The Handmaid's Tale and The Bible - Literary Context Part 1
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the speaker discusses biblical references to handmaids, focusing on the Old and New Testament stories that inspired Margaret Atwood's *The Handmaid's Tale*. The discussion covers how handmaids were used for fertility, particularly in the stories of Rachel, Leah, Sarah, and Hagar from the Old Testament. The speaker also touches on Mary from the New Testament as a handmaid of the Lord. This analysis highlights the theme of women's subjugation and their role in providing heirs, drawing parallels to the societal dynamics in Atwood's novel.
Takeaways
- đ The concept of a handmaid in the Bible is closely tied to fertility, where maidservants assist wives in bearing children.
- đ©ââ€ïžâđ© Margaret Atwood's *The Handmaid's Tale* draws inspiration from biblical stories of handmaids, such as Bilhah, Zilpah, and Hagar.
- đïž Handmaids were used as surrogates to bear children for barren women in the Old Testament, emphasizing the importance of producing heirs.
- đ€± Rachel, from the Bible, allowed her maid Bilhah to bear children for her husband Jacob when she was unable to conceive.
- âïž A difficult relationship develops between wives and handmaids, as seen in the story of Sarah, Abraham, and Hagar, where tension and mistreatment arose.
- đ Mary, the mother of Jesus, refers to herself as the 'handmaid of the Lord,' linking her role as a servant to God's plan in the New Testament.
- đĄ Fertility and the pressure on women to bear children is a significant theme in both the Bible and *The Handmaid's Tale*, reflecting societal views on women's roles.
- đ¶ Handmaids' tale uses the biblical phrase 'blessed be the fruit,' connecting it to the biblical concept of bearing children as a service to humanity and God.
- âïž The imbalance of power between handmaids and wives reflects deeper societal tensions around fertility, control, and women's bodies.
- đŹ Atwoodâs work highlights how the Bible portrays women as having to solve fertility issues, often at their own expense and sacrifice.
Q & A
What is the significance of the handmaid in both biblical and Margaret Atwoodâs context?
-The handmaid in both contexts is closely tied to fertility and childbearing. In the Bible, handmaids were maidservants used by barren wives to bear children for their husbands. Margaret Atwood uses this concept in *The Handmaid's Tale* to depict a dystopian society where women are subjugated and forced into surrogacy.
What are the biblical references that Margaret Atwood draws from in *The Handmaid's Tale*?
-Atwood references three key Old Testament stories: Rachel and her maid Bilhah (Genesis 30:1-5), Leah and her maid Zilpah (Genesis 30:9-12), and Sarah and her maid Hagar (Genesis 16:2-6). These stories involve women offering their maidservants to their husbands to bear children due to their own infertility.
How does the biblical concept of handmaids relate to fertility in *The Handmaidâs Tale*?
-In the Bible, handmaids are used as surrogates when wives are barren. This theme of fertility and the desperation to produce children is central to *The Handmaidâs Tale*, where a fertility crisis leads to women being enslaved and used as vessels for childbearing.
What is the relationship between wives and handmaids in the biblical stories mentioned?
-The relationship is often tense and complicated. In the story of Sarah and Hagar, for instance, Hagar despises Sarah after becoming pregnant, and Sarah responds by treating Hagar harshly. This dynamic of tension and rivalry is echoed in *The Handmaid's Tale* between the wives and handmaids.
How does Rachelâs story in Genesis influence the conception scenes in *The Handmaidâs Tale*?
-Rachelâs command to Jacob to 'go in unto her maid Bilhah' and 'she shall bear upon my knees' is mirrored in *The Handmaidâs Tale*. In Atwoodâs story, handmaids are ritualistically positioned with wives during conception and birth, reflecting the surrogate nature of these relationships.
Why does the script mention that *The Handmaid's Tale* shows a close relationship between biblical and dystopian surrogacy?
-The mention highlights that both the biblical practice of surrogacy and Atwoodâs dystopian society involve direct physical interaction and a lack of autonomy for the women involved. In both cases, the handmaidsâ bodies are used as tools for childbearing, without regard for their personal agency.
What does the script reveal about the New Testamentâs influence on *The Handmaidâs Tale*?
-The New Testament influence comes from the story of Mary, who refers to herself as 'the handmaid of the Lord' in Luke 1:26-38. This phrase is used in *The Handmaidâs Tale* as a greeting, 'blessed be the fruit,' linking Maryâs role as a vessel for Christâs birth to the handmaidsâ forced roles in Atwoodâs narrative.
