The Handmaid's Tale: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Handmaid's Tale: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex dynamics of key figures within Margaret Atwood's dystopian narrative set in the Republic of Gilead. Central to the story is Offred, a Handmaid who is stripped of her identity, existing solely as a vessel for reproduction. Her life of confinement and the absence of personal freedom starkly contrasts with her past as a mother and wife. The Commander, Fred, is a high-ranking official who paradoxically seeks companionship from Offred, revealing his personal discontent within Gilead’s rigid societal structure. Serena Joy, the Commander's wife, embodies the emptiness of their marriage, as she can no longer bear children due to environmental degradation, while also encouraging Offred to conceive with Nick, the chauffeur. Other significant characters include Moira, a feminist rebel resisting the oppressive system, and Aunt Lydia, who enforces conformity among Handmaids through indoctrination. The relationships among these characters illustrate themes of power, identity, and resistance, ultimately reflecting on the broader implications of gender and autonomy in a repressive society. This analysis provides insights into their motivations and struggles, inviting readers to explore the narrative's exploration of human rights and personal agency.
The Handmaid's Tale: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Margaret Atwood
First published: 1985
Genre: Novel
Locale: The fictional Gilead
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The late twentieth century
Offred, a Handmaid to Fred, one of the Commanders in the Republic of Gilead. Deprived even of her name, she is known only in reference to her master, as “of Fred.” Having already proven her fertility by giving birth to a daughter before the revolution, this thirty-three-year-old woman functions as a surrogate womb for Serena Joy, the infertile wife of the Commander. Other than her role as substitute womb, Offred has no standing in the community; she is a faceless entity, forced to wear a nunlike habit of red (for fertility), the headpiece of which prevents her from looking anywhere except straight ahead. Offred, like all women in Gilead except the wives of the Commanders, is allowed no recreation other than shopping for the household; thus, she spends many hours alone in her room staring at the walls. No women in Gilead are permitted to learn to read, nor are the Handmaids allowed to form friendships with anyone of either gender. Prior to the revolution, she had been a wife and mother, as well as working to support herself. Eventually, she forms quasi relationships with Nick and the Commander. Her one goal is to escape from Gilead and go north to Canada in search of her husband and child.
The Commander, Fred, one of the leaders of the Republic of Gilead, the husband of Serena Joy, the “owner” of Offred, and the employer of Nick. A conservative man caught up in the strictures of his country's social, political, and moral system, he leads an empty life. Eventually, he turns to Offred for companionship, even though Handmaids should mean nothing to those in power. He plays Scrabble with her and gives her reading material, despite the injunction against women being literate. Eventually, he takes Offred to a club/brothel, where he has her dress like a prostitute. Even though he does not acknowledge it, Gilead's ultraconservative structure has failed him on the most basic, interpersonal levels.
Serena Joy, the Commander's wife and a onetime television evangelist. Like the other Commanders' wives, she cannot bear a healthy child because of the toxic wastes, pollution, and fallout that have contaminated the globe. Serena Joy leads an idle life as a symbol of the Commander's social rank: His power and status allow him to maintain an essentially useless person in relative luxury. Serena Joy is neither the Commander's friend nor his companion; marriage in the Republic of Gilead is a sham. Nor is she really a sexual being; rather, she only symbolically copulates with the Commander. It is the Handmaid, Offred, who receives his sperm and who would bear his child should she conceive. She encourages Offred to have sex with Nick and thus conceive a child.
Ofglen, another Handmaid, a companion of Offred and a member of the underground. She helps Offred to escape.
Moira, a college friend of Offred, a feminist separatist, and now a rebel in Gilead. Refusing to be co-opted by the system, she escaped from the Red Center, where women are trained to be Handmaids. She nearly made it to Canada before being caught and offered a choice: deportation to the Colonies or life as a prostitute. She now works in the brothel where the Commander takes Offred.
Offred's mother, an early feminist who favored the right to abortion. Offred's mother reared her as a single parent and taught her daughter to value herself as a woman. Offred's mother is now a prisoner in one of the Colonies, where women who will not bend to the system in Gilead are sent.
Aunt Lydia, one of the women in charge of training the Handmaids at the Red Center. She is a cross between a mother superior and a prison warden; it is her responsibility to teach women how to behave. She and the other Aunts essentially brainwash Handmaids into accepting their role as captive possessions by telling them that, if they willingly sacrifice their wombs, future generations of women will be free.
Nick, the Commander's chauffeur and, later, Offred's paid lover. He is an uncultured member of the working class whom, unbeknown to her husband, Serena Joy pays to have sex with Offred so she will conceive a child that Serena Joy and the Commander can claim as their own.
Luke, Offred's husband before the revolution that brought the Republic of Gilead into existence. Offred believes that he and her daughter managed to escape to Canada, where they are alive and well. Despite Offred's eventual escape from Gilead, her reunion with them is never confirmed in the novel.