Elaine McNally on (Edited )
If you’re studying The Handmaid’s Tale for Edexcel’s ‘Science and Society’ unit—or even just exploring the theme of science in the novel for a coursework essay, you’ll notice that science isn’t neutral in Gilead, but tightly woven into the social and political attitudes of the regime. It is through the male characters, who in many ways act and think like scientists, that Atwood explores the dangers of science and its negative impact on women.
The word ‘science’ derives from the Latin word ‘scientia’ which means knowledge, and particularly knowledge based on demonstrable and reproducible data. With science comes a scientist: an expert or specialist, someone who knows. Finally, when we think about science we might think about logic, method and system. Science is a process of seeking, systematising and sharing knowledge; knowledge that may be present as facts and numbers.
The Handmaid’s Tale has three men who are connected by science: the Commander, Luke and Pieixoto. These are men who champion empirical data to support a patriarchal view of the world.
The Commander: a ‘sort of scientist’
The Commander may not be a scientist in the traditional sense, but he describes himself as a ‘sort of scientist’. He was instrumental in the creation of Gilead, and justifies its design by citing research that apparently validates the oppression of women, claiming he has the ‘stats from that time’. By connecting the Commander to science, Atwood suggests that whilst science can be innovative, it is also dangerous and can be employed to control women’s bodies. Science is offered as the logical justification for a system that claims to be operating in the handmaids’ interests, but is actually one of the mechanisms by which the handmaids are kept in a state of passivity and obedience.
Luke: another man who knows best
Offred’s husband in the time before might seem like one of the good guys, but he also uses science to reinforce his patriarchal dominance. He is another man who loves data, and combatively asserts that ‘studies have been done’ insisting on the differences between men and women and maintaining that there is verifiable proof for his (implied) misogyny. Luke’s casual reliance on research mirrors Gilead’s systemic oppression: both use the veneer of science to silence women’s perspectives.
Gilead as a science experiment
The Commander and Luke rely on the pseudo-science of biological determinism, claiming essential differences between men and woman. Gilead is built upon these gendered pseudo-scientific ideologies using them to ratify its religious doctrine. Despite the fact that the bodies of scientists from the time before are hung as warnings on the wall, science and scientific experimentation lurk behind the austere theology. The handmaids in the novel are the first generation to live through the regime, and they are described like the subject of an experiment, one that has flaws as there is still a need to get ‘the bugs ironed out’. The many zoomorphic images evoke the idea of lab animals, and Offred says she is like a ‘rat in a maze’.
The doctor: science behind the curtain
At the doctor’s, where Offred goes for an ‘obligatory’ check-up, it is the doctor, another scientist, who uses his knowledge to coerce and intimidate her, and she is aware of the power he has over her body. The scene is chillingly clinical; as the doctor studies her ‘torso only’, a curtain ‘intersects’ Offred so that her head is concealed. This physical division of her body reflects a deeper thematic preoccupation with dismemberment, both literal and metaphorical, closely allied with science as a theme. The doctor literally separates Offred’s body into parts, but the representatives of science in the novel do this to female experience in other ways. The Commander, Luke, and Pieixoto metaphorically dissect women’s experiences, breaking them down into classifications and data and focusing on what can be controlled, measured, or exploited. The doctor embodies the way in which science in Gilead has become brutal instrument for the control and exploitation of women’s bodies; women have only a utilitarian function, their value measured solely in terms of their reproductive capacity. Offred remarks that ‘for our purposes the feet are unimportant,’ and defines herself bitterly as a ‘walking womb’, suggesting that women are subjects in a grotesque social experiment, stripped of identity and individuality. In this way, Atwood underscores the novel’s critique of science as a dehumanising force.
Pieixoto: turning lived experience into data
Pieixoto, the historian, is a man committed to research and is a scientist in the sense that he values data, evidence, and order. He converts Offred’s oral narrative into a written transcript, building a machine ‘capable of playing such tapes’ in order to do this. He imposes logic and order, and takes an entirely objective approach, privileging data and observable fact: the tools of science. He wishes for ‘twenty pages or so of printout from Waterford’s private computer’. Throughout ‘The Historical Notes’, he uses the language of science: ‘deduce’, ‘evidence’, ‘elimination’, ‘identification’, ‘authentication’, ‘documentation’, ‘investigation’ and in doing so, Pieixoto reduces Offred’s lived experience to an object of study.
The bigger picture
So, what are we to think about science in the novel? Through these three characters, Atwood shows us how science can be weaponised to support misogyny. All these men depend on science, or pseudoscience, to justify a phallocentric point of view; one that is ultimately sexist and derogatory, and that excludes women’s voices and experiences.