How does the relationship between Sarah and Hagar reflect in *The Handmaid's Tale*?
-The harsh treatment of Hagar by Sarah, after Hagar conceives a child, reflects the oppressive dynamics in *The Handmaid's Tale*. Just like in the biblical story, there is resentment and cruelty between the wives and the handmaids, as handmaids are viewed as mere vessels for reproduction.
What theological debate does the script hint at regarding Maryâs role in the New Testament?
-The script hints at a theological debate surrounding whether Maryâs acceptance of her role as 'handmaid of the Lord' represents a privilege or an imposition. Some might see it as a privilege due to her role in Christianity, while others could argue it reflects a loss of personal freedom and choice.
How does the greeting 'blessed be the fruit' in *The Handmaid's Tale* connect to biblical references?
-The greeting 'blessed be the fruit' in *The Handmaid's Tale* is a direct reference to Elizabethâs words to Mary in the New Testament: 'blessed be the fruit of thy womb.' This ties the fertility theme in Atwoodâs world to the biblical story of Mary and the importance of childbearing in both contexts.
Outlines
đ Biblical Origins of Handmaids in 'The Handmaid's Tale'
This section introduces the concept of handmaids in the Bible, particularly from the Old Testament, which Margaret Atwood references in *The Handmaid's Tale*. The idea of handmaids revolves around fertility, with women serving as surrogates to bear children on behalf of barren wives. Key figures like Rachel, Leah, and Sarah are introduced, highlighting their relationships with handmaids Bilhah, Zilpah, and Hagar, respectively. Fertility was a mark of honor, and the societal pressure to bear children created complex dynamics between wives, handmaids, and their husbands.
đ©ââ€ïžâđ© Tensions Between Wives and Handmaids: Rachel, Leah, and Sarah
Here, the focus is on the tensions and relationships between wives and handmaids in the Bible. Rachel and Leah's use of their handmaids to conceive children for their husband Jacob mirrors the events in *The Handmaid's Tale*. The dynamics between Sarah, Abraham, and Hagar are explored in detail, with Hagar bearing Abraham's child but feeling resentment toward Sarah. This section emphasizes the difficult emotional relationships and power dynamics that arise from using handmaids as surrogates, which Atwood integrates into her narrative.
đ Mary: A New Testament Perspective on Handmaids
In this section, the narrative shifts to the New Testament, focusing on Mary, the mother of Jesus. The angel Gabriel informs Mary that she will bear a child, to which she responds, 'I am the handmaid of the Lord.' The comparison is made between Mary as a 'handmaid' of God and the Old Testament handmaids. Although Mary's pregnancy is divine, the concept of women as vessels for bearing children continues. Atwood draws on this when incorporating themes of servitude, fertility, and the biblical greeting 'Blessed be the fruit' in her novel.
đ The Fruit of the Womb: Womenâs Role in Fertility
This section explores the metaphor of the 'fruit of the womb' and its significance in both the Bible and *The Handmaid's Tale*. The interaction between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, where Elizabeth refers to Maryâs child as the 'fruit of thy womb,' ties into the novel's greeting among handmaids. This emphasizes the physical role of women in childbirth and their service to God or society. Atwood draws parallels between biblical women and the handmaids in her story, highlighting themes of powerlessness, fertility, and women's sacrificial roles.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄHandmaid
đĄFertility
đĄSurrogacy
đĄBiblical Allusions
đĄOld Testament
đĄNew Testament
đĄSarah and Hagar
đĄMargaret Atwood
đĄBlessed be the fruit
đĄVirgin Birth
Highlights
Introduction to Margaret Atwood's *The Handmaid's Tale*, focusing on the biblical concept of handmaids.
Biblical handmaids in the Old Testament are used for fertility, acting as surrogates to produce children for the family.
In the Old Testament, fertility is a significant concern for women, especially those who are barren and desire to produce heirs, particularly sons.
Key Old Testament handmaid references: Rachel and her handmaid Bilhah, Leah and her handmaid Zilpah, and Sarah with her handmaid Hagar.
Rachel, unable to conceive, asks her husband Jacob to sleep with her maid Bilhah to have children on her behalf, a practice reflected in *The Handmaidâs Tale*.
The phrase 'she shall bear upon my knees' highlights the emotional and physical closeness between wife and handmaid during childbirth, symbolizing an early form of surrogacy.
Leah, also unable to have more children due to age, follows Rachel's example by offering her maid Zilpah to Jacob.
