Religious beliefs as a instrument of control essay

“Religion may be the sigh in the oppressed monster, the cardiovascular of a heartless world, plus the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people” (Marx 260). This statement implies that faith is a highly effective concept that encourages visitors to accept their particular conditions rather than revolting against their plight. Indeed in the wrong hands, it can be depraved to rationalize countless atrocities and so be applied as a tool of oppression. In her novel, The Handmaid’s Story, Margaret Atwood portrays a dystopian society, a fictional republic called Gilead, whose rulers use the benefits of religion to validate their terrifying personal agenda.

She satirizes the political system that uses faith to validate its requirement, and justify its even more questionable regulations. Clearly the use of religion intended for political purposes is one of the central themes of the novel; Atwood takes a pair of fundamentalist religious beliefs accompanied by certain edge elements in contemporary world and usually takes them to all their logical end to highlight their true despotic nature.

In Gilead, politics and religion go hand in hand. The Sons of Jacob make use of religion and psychological methods to control the masses and bend them to their will certainly.

Consequently the republic makes extensive utilization of religious terminologies for example home servants are “Marthas” talking about a home character inside the bible, the soldiers are called “Angels” as the local law enforcement officials are the “Guardians of the Faith”. The judgment government representatives are called the “Commanders of the Faithful”. Even the titles of purchasing stores have biblical referrals like Most Flesh, Milk and Sweetie, Loaves and Fishes. The purpose of this considerable use of biblical language is usually to deceive those of Gilead into thinking that their particular rulers sanction the will of God Him self.

Moreover the federal government only adopts certain facets of Christianity although it shuns the ones that it finds inconvenient. One example is Aunt Lydia, a tutor to the handmaids, says “I’ve learned to perform without a large amount of things, you get also attached to this fabric world and forget spiritual values. You have to cultivate poverty of spirit. Blessed will be the meek. ” (Atwood 110) at this point in the novel Offred notes that Aunt Lydia says absolutely nothing about getting the Earth. As a result the republic used spiritual justification to demand placid behavior from the handmaids.

For that reason religion is employed as a powerful political application in Gilead. Women play a very limited role in Gilead’s society; biblical allusions are used to deteriorate their position. A Commander makes the pursuing speech on the women’s prayvaganza. “Let the girl learn in silence with all subjection. But We suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority in the man, but to be in peace and quiet. For Adam was first shaped, then Event. And Adam was not fooled, but the woman being robbed was in the transgression.

Notwithstanding she shall be saved by simply childbearing, in the event they continue in trust and charitable organization and holiness with sobriety. “(273) Therefore , by sketching an model from a single biblical history the part of women is limited to duplication. Moreover, to be able to prevent the women from receiving libertarian, seglar ideas mass censorship occurs in Gilead. The country is cut off from the outside world since it will not even enable international tv to be showed; Offred notes this while you’re watching the television “Serena clicks the channel player.

Waves, shaded zigzags, a garble of sound: is it doesn’t Montreal Satellite television Station becoming blocked. “(101) Furthermore almost all books considered heretical by republic happen to be burned and females are not permitted to read whatsoever, the holy book is held under locking mechanism and essential so that the Commanders can read out only individuals parts which can be prescribed by the government. Offred’s commander reads the following verse from the bible on the day of the monthly wedding “Give myself children, otherwise I expire. Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld via thee the fruit of the tummy?

Behold my personal maid Bilhah. She shall bear fruit after my knees, that I may also have children by her. “(112) This biblical tale, narrated inside the novel by Commander, varieties the basis from the concept of a handmaid this is why it is given special value in Gilead and it is as well another one in the archaic reports from the scriptures that are used to enforce very questionable requirements on ladies. Thus the ladies of Gilead are subjugated by a warped version of Christianity.

Religious beliefs is supposed to emancipate man. But The Handmaid’s Story depicts a society through which it is utilized to shackle persons, to brainwash them, to force those to conform to a life-style permitted by their government. Maggie Atwood examines the people surviving in Gilead’s repressive society to rats caught in a web, she points out “A verweis in a web is liberated to go anywhere as long as it stays inside the maze”(363). Actually those that rebel to the founded norms happen to be dealt with harshly; they are penalized at a seudo-religious service called the Particicution, exactly where they are lynched to loss of life by a mob of women for false criminal activity they did not commit. Concerning this, the dissident handmaid, Ofglen remarks “He was not a rapist at all, he was a political. He was certainly one of ours. “(350) What this kind of entails is that the society in the novel is extremely autocratic and it does not allow the freedom of expression, the truth is it uses dread to control their citizens and induce their very own piety, because Offred remarks “We must look good from afar: picturesque, just like Dutch milkmaids on a picture frieze.

Comforting to the vision, the eyes, the Sight, for that is who this kind of show is for. We’re away to the Prayvaganza to demonstrate just how obedient and pious we are. ” (266) This shows the peoples’ inherent systematisierter wahn, the fear to be found unfaithful, that has been slowly and gradually cultivated within their hearts and minds. Truly the organization defiles the real spirit of faith by going against it is very essence: the religious liberation of mankind.

The use of religion intended for political functions is one of the central themes with the novel; Atwood takes a group of religious morals followed by specific fringe factors in contemporary society and takes these to their reasonable end to focus on their the case despotic mother nature. In conclusion, Margaret Atwood shows a horrifying alternate fact in which religious fundamentalists dominate and religious beliefs comes to dictate every aspect of man life. The main topic of religion carries a lot of value in the book; in fact the novel serves as a alert against the extremist views placed by many contemporary think reservoirs.

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