The journal  Women Disunited: Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale as a critique of Feminism.’ by Alanna A. Callaway, proposed an interesting perspective while looking into The Handmaid’s tale, which is whether the novel conveys a message of feminism or a satire of gynocentric misogyny. As the novel establishes a clear hierarchy in society, the differences in power of different classes can be shown by the use of language.

The Aunts are whom trains the Handmaids, and from the speaker’s point of view, readers can conclude that the Aunts have more power over the Handmaids. In the first chapter, when the environment for training is established, the Aunt’s power over the Handmaids were revealed and thus reinforcing the idea that the Handmaids are controlled by women rather than men. The suppressive atmosphere “army cots that had been set up in rows” “flannette sheets”, “could not talk” was used to highlight the power controlled by the Aunts. The word “cattle prods” also shows a strong sense of dehumanisation and misogyny, as the Aunts are gaining power from the “electrical prods” which means that the Aunts are not treating Handmaids as human. Therefore, it emphasises on the hatred from the same gender.

Moreover, the power difference between the Commander’s wife and the Handmaid also showcases the misogyny from the same gender. The Commanders wife clearly did not like Offred, from “don’t call me ma’am” , the clear hatred from the commander’s wife is displayed. “I would like to see as little as you as possible” also suggests that the Handmaid is in an unfavored position, which emphasises the wife’s power and her dislike towards the Handmaid. The hatred from the Wife was primarily due to the fact that she is not fertile but the Handmaid is, the wife feel hostile towards the Handmaid due to the fact that the Handmaid is doing the “ceremony” with their husbands, and it imposes a threat on their marriage. From Serena Joy’s quote “As for my husband, she said, he’s just that. My husband. I want that to be perfectly clear. Till death do us part. It’s final”, she is pressuring and warning Offred by stating her identity, the reinforcement of her identity highlights Serena Joy’s power as she is commanding Offred from a higher position. Instead of the Commander, the wife is the one giving the speech. This represents that in this house, the wife is the one who actually is controlling the Handmaid. This reinforces the idea which the novel focuses on a topic of gynocentric misogyny.