Religion as a Tool of Control Essay

â€Å"Religion is the moan of the persecuted animal, the core of a wanton world, and the spirit of cruel conditions. It is the opium of the people† (Marx 260). This announcement infers that religion is an influential idea that urges individuals to acknowledge their conditions as opposed to rebelling against their situation. To be sure in an inappropriate hands, it very well may be distorted to legitimize incalculable monstrosities as be utilized as an apparatus of abuse. In her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood depicts a tragic culture, an anecdotal republic called Gilead, whose rulers utilize the intensity of religion to approve their startling individual plan. She mocks the political framework that utilizes confidence to approve its command, and legitimize its progressively faulty laws. Obviously the utilization of religion for political intentions is one of the focal subjects of the novel; Atwood takes a lot of fundamentalist strict convictions followed by certain periphery components in contemporary society and takes them to their sensible end to feature their actual authoritarian nature. In Gilead, legislative issues and religion go connected at the hip. The Sons of Jacob use religion and mental strategies to control the majority and curve them to their will. Therefore the republic utilizes strict phrasings for instance household hirelings are called â€Å"Marthas† alluding to a residential character in the book of scriptures, the fighters are called â€Å"Angels† while the neighborhood police are the â€Å"Guardians of the Faith†. The decision government authorities are known as the â€Å"Commanders of the Faithful†. Indeed, even the names of shopping stores have scriptural references like All Flesh, Milk and Honey, Loaves and Fishes. The motivation behind this broad utilization of scriptural language is to misdirect the individuals of Gilead into accepting that their rulers institute the desire of God Himself. In addition the legislature just receives certain parts of Christianity while it disregards those that it finds badly designed. For instance Aunt Lydia, an instructor to the handmaids, says â€Å"I’ve figured out how to manage without a ton of things, you get excessively joined to this material world and overlook profound qualities. You should develop destitution of soul. Favored are the resigned. † (Atwood 110) now in the novel Offred noticed that Aunt Lydia says nothing regarding acquiring basically everything. In this way the republic utilized strict defense to request resigned conduct from the handmaids. Hence religion is utilized as an incredible political instrument in Gilead. Ladies assume a restricted job in Gilead’s society; scriptural suggestions are utilized to debilitate their status. A Commander makes the accompanying discourse at the women’s prayvaganza. â€Å"Let the lady learn peacefully with all coercion. However, I endure not a lady to instruct, nor usurp authority over the man, yet to be peacefully. For Adam was first framed, at that point Eve. What's more, Adam was not misled, however the lady being beguiled was in the offense. Despite she will be spared by childbearing, in the event that they proceed in confidence and good cause and blessedness with balance. â€Å"(273) Therefore, by drawing an understanding from a solitary scriptural story the job of ladies is constrained to multiplication. In addition, so as to keep the ladies from getting libertarian, common thoughts mass control happens in Gilead. The nation is cut off from the outside world as it doesn't permit worldwide TV to be communicated; Offred takes note of this while viewing the TV â€Å"Serena taps the channel changer. Waves, shaded crisscrosses, a distortion of sound: it is the Montreal Satellite Station being blocked. â€Å"(101) Furthermore all books esteemed shocking by the republic are scorched and ladies are not permitted to peruse by any stretch of the imagination, the holy book is held safely secured with the goal that the Commanders can peruse out just those parts that are recommended by the administration. Offred’s leader peruses out the accompanying section from the book of scriptures upon the arrival of the month to month service â€Å"Give me youngsters, or, more than likely beyond words. Am I in God’s stead, who hath retained from thee the product of the belly? See my servant Bilhah. She will prove to be fruitful upon my knees, that I may likewise have youngsters by her. â€Å"(112) This scriptural story, described in the novel by the Commander, shapes the premise of the idea of a handmaid which is the reason it is given extraordinary noteworthiness in Gilead and it is additionally another of the ancient stories from the good book that are utilized to uphold profoundly sketchy commitments on ladies. In this manner the ladies of Gilead are enslaved by a twisted rendition of Christianity. Religion should liberate man. Be that as it may, The Handmaid’s Tale portrays a general public wherein it is utilized to shackle individuals, to condition them, to drive them to adjust to a way of life allowed by their administration. Margaret Atwood thinks about the individuals living in Gilead’s severe society to rodents caught in a labyrinth, she calls attention to â€Å"A rodent in a labyrinth is allowed to go anyplace as long as it remains in the maze†(363). Truth be told those that revolutionary to the set up standards are managed cruelly; they are rebuffed at a seudo-strict function called the Particicution, where they are lynched to death by a horde of ladies for bogus wrongdoings they didn't submit. With respect to, the protester handmaid, Ofglen comments â€Å"He wasn’t an attacker by any means, he was a political. He was one of our own. â€Å"(350) What this involves is that the general public in the novel is exceptionally despotic and it does n't permit the opportunity of articulation, in truth it utilizes dread to control its residents and instigate their devotion, as Offred notes â€Å"We must look great from a separation: pleasant, similar to Dutch milkmaids on a backdrop frieze. Mitigating to the eye, the eyes, the Eyes, for that’s who this show is for. We’re off to the Prayvaganza to exhibit how dutiful and devout we are. † (266) This features the peoples’ natural suspicion, the dread of being discovered unfaithful, that has been gradually developed into their souls and psyches. Genuinely the foundation debases the genuine soul of religion by conflicting with its very pith: the profound freedom of humankind. The utilization of religion for political designs is one of the focal topics of the novel; Atwood takes a lot of strict convictions followed by certain periphery components in contemporary society and takes them to their legitimate end to feature their actual dictatorial nature. All in all, Margaret Atwood depicts an appalling interchange reality wherein strict fundamentalists command and religion comes to direct every part of human life. The subject of religion conveys a great deal of criticalness in the novel; in reality the novel fills in as a notice against the radical perspectives held by numerous advanced research organizations.