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Product Description for Lesson 19 | Whole Novel—Feminist Perspective: The Handmaid’s Tale

Essential Question: How does feminist literary criticism shape our understanding of The Handmaid’s Tale?

In this lesson, students will explore key feminist critical perspectives to deepen their understanding of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The lesson focuses on how gender, power, and resistance are portrayed throughout the novel, with a specific emphasis on feminist theory. Students will critically engage with various feminist readings and apply these frameworks to analyse the text.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand key feminist critical perspectives on The Handmaid’s Tale.
• Analyse how Atwood presents gender, power, and resistance within the novel.
• Apply feminist theory to interpret the text and evaluate its feminist themes.

Lesson Overview:

• Starter Task: Students will identify three characteristics they associate with a feminist novel and discuss whether The Handmaid’s Tale fits this definition.
• Feminist Readings: Students will examine three key feminist perspectives:
  • Liberal Feminism: Focuses on women’s rights and autonomy (e.g., Offred’s limited agency).
  • Radical Feminism: Focuses on systemic oppression and control of women’s bodies (e.g., reproductive rights in Gilead).
  • Intersectional Feminism: Considers race, class, and gender (e.g., how Gilead’s structure affects women differently).
• Small Group Task: Students will analyse key feminist themes in the novel (reproductive control, gender and power, female agency and resistance) and find textual evidence to support their feminist interpretation.
• Critical Debate: Students will debate whether The Handmaid’s Tale is a feminist novel. They will consider whether the novel critiques patriarchal oppression or whether its portrayal of Offred as a passive character undermines its feminist message.
• Exit Task: Students will answer the question, “Is The Handmaid’s Tale a feminist novel?” using evidence from the lesson’s discussion.

Key Themes for Analysis:

• Reproductive Control: How does the novel reflect real-world debates about bodily autonomy?
• Gender and Power: Who holds power in Gilead, and how is it enforced?
• Female Agency and Resistance: In what ways do women resist oppression?

This lesson encourages critical thinking and facilitates a deeper understanding of feminist literary criticism through the lens of The Handmaid’s Tale. It is ideal for students studying feminist perspectives in literature, as well as those looking to engage with broader debates surrounding gender, power, and resistance in dystopian fiction.

Feminist literary criticism, The Handmaid’s Tale, feminist perspectives, gender and power, reproductive rights, intersectional feminism, Offred, literary analysis, feminist theory, dystopian fiction.

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