Should we feel bad for the Commander in The Handmaid's Tale?
In this video, we’re doing a deep dive into [Analysis of the Commander in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Specifically, I’m asking if it’s possible at all for us to feel bad for the Commander. The Commander is the patriarch of the household where Offred, the novel’s protagonist, has been assigned to as the handmaid-in-residence. And she's supposed to have s*x with him every month - all with his wife looking on in a bizarre threesome ritual called the 'Ceremony'. I know, WTF and why would we even consider feeling bad for a man like this, right? Well, what if I were to be the Devil's Advocate (despite being a feminist) and say that there's more to it than meets the eye with the Commander? Watch this video to see how I unpack this with close reference to detailed evidence throughout the novel.
Rousseau's 'The Social Contract': en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soc...
Hobbes' 'Leviathan': en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviath...)
TIMESTAMPS:
05:15 - The Commander's desire for connection
13:45 - The Commander's desire for acceptance
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Пікірлер: 11
This was genuinely so amazing, and has saved my life!!!!!
I wish you had also gone into the end of the final chapter in jezebels where offred and the commander have sex outside of the ceremony. I felt a great amount of pathos for his character that Atwood had built as you said, up to that point. And it was further reinforced by what was said on his potential identities in the historical notes
Could you make the argument of Offred's uncontrollable tendency and attraction towards the romance plot, as she reconstructs the Commander as she reconstructs other events, into an 'ordinary man' (this action being quite jarring for us as a reader, given that his character has already been formed on the character profile of the rapist)? Thus, as we too sympathise with the Commander as Offred does in the Scrabble scene, are we not a victim of the same mistake in excusing the unexcusable due to our own peculiar tendencies to construct a romantic plot in abusive heteronormative situations?
@JenChan
7 күн бұрын
That's certainly an interesting POV - I like the way you bring in generic expectations of a romance, but I'd argue that your claim of our "tendencies to construct a romantic plot in abusive heteronormative situations" is something that needs more substantiation. I don't see it as a given 'tendency', at least not for everyone.
Another great THT video, thanks Jen!!
Hey! I love your videos could you please make An Inspector Calls videos please?
HI Jen!! can you do a video on the poem " The soldier"🥰🥰 I do eduqas as my exam board and it is not that popular so there isn't much resources i can get❤❤
hey i love your videos, please may you do videos on symbols in handmaids tale ?
Hello Jen Chan is there any way that your could do a video on blood brothers thank you.
Can you do a video on Serena Joy? 💕
@JenChan
Ай бұрын
Perhaps in the future, yes...!