The Collective Unconscious, The Death Drive, and Cruel Optimism: Pessimism as a Framework for 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒅’𝒔 𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒆

     In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood’s use of the fairytale motif as a framework for the novel critiques our innate desire for archetypes, exposes the innocuous nature of oppression, and highlights the flaws of cruel optimism. Atwood subverts the innocence of predictable, archetypal tropes in fairy tales to call into question the concept of a hero. Fairy tales function as a literal manifestation of how society’s collective unconscious possesses an inexplicable libidinal desire for heroes, villains, and happy endings in both stories and real life. The incorporation of fairytale fragments into The Handmaid’s Tale harshly criticizes the intrinsic desire to sugarcoat terrible events, and the subsequent denial of how un-extraordinary evil truly is. 
     Fairy tales have historically been passed down from generation to generation. Regardless of ethnicity, all cultures possess stories with some form of hero growing past obstacles and eventually achieving somewhat of a happy ending. The universality of these stories across all backgrounds, in regards to their structure, proves that there exists some common “nature of the psyche” at a spiritual level (Jung 384). Archetypal elements are the figures that appear in every one of these stories - the mother, the mentor, the hero, and the big bad villain. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood establishes archetypes in order to deconstruct the way society perceives them; therefore, she argues that our collective unconscious, which forms the desire for archetypes, is shaped by social impositions and desires for security. Freud’s theory of the Death Drive, the idea that humans have an insatiable desire to self-sabotage and “work unconsciously against social betterment,” lies at the heart of the collective unconscious, particularly in explaining the universal desire to suppress and ignore the messiness of reality in favor of a happy ending (McGowan 2).The novel at writ large offers parallels to the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, with Offred as Little Red, and the Commander as the Big Bad Wolf. Different visual elements, such as the basket with food and the omnipresent crimson cloak, serve as a method to purposefully romanticize the lives of the Handmaids, particularly Offred. These romantic silhouettes work to shroud the Handmaids in an air of innocence, and to infantilize the terrors they experience. Incorporating these almost nostalgic characteristics in the novel makes the world of Gilead seem much farther away than it is, and allows the reader to take comfort in the fact that The Handmaid’s Tale is simply a tale, instead of a reflection of reality. 
     Atwood purposefully softens female subjugation through embedding fairy tale archetypes in Offred’s narration to underscore how those experiencing abuse subconsciously distort reality as a coping mechanism. The issue of fairy tales frequently appears in the novel, with the memory of the Commander leading the ceremony being one of the most powerful instances of the fairy tale motif in the novel (154). Offred’s perspective underscores how society's psychological reliance on fairy tales facilitates the proliferation of evil. The crossed legs and the entirety of the book process is reminiscent of a paternal figure giving a bedtime story, which both directly mirrors the lack of freedom the women have and demonstrates the infantilization of women. The short sentences fragment the process and aid in building the overall tension lingering in the air. The little dialogue of ‘please’ attempts to mimic humanity — it insinuates the women have a choice. The inclusion of the description of the glasses as a harmless “shoemaker” posits him as non threatening, and establishes that even the greatest evils are much more subtle than one would think (154). In the same way that the Big Bad Wolf posits himself as Little Red’s grandmother to lure her to her death, Offred notes how even though the Commander may look and act the part of an innocent or kind man, he greatly benefits from her oppression and truly desires for it. Offred’s questioning of the guise of benevolence directly establishes that oppressive systems can begin from seemingly harmless practices. This extensive form of psychological denial extends to before the regime of Gilead. Offred’s retelling of how the tyranny of Gilead established itself reflects how the majority of individuals do not react in response to violence until it is too late (320). The staccato sentences mimic the halted thinking Offred experiences and works to show the absolute incredulousness of the public in the wake of the assasination. Use of rhetorical questions also establishes a sense of overwhelming denial and numbness to the reality of the situation. The transition to periodic sentences listing how the government began abusing its power builds suspense and ominous tension. The halted thought process throughout the memory deeply reflects the subconscious desire for people to protect themselves from the bad in the world. These forms of purposeful ignorance can be seen in every aspect of history, but can be most markedly observed in the years leading up to Nazi Germany’s occupation of the majority of Europe. In his autobiographical account of surviving Nazi concentration camps Night, Elie Wiesel recounts how before the Gestapo overran his town, survivors of their atrocities actually flocked to the village in seek of refuge. In spite of witnessing these horrors, “people [...] refused to listen. Some even insinuated that he only wanted their pity [...]”