Historical Notes & Epigraphs

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Historical Notes

Here are some key quotations from the Historical Notes:

The name of the University - Denay, Nunavit - places this academic symposium in Arctic Canada.
But Atwood uses paronomasia (a pun) to express the warning: Deny none of it!
- This is an example of Atwood's authorial voice breaking through into the text to remind the reader that all the atrocities that happened in Gilead have ACTUALLY happened in real society.

Professor Pieixoto shows his misogyny when he discusses the innuendo of Tale and Tail ("archaic vulgar signification") and the importance of Offred's story ("This item - I hesitate to call it a document").

He says that we should "be cautious about passing moral judgement upon the Gileadeans" even after he has heard the harrowing nature of Offred's tale.

The lecture ends with the Professor saying "Are there any questions?".
- This is ironic, as he seems to have overlooked and under-researched everything about Offred, leaving the reader with many questions about her.

The Professor makes weak, sexist jokes ("the Underground Frailroad") and takes an objective view of Gilead ("our job is not to censure but to understand").-
- Atwood does this to show that even hundreds of years after the regime of Gilead, patriarchal views and ideology are still present in society and women's experience is still undermined and controlled by men.

Atwood chooses three epigraphs that introduce many themes and ideas.

And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said Am I in God's stead who have withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her".

This quotation clearly inspired the Ceremony that takes place in the novel between the Commander, Offred and Serena Joy.
It also shows how a theocracy like Gilead can use scripture to enforce practices like the Ceremony.
You could interpret this quotation as objectifying women as just sexual and reproductive figures in society.

But as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length, utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal… (Jonathon Swift, A Modest Proposal, 1729)

Swift was an Irish writer and satirist who wrote the essay A Modest Proposal to address the poor living conditions for Irish people.
He satirically put forward ideas like:
- using cannibalism to solve hunger
- treating children and women like animals.
Atwood is suggesting that The Handmaid's Tale has a satirical thread and that the ideas in it point to wider problems in society.

In the desert there is no sign that says, Thou shalt not eat stones.
- This quotation seems more ambiguous than the other two in terms of its relevance to the novel. There can be many interpretations: one could be that human survival is an instinct that needs no instruction. It could also be read as a satirical comment on the world of Gilead, where rules are strictly enforced, even for aspects of human life like conversation, socialising and sex.

Critic Nancy Workman interprets this quotation as referencing Sufi mysticism.
- Offred displays Sufi mystic characteristics by developing an inner sense of spirituality which is at odds with the repressive theocracy of Gilead.
The quotation could refer to:
- Offred exploring the powerful relationship between language and power
- A regime like Gilead playing upon the interchange between language, power and interpretation.