In many ways, The Handmaid’s Tale could be seen as an examination of power – who has it, how they gain it, how they use it and misuse it. The most obvious form of power in the novel is the régime of the Republic of Gilead. The power imbalance in the novel is what makes it such a striking commentary on human society, especially gender. In Gilead, extreme patriarchy, religious oppression and totalitarianism have engineered society in such a way that a woman’s worth is only attached to her husband (as in the case of the Commander’s wives) or her ability to bear children. It is so ironic that the Handmaids in whose hands rest the power to perpetuate society are the ones treated so poorly but their pregnancies are always celebrated and the birth of a child is glamorised. This validates Offred’s referral to handmaids as ‘two-legged wombs’ because indeed they are only valued for the ability to bear children, failure to do this lead to being called ‘Unwoman’ and being banished from society. In the social hierarchy, the handmaids are the lowest individuals, the power structures are rigged against them and their only choices of social mobility is linked to their fertility.

The régime also uses and misuses language to control its citizens. Since it likes to pretend that its oppression is beneficent:

– The women who control the Red Centre, using cattle-prods and steel cables, and who run the Particicution, are called by the kindly name of ‘Aunts’
– Shops are named after quotations from the Bible, such as the ‘Loaves and Fishes’.
– The state’s soldiers are called ‘Angels’

Gilead sees itself as a fundamentalist Christian régime, and the Bible is often cited – but very often the quotations used, for example by the Aunts, are subtly altered or perverted. More pervasively, education is strictly controlled, books and magazines are banned and women are not supposed to read or write, unless they are workers on state activity, such as the Aunts. Gilead knows well that language is a very powerful tool.