Adaptations of Atwood’s Archives: A Look Into “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Alias Grace”
Phoenix Breese
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is undoubtedly her most famous work. In 2017, Hulu released a television adaptation of the show. Its success led to Atwood’s development of a sequel, The Testaments, and a subsequent 4 seasons after its initial run. A less well known work of Atwood’s is Alias Grace, a story based on Grace Marks, a 19th century Irish Canadian woman convicted to life in prison for the murder of her employers. Four months after the release of the television adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, Netflix released their own adaptation of Alias Grace as a limited series. Although overshadowed by the sensation of The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace, both television show and novel, is a beautifully constructed story which uncovers deep tensions in the life of women which can still be found in the 21st century.
Having read both The Handmaid’s Tale and Alias Grace, it is clear that Atwood had different intentions in mind for these two novels. However, both novels highlight the plight of women in patriarchal societies; how society has ultimately let not only the female protagonists down, but all women down. With The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood distributes a warning of a nearby and, scarily, likely future while, with Alias Grace, Atwood tells the story of a distant past. Yet, both have such a significant impact on our present society.
Both novels are written as archives of information. The Handmaid’s Tale ends with an epilogue that reveals the story we read, Offred’s story, is a historical transcript being presented as part of the history of “the Gilead period.” In the same way, Alias Grace is a combination of both Atwood’s fictional account of Grace Marks and the actual historical documents of the real crime and woman, attempting to create a full picture of a woman documented so scarcely in history. With these two novels, Atwood engages with the archive of history, past and future. What do we do with these archives in our present?
For Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, June’s story is presented as though it is currently happening to June, not as if it is a document recording a period as it is in Atwood’s novel. As of the writing of this article, the Hulu original is still an ongoing series. June’s story is ongoing even though in Atwood’s novel, it is clear that Offred’s story has ended. In the story so far, Hulu has removed the archival notions of Atwood’s novel, making the story a call to action rather than a warning of what may come. Although this is not necessarily a bad thing, it does change the feeling one leaves the story with.
It is in Netflix’s adaptation of Alias Grace that we find a loving interpretation of Atwood’s archive. Perhaps it is the nature of Alias Grace that forces this adaptation to be more true to the novel as it is based on a true account of a documented historical event. Although the Netflix adaptation does not include the historical documents that track the real Grace Marks’ murder trial, we still receive a form of archiving in the form of Dr. Jordan’s recording of his interview with Grace.
In both novel and television show, Grace is interviewed by psychologist, Dr. Jordan, in order to ascertain whether or not Grace is fit to be pardoned for her crime. The fictional narrative we receive is the result of this interview. In Atwood’s novel, Grace narrates the entirety of her interview, allowing us to know what she holds back from Dr. Jordan and what she chooses to share with him. In the Netflix adaptation, we follow Dr. Jordan as Grace weaves her tale, causing us to wonder what the true motivations and mindset of Grace Marks really are. Even with this shift in perspective, both versions of Alias Grace maintain a fine line between innocence and guilt when it comes to Grace Marks.
When it comes to Netflix’s Alias Grace, they have kept the intention of Atwood’s novel. The way in which Grace’s story interacts with history is slightly modified but the end goal remains the same. This is the major difference between the television adaptations of Alias Grace and The Handmaid’s Tale’s. In my opinion, The Handmaid’s Tale sensationalizes the world of Gilead. It creates a scenario in which you cannot look away from the horrors that are occurring to Offred and the people in her story. We are given vivid depictions of the horrors of Gilead, something that is only alluded to or tastefully mentioned in Atwood’s novel. Instead of a woman’s story, it becomes a story of a society. In Alias Grace, nothing is sensationalized. Everything that we are told in both novel and television show adds to Grace’s story and Grace’s story alone. Grace is emphasized, not the society in which she lives in which makes me, personally, empathize more with her situation rather than if I knew the state of the entire society with which she lives. Alias Grace serves as a case study of its time and the injustice done to women whose stories did not have the opportunity to be told.