In Genesis, Sarah instructs Abraham to sleep with her maid Hagar to have a child, resulting in tension between Sarah and Hagar, who despises her mistress.
The tension between Sarah and Hagar in the Bible serves as the foundation for the difficult relationships between wives and handmaids in Atwood's novel.
In the New Testament, Mary refers to herself as 'the handmaid of the Lord' when told by the angel Gabriel that she will conceive Jesus, offering herself as a vessel for God.
The phrase 'blessed be the fruit' in *The Handmaid's Tale* is a direct reference to Elizabethâs words to Mary in the New Testament, emphasizing the importance of fertility and childbirth.
The *Handmaid's Tale* reflects the biblical theme of women lacking fertility, leading to powerlessness, and requiring handmaids to solve this problem.
Atwoodâs novel draws from the biblical stories where women, especially wives, are seen as servants whose bodies are used to produce children for their husbands.
The handmaid's role in *The Handmaidâs Tale* is linked to biblical narratives where women are reduced to instruments of fertility, often against their will or through societal pressure.
The harsh treatment of handmaids in *The Handmaidâs Tale* echoes the treatment of Hagar by Sarah in the Bible, with Atwood exploring these ancient tensions in a dystopian setting.
Transcripts
hi today I'm going to talk to you about
Margaret Atwood's handmaid's tale and
I'm going to really focus in on the
handmade the idea of the handmade and
the biblical Illusions to handmade
so today you'll know all about handmaids
just like Maria
[Music]
so this will help you in your study of
the handmaid's tale
and we're going to look at Old Testament
handmaids and one New Testament
handmaids
the first thing to know is that the idea
of a handmaid is all about fertility
they are used in the Bible as
maidservants who are there to serve the
wife
in particular the ones that Margaret
Atwood picks out from the biblical
stories are the ones who are used in
order to create children
now fertility is quite a huge
preoccupation of women in the Old
Testament some of them are Barren that's
the word that's used and they crave
having children to produce a line for
their family and for their husbands and
it's seen kind of as a mark of honor to
be able to do that and in particular to
bring forth Sons
there are some real problems for women
when they can't produce children in the
biblical Society and also we find that
women as they get older begin to worry
about this and speak with their husbands
speak with God speak with other women
and are really
um in that urgent stage of needing to
provide an heir before they are too old
so there's three key places that
Margaret Atwood is referring to in the
Old Testament I'm going to look at those
to begin with
there is Rachel and Jacob who have
handmade bilha
there is Leia is Rachel's sister and
Jacob they share a husband
and her handmade is zilpa
and then the one I'm going to talk about
most is Sarah and Abraham and their
handmade Hagar
you can see the references up here
Rachel and Jacob Genesis 31-5
Leia and Jacob Genesis 30 9-12
Sarah and Abraham Genesis 16 2-6 and in
those places you'll find the stories of
bilhar zilpa and Hagar
I'm going to start first with Rachel so
Rachel finds herself in a difficult
situation she is the favored wife of
Jacob
her sister Leia is also married to Jacob
Leia is providing some children
Rachel is struggling to provide children
so she thinks about her situation and
she decides that really in order to have
children she's going to have to take
action so what she does is she speaks to
her husband she says to Jacob and I'm
quoting here behold my maid bilha go in
unto her and she shall bear upon my
knees
now this is really key for Margaret
Atwood's text because we get those
dramatic scenes where the maidservant
the handmaid and the wife are actually
joined together at the moment of
conception
and then at the moment of giving birth
that the wife is present and the
maidservant the handmaid is a kind of
surrogate mother it's an early type of
surrogacy really
um except there was actual sexual
intercourse rather than it all being
done
um in a in vitro in a more medical
um test Tubi way
so what we're having here is the real
close contact and this goes right back
to the Bible and Rachel with that phrase
she shall bear upon my knees so when
she's giving birth she will give birth
there isn't a suggestion that Rachel was
there at the conception of the child but
there is certainly the suggestion that
Rachel wanted to be there at the birth
of the child
so really quite a difficult relationship
there
now Leia also when she hears that Rachel
has taken this method
um when Leia is unable to have more
children because of her age
um she also takes on this method and she
offers her handmaid to her husband now
of course this is a very difficult
relationship between the handmaids the
husbands and the wives and we see this
reflected
um very much in um Margaret Atwood's
book
Sarah and Abraham this actually appears
um earlier in the Bible earlier in
Genesis but I have decided to talk about
it second because I think it's one with
a little bit more detail worth
developing particularly regarding that
relationship between wife and handmade
so in Genesis chapter 16
Sarah is very frustrated she's very old
she wants children God has promised her
children but she's kind of not really
trusting in God
and she says to Abraham I pray thee go
in unto my maid
it may be that I may obtain children by
her
now in the Bible in the following verses
it references Hagar and Hagar's opinion
about this she does allow Abraham to
sleep with her and create a child
but she says this is where I think it's
very key for the Atwood her mistress was
despised in her eyes
so there we have the seeds of this
really difficult relationship and that
word despised In Her Eyes the tension
really coming out there between the
handmade and the wife
now when Sarah goes to Abraham and
complains about this about being
despised and about her treatment
Abraham puts his foot down and says
she's your handmaid she's your servant
due to her as it pleaseth thee
and the Bible tells us so therefore
Sarah dealt with her harshly
and we can see here the very origins of
this idea that Margaret Atwood has taken
and developed
that there is Harsh treatment and a
really discordant relationship between
wife and handmaid and of course it's a
natural thing
someone is being offered as a servant to
service
this man
okay I said we're going to talk also
about the New Testament and I although
this is perhaps less immediately
contextually important I think it also
develops our knowledge of what a
handmade was
so in Luke
chapter 1 roundabout verses 26 to 38.
