Explore the evolution of power and control and the representation of power in The Handmaid's Tale.

As the novel opens, the Republic of Gilead is in full control, and we quickly realize the power of the state is based on a willingness to engage in extreme violence.
Compliance among the handmaids is ensured through the constant threat of bodily harm should they deviate in any way from their prescribed roles. Offred sees the dead bodies of traitors, homosexuals, and other "deviants" hanging from walls on a daily basis as she walks to and from the market to do her required shopping. While in training, the handmaids are subjected to cattle prods if they disobey. Once placed in a home, the handmaids have a vested interest in becoming pregnant, because if they fail to do so, they will be sent to the colonies to clean up radioactive waste, which is a death sentence.
Offred is deprived of any information about the wider world around her. She has no access to newspapers and other media and is, in fact, forbidden to read. She only knows what goes on in her very narrow world and has no context beyond that from which to act.
We learn that this state of affairs came around in what could be called "gradual lurches" in which males, even liberal males, were complicit. For instance, one day all wives found their bank accounts had been put in their husbands' names. Men didn't mind having this power over their spouses. Later, wives were fired from their jobs and became dependent on their husbands for support. Slowly the noose tightened until the rare women who were able to have children were forced into sex slavery with upper caste men.

The plot of the novel begins when the Republic of Gilead has already been established. June (Offred) is being held in a gymnasium with other women before she is sent to the Commander's home to be a handmaid. Through frequent flashbacks, the reader is given perspective on how the totalitarian rulership came to be. Prior to the Republic of Gilead, societal and political tension increased as birth rates declined. June describes a system of oppression solidified in stages. A right-wing religious group called the Sons of Jacob assassinate the President and Congress. The military suspends the United States Constitution, women's banks accounts are frozen, employed women are fired from their jobs, and women are denied from owning property. The new government deploys the Guardians of the Faithful and for several months after the assassinations, protesters and marchers are suppressed through violent means. The final stage before the new era of handmaids is training childbearing women for their new roles, which involves brainwashing methods and torture.