Presentation of Marlene, Top Girls in Comparison to the...

The main themes in both Top Girls and The Handmaid’s Tale are feminism, politics and women’s role in society. Top Girls is based on social realism and political drama. Churchill once said â€Å"Playwrights don’t give answers, they ask questions†.[1] It could be said that Churchill is asking the audience to acknowledge how much a woman has to sacrifice in order to succeed in the stereotypically male dominant workplace. However, it could also be said that she could be asking the audience to acknowledge how career power is perceived as a male trait and therefore successful career women have to adopt male attitudes. The Handmaid’s Tale, however, is a dystopian novel. Ostensibly it is a critique of a patriarchal society or it could also be said to†¦show more content†¦Serena Joy’s character in ‘The Handmaids Tale’ is also a very strong woman and fights for what she believes in – being an anti-feminist – and uses her success to persuade others to believe in what she believes in. However, where Marlene’s character and her feminist views believe women do not need men and their place in society should be equal to men, Serena’s character’s anti feminist views encourage her to encourage others to return into a patriarchal society where a woman’s place is in the home caring for the children, completing household chores and tending to the husbands needs and maintains that the woman’s role is to say in the house. Marlene and Serena Joy are both often seen to be victims of their own success. By this it is meant that they sacrificed certain aspects of their lives in order to achieve in another. For Marlene, this meant her sacrificing her family and intimate relationships. The audience may be shocked that Marlene could be ruthless enough to give up the child she carried and brought into the world, because Churchill does not allow Marlene to demonstrate sentimentality in respect of Angie. Motherhood seems to be a commodity and it is not until near the end of the play in a conversation with her sister, it almost seems that Marlene regrets putting her child into her sister’s care. This is shown when she says, â€Å"you couldn’t have one so you took mine†. This could be interpreted that Marlene resents Joyce for sticking by Angie and