband Luke and her friend Moira when they were in school together. This constant reminder of the past is so Offred doesn’t submit to the government currently in effect. Aunt Lydia tells all the prospective Handmaids that ‘Ordinary is what you are used to, and over time this will become ordinary’ telling them to accept the change in their lives and that ‘when a new generation is born, all this will be ordinary as they will know nothing else.’

Change and the past are large themes in my Margaret Thatcher speech and how treating women unfairly, as inferior belongs in the past and how this needs to be changed with the proposed motion to make women equal with women, also in “The importance of being Earnest” Lady Bracknell does not allow Jack to marry Gwendolyn because of his past, with his lack of a clear past which is not good enough for her daughter Gwendolyn. All characters speak in Standard English but in “The handmaids Tale” most people are in the middle class and speak using elision whereas in “The Importance of being Earnest” all the characters are obviously from an upper class upbringing and speak in an elevated manner and use no elision which is part of their raised sociolect which enhances the effect of their speech has; ‘it is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange herself…’ which Margaret Thatcher also does, as speeches are meant to be formal and have to be done in a certain manner, with no slang or Phatic to maintain the level of formality whereas a play or novel can include both these features, “The Importance of being Earnest is incredibly formal, perhaps too formal for real speech but includes Phatic talk when the writer is trying to imitate natural speech, but only from Jack when he wants to start a conversation with Gwendolyn but she sees through his intentions easily; ‘Pray don’t talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. I am never wrong.’ Which is very rude and shows her arrogance and has the subtext of hurrying the conversation to the subject of marriage before her Mother comes back into the room which breaks the politeness principle, and is also broken by Lady Bracknell when she is interviewing Jack and also by Serena when she is instructing Offred about her duties and how she wants to see her as little as possible after making it clear that her husband is her property ‘Till death do us part, its one of the things we fought for’. “The Handmaids Tale” includes little phatic speech, as it is all a monologue from Offred’s point of view describing events and situations in a non-conversational manner but when she interacts with other handmaids most of what is said is phatic talk; ‘praise be’ and ‘under his eye’ which are religious references.

In the beginning Serena is exceptionally intimidating towards Offred and uses the same devices towards Offred as Lady Bracknell does to Jack and does not hide her resentment of her being there so has the higher status in conversations, often speaking more frequently only pausing for conformation answers and back channel noises such as ‘yes ma’am’ as feed back from Offred to show that she is listening to her orders and also acts as tag questions to enable her to speak for longer, but as the book continues she grows less fearsome and becomes old, succumbing to her arthritis, at one point she is almost friendly to Offred when she gives her a ‘forbidden’ cigarette to sway her to accept the deal of obtaining a child by another man other than the Commander so that she may have a child, this makes her under Offred’s power, unless she makes Offred happy she will not get the child she wants so much, but from a different point of view this is a chance for Offred to not be sent to live with the ‘unwomen’ in the radiation stricken land, so this lessens the status but she still receives some as it was the Commanders Wife that requested her of something so Offered begins to have greater control and speaks more gaining almost equal footing during turn talking, Gwendolyn also loses her place in the hierarchy to her mother when Lady Bracknell enters the room using her disapproving tone and orders Jack to rise from his ‘semi recumbent position’ showing she is conscious of his body language, she is able to prolong her turn in turn taking through the loud harsh tone she employs.

When Jack requests Gwendolyn to marry him he is placed under her power, subject to her choice, gaining her the upper hand in the hierarchy. She knows what he wants to ask but is refusing to continue without him ‘doing it properly’ and uses imperatives to hurry his proposal while telling him before hand that she ‘fully intends to accept’, breaking Grice’s maxim. She controls the entire conversation, when she uses informal language Jack uses formal language, when she switches to formal he switches also, for example when she calls him ‘Mr. Worthing he uses ‘Miss Fairfax’ but when she calls him Earnest this is an indication that the conversation has become more pleasant, showing that she has great influence on him and the dialogue exchanged.

All the women in my pieces are intelligent, often more so than any males featured in the piece. Margaret Thatcher reveals her intelligence by showing her obvious education by quoting Socrates, a male philosopher; she also uses long and compound sentences with sophisticated punctuation using long words which shows she is not stupid, Gwendolyn also displays such linguistic characteristics using long words such as ‘notorious domesticity’, gained from her high class birth and social standing and she can also see through jacks small talk and is always aware of what is going on. Offred is also shown not to be unintelligent, she demonstrates her minor grasp of Latin when she finds the carving in the wardrobe and Serena Joy says ‘I know you aren’t stupid’ because she has read Offred’s file and shows her knowledge of past traditions and behaviour in the ‘Time before’.

In both “The Handmaids Tale” and “The Importance of being Earnest” it is only the female characters that use imperatives, the only high status male is the Commander who is never shown giving orders, it is his Wife who gives them for him, for what he wants without him telling her or when she is conducting the running of the household where she is the ultimate authority, ordering Offred to not call her ‘Ma’am’ or to be out of sight during her posting. Jack is clearly lowest on the hierarchy in lady Bracknell’s house, it is Gwendolyn who gives him orders instead of the other way around, and she tells him not to talk to about the weather and tries to get him to propose to her in the correct manner, but it is Lady Bracknell who can order even Gwendolyn because of her automatic status due to her age and higher place in the family as her mother and orders her to ‘The carriage’ during her interview with Jack when she treats Jack as if he were applying for a job in a company to see if he is a ‘suitable candidate’ for marrying her daughter, which is similar to frequent arranged marriages in high class societies in those times. Offred’s position ion her household is unclear, she is underneath Serena but no one is sure if she is below or above the other servants as it is ‘too soon’ so she is treated with respect but held in low regard. Margaret Thatcher does not use imperatives as she is trying to persuade her audience and does so well, instead she urges her audience to read the proposal, she displays the current way of things as illogical and almost absurd by mentioning odd statistics made by men to keep women in the house and unfounded claims and rules by corporations for unequal pay between men and women.

In conclusion it is apparent that women have the greater position in my pieces with men unexpectedly being lower in the hierarchy, the women often control most conversations and seem to have great power even though, especially in “The Handmaid Tale” women socially are supposed to have lower status because of the time period and circumstances but it is the opposite, the women have the power over the men so they are actually in control even though it is not what society as a whole expects, they break the gender stereotypes that are in our minds, they are not the weak willed, submissive sex that they are ‘supposed’ to be, they are equally strong as the men, if not more so, changing our expectations of the genders where men were thought to speak twice as much as women and had greater control it is the women who speak the most as see in the pieces I have chosen.

By Ashley Latty

2568 words