(16). This denial has extensive roots in the Death Drive — people refuse to accept facts in order to have a semblance of mental assuredness, yet directly allow for their own demise through that same refusal (Freud). The fairytale elements in these excerpts of both the physical descriptions and the constant will for a happy ending exposes to what extent people prioritize a false understanding of the world over the acceptance of reality. Throughout history, people have fervently denied the existence of terrible things despite facts proving their existence, and the psychological disconnect from the full extent of Gilead’s implications in the novel accents how this dynamic permeates society. Atwood uses Offred’s and the general public’s denial in this scene to criticize how even in the best of circumstances, people ignore the mundane reality of oppression until it consumes them. 
     Offred’s scattered crescendo of rebellions mimics the typical structure of fairy tales and designedly works to engender cruel optimism in the reader. Atwood intentionally makes the ending scene of Offred being taken into the van ambiguous, hinting at the possibilities of both happy and sad endings for the Hero at the culmination of her ‘insurgence’ (485). However, although the positive aspects of the ending may be interpreted as confirmation of a happy ending for Offred, it can be argued that Atwood wittingly lures readers into optimism as a means of compelling them to confront their own subconscious affective investments in happy endings. Atwood hints throughout the narrative that Offred is not the most of reliable of narrators — Offred consciously lies about Moira to give herself hope, which insinuates that maybe other aspects of her story are also modified to create some form of psychological protection — and this dynamic culminates in the last lines of the book. When Offred is being taken by the two men in the van, the description of the double doors creates a visual dichotomy and places emphasis on the two distinct outcomes that await her. Offred’s inner questioning and reluctant acceptance of her circumstances adds to the ambiguity of the ending. The visual imagery of darkness and light subsequently highlights the duality of the scenario. By narrating this harrowing experience through a lens of ambiguity, Atwood cleverly creates the possibility of a happy ending to bait the reader into falling for the same critique she makes of happy endings. At this precise moment, Offred has established that she willingly retells her experiences differently to give herself a sense of security in the horrors of Gilead, which gives her ‘hopeful’ ascent into the van an entirely distinct meaning. The subconscious desire for Offred to assume the role of an archetypal Hero with a happy ending is a grasp for mental security - the innate desire to protect the psyche from worldly evil directly leads both the viewers and those experiencing violence to obfuscate events because they simply cannot handle it. The distortion of reality to fit the narrative of hope attempts to make oppression palatable, and Atwood uses the idea of Offred’s happy ending to critique society’s need for mental security as a result of the Death Drive. The use of the fairy tale motif repeatedly makes this point, but the ending teases the reader into unconsciously adopting Offred’s cruelly optimistic worldview, making it doubly effective at ironically deconstructing the archetypes that frame the novel. 
     People tend to think of themselves as impervious to the errors of the past, but that intrinsically makes humanity more vulnerable to repeating them. Atwood’s use of fairytale elements mocks society’s tendency to create an exceptionalist narrative and forces readers to confront their implicit defense mechanisms. Atwood accentuates how hero dynamics are diametrically opposed to how the world actually functions, and wills for the world to reconstruct their belief systems. The Handmaid’s Tale brilliantly infuses fairy tale and archetypal elements to ridicule the concept of a Hero and force the readers to renounce their affective investments in happy endings in order to confront reality in its entirety.

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       Psychoanalysis. University of Nebraska Press, 2013. 
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. Thorndike Press, 2020.