Assignment task:
These phases are also celebrated in Wiccan lore as The Triple Goddess. Access to the knowledge of these phases, particularly tapping into the healing powers of the Crone, often led to the witchcraft accusations that not only plagued Salem, but were also levied against women across Europe, and the early Americas. Such accusations later evolved into diagnoses of hysteria, the first mental disorder attributable to women, first documented as far back as the second millennium BC. Over 4000 years of history, hysteria was considered from two perspectives: scientific and demonological. It was cured with herbs, sex or sexual abstinence, punished and purified with fire for its association with sorcery and finally, clinically studied as a disease, that led to the social exile, hospitalization, and marginalization of women into the 19th century.
I. As you read Chapters 11-27, pgs. 59-170, be mindful of the ways in which Offred embodies the Three Phases of Womanhood. In what ways do you see this character tapping into the power and creativity of the Maiden? Are these moments of power tainted by the Grien imagery of oblivious, self-involved action in which death is imminent. Please cite examples from the text:
II. The Dominant powers of Gilead have recreated their own phases of Womanhood. What are they and in what ways do they fulfill or act counter to the traditional phases? Within which phase would the "Unwomen" fit?