The Sublime Terror in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

Abstract

The present study identifies and analyzes the sublime terror in Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid 's Tale (1985). The concept of the sublime according to Emmanuel Kant and Theodore Adorno will be drawn on in the investigation of life under the totalitarian regime of the Gilead republic. In defining the sublime, the study highlights the difference between the views of the two German philosophers as well as the historical background that inspires this difference. The study sets to investigate the impact of the sublime terror on the heroine's sentiments towards the wall-the site of persecuting convicted Gileadeansseeking to prove whether these sentiments are static or dynamic. The study handles the issue of reconstruction of episodes told by the heroine to decide the reason/s for such hesitancy. Accordingly, the point of view is investigated to decide its suitability for transmitting her sublime experience. Furthermore, nostalgia is detected in the novel to decide the nature of its effect on the heroine at certain critical moments. Finally, the study offers a reading of the novel's Historical Notes informed by Kant's view on the dynamic sublime. The conclusion detects the novel's implied evaluation of the power of Western democracy and the hidden threats which might erupt putting this democracy to the test.