Handmaid's tale

What can we learn, from the title, dedications and the three quotations which form the epigragh, about Atwood's purposes in writing the novel?

Consider implications of the word handmaid and other Tales in literature;

•Perry Miller was Atwood's American Studies Professor at Harvard and an expert on Puritan history.

•Mary Webster, one of Atwood's Purtan ancestors, was hanged for a witch at Connecticut in 1683, but survived the hanging and was allowes to go free;

•read Swift's A Modest Proposal (satire- he proposes people eat their own children to survive in tough times);

•Read Genesis 30