Do Not Let Them Grind You Down: A comparison of the protagonist’s assertiveness in both Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Bruce Miller’s TV series adaptation (2017).
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- This MA dissertation is devoted to a comparison of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) with the recent series adaptation produced by Bruce Miller, released on Hulu on April 2017. The central aim of this research paper is to evaluate the assertiveness and sense of resistance of the main character, Offred, in both media. For that purpose, a thorough analysis of the protagonist’s relation to her “self” as well as to people around her will be carried out. Offred leads a genuine struggle for survival but, faced with the oppressive regime that stifles her, she will pursue this endeavor distinctly in the two media. The psychological and physical limitations that entrap the protagonist will be illustrated, as well as her efforts to overcome them. Eventually, this paper will investigate how the character’s sense of resilience reflects utopian hope within the dystopia, and to what extent this utopian aspiration of resistance appears in the series and the novel.