n for withholding painkillers. No anesthetics, even. Aunt Elizabeth said it was better for the baby, but also: I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. Aunt Elizabeth is of course referring to the same verse where woman is condemned to serving her husband. The passages taken from the creation story in this society work only to benefit those in power. They are used to reinforce laws about female reproduction and the hierarchy of power found in Gilead. Only select verses are used in order to prevent contradiction, as seen in the marriage service where only one version of the creation story is recounted. As the society is religious, and heresy is not tolerated, one cannot challenge the Commanders on their interpretations of the Bible, as they have become in a way, the Bible. Another theme from the Bible that is central in The Handmaids Tale is that of the handmaid being used for reproduction. The justification for this is found in two main instances in the Bible. The first is the story of Abram and Sarai, who use Sarais handmaid, Hagar to conceive a child for the couple. (Genesis 16) The second instance, used more prolifically in The Handmaids Tale is that of Rachel and Leah, Jacobs wives who use their respective handmaids for baring children and are then rewarded with their own children. (Genesis 30:1-22) These stories are also used to demonstrate to the Gileadean society that it is only women who can be deemed sterile (a word actually forbidden in Gilead ) and that it is not the men who are responsible when conception does not occur. The ceremony that occurs monthly to coincide with Offreds ovulation involving the Commander, his wife and Offred is the realization of the story of Rachel and Leah and of Sarai, fornication occurs with both the wife and Offred present as to justify the child as the Commanders wifes child. As Offred nears the end of her position as han...
