The Handmaid's Tale, a satiric dystopia by Margaret Atwood, contains a complex power structure. The novel details the methods through which power is used and abused in the different classes of people in Gileadean society. It describes how the Commanders, the men 'in charge,' secure their power through manipulation of the social structure, which includes gender and status, segregation of society and how God is used as a justification for their actions. The novel also shows how oppressed groups such as the Handmaids, and even the Wives, utilise the little power they have. The Handmaid's Tale shows how those in power control those of lower status, how they justify it, and how minority groups utilise a small amount of power to retain their identity and sanity in a totalitarian arrangement.

The Commanders secure power over the majority in Gilead by controlling scarce resources and the satisfaction of desire. The Commanders are members of the Gileadean elite, the controllers of Gileadean society. The third epigraph at the commencement of the novel is a Sufi proverb: "In the desert there is no sign that says, 'Thou shalt not eat stones'." This proverb is saying that stones are not

Offred discusses the change that has happened with her Commander. He says, "think of the trouble they had before. Don't you remember the singles bars, the indignity of high school blind dates? The meat market ... the terrible gap between the ones who could get a man and the ones who couldn't? ... Think of the human misery." He points out all the bad points of the old society without looking at the huge benefits of free choice. The Commander says that the new arrangement is completely fair, just and beneficial to women: "This way they all get a man, nobody's left out." He also says that now women are valued and respected more: "Money was the only measure of worth, for everyone, they got no respect as mothers ... this way they're protected, they can fulfil their biological destinies in peace. With full support and encouragement." (page 231) Support and encouragement is certainly not what the Handmaids receive! They are treated with force and threat, and if they can't produce, with ext!

e fertile women, called Handmaids. The Commanders also restrict and control access to food, another valuable resource that is rationed by a token system. This is another way they secure their power.

Offred has a power over Serena Joy, the Commander's wife, because she is seeing the Commander in secret. She has taken part of the Commander's attention and hope away from Serena, and it makes Offred feel powerful. Offred says, " I now had a power over her, of a kind, although she didn't know it. And I enjoyed that. Why pretend? I enjoyed it a lot." (page 171)

Offred, being a Handmaid, has no physical power. Her room is escape proof, by suicide or flight. In order to keep her sanity and identity, she uses another form of authority: thoughts. She breaks her confinement with mental journeys and she degrades those in power by thinking about them for what they are or making things up. She says, "there is something powerful in the whispering of obscenities about those in power. There's something delightful about it, something naughty, secretive, forbidden, thrilling ... it deflates them, reduces them to the common denominator where they can be dealt with." (page 234) While at a prayvaganza, she tries not the be impressed by the Commander giving the speech. She says, "It try to imaging him in bed with his wife and Handmaid, fertilising away like mad, like a rutting Salmon, pretending to take no pleasure in it." (page 230) At night, Offred takes time to go on a mental journey. "The night is my time out," she says. "Where should I go?" (page !

Serena Joy retains a small amount of power by bossing Offred around. When Offred first arrives at Serena's house Offred comments, "she didn't step aside to let me in, she just stood there in the doorway, blocking the entrance. She wanted me to feel that I could not come into the house unless she said so." Page 23) Serena is able to maintain a little power as the highest ranking female in the household by savouring small power trips such as this.

The Commanders secure their authority and power by brainwashing the community into believing their policies are to better society, when these policies are only to feather their own nests. The second epigraph is an extract from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, in which he mocks the practice of making policies to better society when their losses are great and a minority are benefited. He jokingly

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2278
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)