How far do you agree with the view ‘that women do not possess innate maternal desires’? Compare and contrast the presentation of motherhood in Top Girls with Atwood’s presentation of motherhood in The Handmaid’s Tale

It could be argued that women possess innate maternal desires, however some would argue that women are socialised by their environment to be maternal. Churchill’s feminist play ‘Top Girls’ explores the idea of natural maternal instincts through characters such as Joyce and historical figures Lady Nijo and Patient Griselda. ‘Top Girls’ is set during Thatcher’s government and explores the role of motherhood, with an all female cast Churchill uses theatre of alienation and characterisation to constantly keep the audience aware that the play is not realistic, this technique is done purposely so the audience focus less on the plot and more on the political and social issues. Similar to the play, feminist author Atwood explores ideas of motherhood and how women treat each other within society through her cautionary tale; The Handmaid’s Tale, the fictive autobiographic novel presents characters such as Offred, Ofwarren and Serena Joy who all share problems with maternal identity.

Most of the women presented in the texts have a desire to be a mother yet the societies they live within prevent them from successfully realising this desire. Top Girls is set in 1979 at the end of the decade and the beginning of Thatcher’s tenure. Marlene is representative of all of Thatcher’s values of individualism and competition to the point that in the BBC 1991 adaptation the director even had her wearing blue the symbol of conservatism. But it is upholding these values that creates problems for Marlene. For Marlene to be successful she has to give up her child or be ‘stuck’ like Joyce and yet she does not seem to be happy with this decision. She uses the verbs ‘took’, ‘take’ and ‘taken’ to describe Joyce bringing up Angie but through the language implies that Joyce has taken Angie against her will when this is clearly not the case. Had Joyce not brought up Angie Marlene clearly acknowledges her only option would have been to ‘marry a dairyman’. It is also after discussing Angie that Marlene breaks down and cries which comes as a complete contrast to her unemotional, professional demeanour in earlier acts. This may suggest that though she tries to detach herself from her feelings towards Angie, she is emotionally scarred by the separation. Therefore, her innate maternal desires have been stifled by the society she lives in. Similarly, in The Handmaid’s Tale, Serena Joy also abandoned her chance to be a mother for power and success. Through the flashback technique Atwood reveals Serena to have been a famous singer for a gospel TV programme before moving on to ‘making speeches’ about the ‘sanctity of the home’. The speeches ensured she was ‘worthy of a profile’ at odds with the ideals she was preaching but this ‘failure of hers’ was ‘a sacrifice she was making for the good of all’. Here Atwood’s ironic language reveals that perhaps Serena Joy had no real maternal desires as her ‘failure’ is not really a failure at all but an opportunity to be rich, famous and powerful. Therefore, like Marlene, Serena Joy has given up her chance of motherhood but it could be suggested that she didn’t have the maternal desire to begin with. This creates another layer of irony when we see Atwood’s presentation of Serena in Gilead as a woman whose whole life revolves around the prospect of her handmaid conceiving. In both ‘Top Girls’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ it is the society that determines women’s attitudes towards motherhood. In a free society with choice most women would opt to be mothers but where there have to be sacrifices some women are prepared to forego their maternal desires.

