Resources for The Handmaid’s Tale
We have designed resources for teachers and students of A-level English Literature on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale on the themes of Bodies, Politics and Media.
Reading The Handmaid’s Tale alongside women’s movement magazines of the 1980s gives students the opportunity to engage with the feminist debates which directly informed Atwood’s novel.
These resources are available to download (as zipped PowerPoint files and PDFs) below.
Bodies
This resource explores the following questions, with reference to extracts from the novel and an article from Spare Rib magazine on the politics of reproduction:
- What has happened to bodies in Gilead?
- How are bodies represented by Atwood?
- To what extent is The Handmaid’s Tale shaped by concerns about reproduction?
- What is the role of reproduction in Gilead?
Politics
This resource explores the following questions, with reference to extracts from the novel and a contemporary interview with Atwood published in Ms. magazine:
- Is Offred ‘apolitical’?
- How is Offred distinguished from the novel’s ‘superpolitical kickass female characters’?
- What role does feminist politics play in the novel?
Media
This resource explores the following questions with reference to extracts from the novel and women’s magazines of the 1980s:
- What is a feminist magazine? What issues were feminists interested in?
- How do magazines feature in The Handmaid’s Tale?
- Examine the view that in The Handmaid’s Tale Atwood’s primary concern is the power of the media.
