Comparison of Frankenstein and The Handmaid's Tale.pdf

Comparing th novels, "Frankenstein and "The Handmaid's Tale" in different aspects.

1. Comparison of Frankenstein
and A Handmaid’s Tale
Comparison of Frankenstein
and A Handmaid’s Tale
by Disuli De Silva

2. Frankenstein
Considered as the first true
science fiction novel.
At first, introduced to Robert
Walton and Victor Frankenstein;
men driven by ambition and the
thirst for knowledge.
Presents dark reflection on
scientific exploration
Introduction

3. A Handmaid’s Tale
Dystopian novel set in the theocratic
Republic of Gilead, where fertile women
are forced into reproductive servitude.
Introduced to Offred, a Handmaid whose
inner voice reveals a world of fear,
indoctrination, and resistance, built on the
manipulation of power and biology.

4. Themes
Victor’s early thrill at discovery
eclipses his sense of duty;
Shelley foreshadows the cost of
forsaking responsibility for
one’s creations.
Gilead’s Commanders claim
moral duty to “save” society, yet
hide from the responsibility for
lives they warp, particularly the
Handmaids.
Frankenstein begins with
Robert Walton and Victor
pushing beyond natural limits.
In Handmaid’s Tale, Offred
opens not with over-reaching
freedom but tightly policed
oppression.
Victor isolates himself, losing
social identity in pursuit of
glory.
Offred clings to fragments of
her past name and memories to
keep identity alive.
Transgression Vs. Oppression Moral Responsibility Identity and Voice

5. Setting
Frontiers of Ice vs. Frontiers of the Body
Shelley frames her novel with Arctic vistas and candle-lit laboratories—liminal spaces that echo the
Enlightenment’s edge of discovery.
Atwood offers repurposed schools, red-brick walls, and the Ceremony’s claustrophobic bedroom—
mundane yet terrifying spaces where women’s bodies are the new frontier.
Temporal Texture
Frankenstein is soaked in Romantic imagery—
storm-lashed Alps, gothic lecture halls—mirroring
the era’s fascination with the sublime.
Handmaid’s Tale blends the familiar (a Harvard
campus refitted as the Red Center) with the
chillingly near-future, making its dystopia feel one
legal decree away.

6. Scientific & Technological
Concerns
Unsanctioned Experiment vs.
State-Sanctioned Biology
Victor’s alchemical electricity
anticipates modern debates
about AI, cloning, and gene-
editing: creation without
consensus.
Gilead institutionalizes
reproductive technology—
forced surrogacy, controlled
conception—showing how
science in the wrong hands
legitimizes subjugation.
Fear of Consequences
Shelley’s early chapters already
hint at the Creature’s eventual
suffering, warning that
knowledge divorced from
empathy breeds monsters.
Atwood inverts the cautionary
tale: it is not a single reckless
scientist but an entire regime
manipulating “science”
(radiation statistics, fertility
rates) to rationalize tyranny.

7. Gender and Power
Resistance and Complicity
While Victor’s circle enables his secrecy, Offred’s world is rife with both small rebellions
(Moira’s escape attempt) and willing collaborators (Aunt Lydia, Serena Joy). Each novel asks:
When does obedience become culpability?
Patriarchal Ambition
Victor’s quest is partly to usurp the female role of birth, a silent
commentary on male appropriation of creation. Notice how Elizabeth,
Caroline, and Justine—domestic angels—are narrated but rarely heard.
In Gilead, that appropriation is state policy. Women are wombs (“two-
legged vessels”), their literacy and autonomy revoked. Chapters 1-6 show
Aunt Lydia drilling, Eyes watching, and the simple act of reading a pillow
embroidered FAITH rendered illegal.

8. In
Conclusion...

9. Thank YouThank You