In the feminist texts both explore what it is to be a mother, both explore society’s idea of a ‘perfect’ mother and how a mother should act. However, neither actually presents a perfect mother. In Churchill’s Top Girls there is a growing theme of abandonment and neglect. Lady Nijo explains how all of her children either died or were taken away. She ‘never even saw’ her third child, this could be the result of the Emperor taking it away from her however it could be the case that she chose not to see it, if this were to be true then as an audience we should feel no sympathy towards her as it was her own decision. Nijo allowed her children to be taken away without a fight but as she cries the audience feel sympathetic for her as she shows her remorse and regret for her actions. Pope Joan ‘wasn’t used to having a woman’s body’ and abandoned her female identity in order to be successful in a man’s world therefore she lost all of her maternal instincts and desires as she completely disregarded the fact she was pregnant during her reign as Pope and ‘didn’t want to pay attention’ to any kind of female orientated activity. Marlene gave up her baby as a teenager also to risk jeopardising any prospects she had for the future as well as having two abortions as a more mature young woman, this selfish act of hers left her riddled with guilt as we see in Act 3 these actions of abandonment are examples of bourgeois feminism, the woman give away their children for the idea of ‘having it all’. Churchill presents Dull Gret as an ideal mother, she had ten children and as they were taken away and killed she wants nothing but to fight ‘id had enough, I was mad’. However, Dull Gret is a fictional character from a Dutch painting. Churchill’s motive for this may be to prove that there is no such thing as a perfect mother, yet women do possess innate maternal desires. In comparison to The Handmaid’s Tale Atwood describes Offred’s sensual flashback of a bath with her baby daughter highlights this through the language. Whilst the beauty of the moment is evident through ‘the smell of soap’ and how Offred imagines breathing ‘her in, baby powder and child’s washed flesh’ the description is also completed with ‘a faint scent of urine’. This emotional flash back reflects Offred’s broken relationship with her daughter. It could be argued that the juxtaposition of smells is what creates a realistic picture of motherhood; readers would be able relate to this sentimental image of a 20th century mother and her child and so the characters become very realistic. Realism in the novel is important for the reader as it is a cautionary tale, the dystopia in the novel could easily become reality.

Both writers suggest women need to be free to be mothers as well as have a successful career. Motherhood cannot just be a sacrifice or there will be problems within societies. For example, the non linear structure of the play ‘Top Girls’ displays how women suppress one another emotionally in order to seem more powerful. Act two displays this as Angie visits Marlene at her work place; Marlene and her colleagues discuss Angie ‘bit thick’ ‘bit funny’ because she is clearly different to the strong powerful women who work for the agency. Although Marlene is Angie’s biological mother she shows no hesitation to belittle her and put her down as a ‘packer in Tesco’. However we see in Act Three, set a year earlier, that Marlene regrets her choice of giving away Angie, Her sacrifice causes her to be bitter and condescending now that she has a successful job considered to be ‘a mans job’. Marlene is not the only character to have a consequential sacrifice behind her, we see that Joyce has also made huge sacrifices for Angie such as; her own child, a career and quite possibly her marriage. Joyce blames the stress of looking after Angie for the miscarriage of her own child at six months; she shows resentment towards Marlene ‘your fucking baby’ and suggests she left her with a burden. Joyce’s sacrifice for a life and a career are also apparent as she agrees with Marlene that the ‘80’s will be stupendous’ just for Marlene and not for herself ‘oh for you. Yes’. Joyce doesn’t have a career herself; she works ‘four different cleaning jobs’ and ‘it adds up’ as well as looking after a child. However Joyce does not show any kind of desire to be successful like Marlene, she hates Marlene for moving away and leaving the baby with her, perhaps it is jealousy that Joyce feels for having a successful sibling. In The Handmaid’s Tale there is clear evidence of the suppression of women as the Commander’s Wives control their Handmaid’s and prevent them from raising their potential child, when the Handmaid’s give birth the baby is torn from them and ‘placed ceremoniously’ to the Commander’s Wives to be raised as theirs. Evidence in the Historical notes chapter in the novel proves that this religious fundamentalist society failed, some women can not care or love for another woman’s child and therefore suggests that not every woman possesses innate maternal desires. Ofwarren, a Handmaid, gave birth and the child was given to the Commander’s wife; but later on there is mention that she could not connect with the baby and felt nothing for it. So it was declared an ‘Unbaby’. The moral issues within the novel caused the society to fail.

In conclusion, I believe that both Churchill’s and Atwood’s intentions are to show that women do possess innate maternal desires. Evidence in the Handmaid’s Tale proves this; Offred’s longing for her child that has been taken away from her is the biggest example of this throughout the novel, as a reader you are constantly reminded of her daughter and the feeling that Offred’s relationship with her daughter is shattered. Serena Joy shows elements of maternal desires through her knitting, the scarves she knits, unpicks and re-knits is an example of her yearning for something outside of herself to take care of on the contrary it could be argued that this is a demonstration of Serena’s frustration, the vicious circle she is trapped in is her punishment for contributing to Gilead and the knitting is a reflection of the many Handmaid’s that come and go through the household. Marlene and Joyce’s quarrel over Angie in Act three is a clear demonstration of Maternal Desires, they more or less fight over Angie which to me, shows expression of true maternal desire and therefore proves that women do possess innate maternal desires.