um the angel Gabriel this is this is The
Narrative of the birth of Jesus and the
beginnings of Christ entering the world
um the angel Gabriel appears to marry
and says you're you're going to have
this child Mary says I don't understand
how that can be how can that be I have
not been with man
and the angel Gabriel says don't worry
God will sort that out and in response
Mary says
I am the handmaid of the Lord
be it done unto me according to Thy Word
now this is still a very popular
um prayer
um in the Catholic Church you hear these
words uttered
um in respect for Mary and referencing
the fact that she said this and she is
seen here as someone who empties herself
becomes a vessel becomes something that
enables God to become incarnate to
become man in the world so here again we
get a relationship where the wife has
not had sexual intercourse
but he's seen somehow to become pregnant
now this is referenced as the Virgin
birth in Catholic theology
um but it's the same principle
um that the mother of the child
has become pregnant without sleeping
with the father of the child
um and here these words that she utters
I am the handmaid of the Lord really
lays Mary open to be an instrument of
God now some might say that this is a
privilege and indeed the Catholic and
Christian theology develops this to be a
privilege even though there is some
debate about how it happened and who
believes what happened
um some people might say that this is
actually quite
um an abuse of Mary's Freedom
um and putting her into a situation that
is very complex and difficult now she
accepts it she is Keen to accept this
um so that perhaps makes
um it it seem a little better
we also get
um that a bit later on when this
handmaid of the Lord Mary goes to visit
her cousin Elizabeth we also then get
Elizabeth talking about how blessed Mary
is and how blessed she is and Mary
um is talking to Elizabeth about
a child
and the child
is described as the fruit of thy womb
Elizabeth says to Mary blessed be the
fruit of thy womb and so here we have
the real physical connection between the
womb and the fruit it brings forth
and the fact that Mary is doing a
service for God and a service for
Humanity in the Christian tradition and
of course we hear this as a greeting in
the handmaid's tale blessed be the fruit
blessed be the fruit it's part of the
greeting
formula that the handmaids have with
each other
um but I raised that here because this
is very clearly
um about the woman being the person who
is impregnated and then Bears the fruit
and of course Mary is referencing the
Old Testament here she's a Jewish woman
in these new testament times but of
course she's very well versed
um in the scriptures and the stories
from the Old Testament and she's
referencing here being a handmaid just
like Sarah employed
um bilhar so really important for the
handmaid's tale the theme of women
lacking fertility something has happened
in the world where they have lacked
fertility in the Bible it's because
they're old or because they're Barren
there's not widespread infertility
um but there is this Focus here on women
being power less because they lack
facility and they have to get around
that by employing other women
in the New Testament there is a focus on
God needing to be incarnate needing to
produce a son and that's very much what
we get in the handmaid's tale so is the
men who need and want to have heirs and
in particular Sons
but throughout here we get this idea
about women as servants the wife as
servants and trying to fix it for the
husband
and employing other servants naturally
women who then are brought in to try and
fix it
um with the husbands so there's all this
kind of
notion that the women are the people who
have to fix it and who have to sacrifice
themselves and their bodies
um and certainly the women in the Bible
were not very happy about doing this
check in next time for some further
handmaid's tale videos I'm going to do
one on General biblical references next
thank you for listening don't forget to
Ping that like button and subscribe
[Music]
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