The exploitation of women and the concept of Motherhood in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

When the individual or institution that has an influence on administration possesses an uncontrolled power, they are prone to exploit it. By their nature, human beings are inclined to manipulate those who are inferior to them considering their social status. The victims of such exploitations have often been women who are seen as inferior by society. This study focuses on how the regime of Gilead, which gained power by eliminating democracy and personal freedom, exploits its female subjects for its best interest. The concept of exploitation in question appears in the novel as physical, sexual, and psychological. By ruling democracy out, Gilead creates a theocratic totalitarian state which centers around both reproduction and exploitation. In this new reproduction-centered state, even though each subject from the lower classes is exploited in many ways, the ones who are exploited the most are fertile female assets of Gilead. Gilead's reproduction system operates with the idea of fertile women being the surrogate mothers for the elites of Gilead, thus, the population problem will be resolved. The process of reaching motherhood is painful for each party that is involved. Therefore, the analysis of the reproduction-centered system that forms the basis of Gilead will help to realize how physical, sexual, and psychological exploitation damages the state of mind of female assets of Gilead. Keywords: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, Dystopia, Exploitation, Motherhood, Surrogacy