Female Agency and State Control in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

Abstract

Dystopian narratives frequently develop during periods of uncertainty, using imagined futures to mirror social concerns that already exist in the present. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale depicts a theocratic regime in which women’s bodies and identities are regulated through institutional authority. This paper examines how the novel presents the relationship between state power and female agency as it unfolds in the everyday life of Gilead. Drawing on a feminist critical approach, the study explores how patriarchal systems govern reproduction, language, and autonomy, while also recognizing limited but meaningful forms of resistance. It argues that although Gilead attempts to suppress women’s individuality through routine practices and ideological control, agency continues to surface through memory, narration, and everyday survival. By tracing these tensions, the paper reads The Handmaid’s Tale as a feminist dystopian text that cautions against the ease with which authoritarian systems can normalize gender-based oppression.