The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. The protagonist, a woman named Offred, occupies the role of a "handmaid": women who are forcibly assigned to bear children for high status men.

The novel explores themes of powerless women in a patriarchal society, loss of female agency and individuality, suppression of reproductive rights, and the various means by which women resist and try to gain individuality and independence. The title echoes the component parts of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, which is a series of connected stories (such as "The Merchant's Tale" and "The Parson's Tale"). The book has been adapted into a 1990 film, a 2000 opera, a 2017 television series, and other media. A sequel novel, The Testaments, was published in 2019.

Plot summary

After staging an attack killing the President of the United States and most of United States Congress, a radical political group called the "Sons of Jacob" uses theonomic ideology to launch a revolution.

Composition background

Fitting with her statements that The Handmaid's Tale is a work of speculative fiction, not science fiction, Atwood's novel offers a satirical view of various social, political, and religious trends of early Puritanism in the United States. Atwood notes that "[n]ations never build apparently radical forms of government on foundations that aren't there already," and further describes the novel's setting as a potential cover story for how someone might seize power in the United States. Such a situation, argues Atwood, would "need only the opportunity of a period of social chaos to reassert itself."

Atwood argues that all of the scenarios offered in The Handmaid's Tale have actually occurred in real life—in an interview she gave regarding her later novel Oryx and Crake, Atwood maintains that "As with The Handmaid's Tale, I didn't put in anything that we haven't already done, we're not already doing, we're seriously trying to do, coupled with trends that are already in progress... So all of those things are real, and therefore the amount of pure invention is close to nil."

Atwood dedicated the novel to her own ancestor Mary Webster, who was accused of witchcraft in Puritan New England but survived her hanging. as in Gilead. The copyright page of the novel contains the line "The author would like to thank the D.A.A.D in West Berlin and the English department at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, for providing time and space." Atwood has said that the first person to read the manuscript was her friend and fellow novelist Valerie Martin, who was also teaching at Alabama. Atwood's memory is that Martin offered some mild praise along the lines of "I think you've got something here," while Martin remembers her immediate reaction was more like, "you're about to be rich!"

Characters

Offred

Offred is the protagonist and narrator who takes the readers through life in Gilead. She was labelled a "wanton woman" when Gilead was established because she had married a man who was divorced. All divorces were nullified by the new government, meaning her husband was now considered still married to his first wife, making Offred an adulteress. In trying to escape Gilead, she was separated from her husband and daughter. Readers are able to see Offred's resistance to the Republic of Gilead on the inside through her thoughts.

Sometimes Offred has thoughts most readers would disagree with, such as the Ceremony not being rape because she agreed to be a Handmaid, despite the implication that she had no real choice (the alternative may have been execution, or hard labour cleaning nuclear waste). This may be a belief she has adapted to lessen her mental strain, or may be due to brainwashing during her Handmaid training.

Offred is a slave name that describes her function: she is "of Fred" (i.e., she belongs to Fred – presumed to be the name of the Commander – and is considered a concubine). In the novel, Offred says that she is not a concubine, but a tool; a "two-legged womb". The Handmaids' names say nothing about who the women really are; their only identity is as the Commander's property. "Offred" is also a pun on the word "offered", as in "offered as a sacrifice", and "of red" because of the red dress assigned for the Handmaids in Gilead. Atwood wrote that it was not her original intention to identify Offred with June, "but it fits, so readers are welcome to it if they wish". while the 2017 television series names her June outright.

Academic Madonne Miner suggests that "June" is a pseudonym. As "Mayday" is the name of the Gilead resistance, June could be an invention by the protagonist. The Nunavut conference covered in the epilogue takes place in June.

Commander

The Commander says that he was a scientist and was previously involved in something similar to market research before Gilead's inception. Later, it is hypothesized, but not confirmed, that he might have been one of the architects of the Republic and its laws. Presumably, his first name is "Fred", though that, too, may be a pseudonym. He engages in forbidden intellectual pursuits with Offred, such as playing Scrabble, and introduces her to a secret club that serves as a brothel for high-ranking officers.

He shows his softer side to Offred during their covert meetings and confesses to being "misunderstood" by his wife. Offred learns that the Commander carried on a similar relationship with his previous Handmaid, who later killed herself when his wife found out.

In the epilogue, Professor Pieixoto speculates that one of two figures, both instrumental in the establishment of Gilead, may have been the Commander, based on the name "Fred". It is his belief that the Commander was a man named Frederick R. Waterford who was killed in a purge shortly after Offred was taken away, charged with harbouring an enemy agent.

Serena Joy

Serena Joy is a former televangelist and the Commander's Wife in the fundamentalist theonomy. "Serena Joy," also referred to as "Pam," are likely pseudonyms. The name "Serena Joy" is a joke on the part of Offred. In the Historical Context portion of the novel, Professor Pieixoto speculates that Serena Joy's real name is Thelma. Serena Joy spends her free time gardening and knitting, as those are two of the limited activities allowed to the Wives, who are sequestered to the home and domestic sphere. Offred identifies Serena Joy by recalling seeing her on TV when she was a little girl early on Saturday mornings while waiting for the cartoons to air. Serena Joy was an advocate for Gilead and traditional values in pre-Gilead society. The state took away her power and public recognition. In Gilead, she must leave behind her past as a television figure and act in the position of a commander's wife.

Categorized by Gilead as sterile, she is forced to accept that she has use of a Handmaid. She resents having to take part in "The Ceremony", a monthly ritual where the "owner" Commander attempts to impregnate the enslaved Handmaid while she is ovulating. Serena Joy arranges for Offred to have sex with Nick in order to become pregnant, hinting that she suspects it is the Commander who is sterile, although the possibility of male sterility is not recognized by the state. According to Professor Pieixoto in the epilogue, "Serena Joy" or "Pam" are pseudonyms; the character's real name is implied to be Thelma, Fred Waterford's wife, who "once worked as a television personality of the type described" (Atwood, "The Handmaid's Tale," 309).

Ofglen

Ofglen is a neighbor partnered with Offred to do the daily shopping; Handmaids are never alone and are expected to police each other's behaviour. Ofglen is a secret member of the Mayday resistance. In contrast to Offred, she is daring. She knocks out a Mayday spy who is to be tortured and killed in order to save him the pain of a violent death. Offred is told that when Ofglen vanishes, it is because she has committed suicide before the government can take her into custody due to her membership in the resistance, possibly to avoid giving away any information.

A new Handmaid takes Ofglen's place and threatens Offred against any thought of resistance. However, she breaks protocol by telling her what happened to the previous Ofglen.

Nick

Nick is the Commander's chauffeur, who lives above the garage. Right from the start, Nick comes across as a daring character as he smokes and tries to engage with Offred, both forbidden activities. By Serena Joy's arrangement, he and Offred start a sexual relationship to increase her chance of getting pregnant. If she were unable to bear the Commander a child, she would be declared sterile and shipped to the ecological wastelands of the Colonies. Offred begins to develop feelings for him. Nick is an ambiguous character, and Offred does not know if he is a party loyalist or part of the resistance, though he identifies himself as the latter. The epilogue suggests that he really was part of the resistance, and aided Offred in escaping the Commander's house.

Moira

Moira has been a close friend of Offred's since college. In the novel, their relationship represents a female friendship that the Republic of Gilead tries to block. A lesbian, she has resisted the homophobia of Gileadean society. Moira is taken to be a Handmaid soon after Offred. She finds the life of a Handmaid unbearably oppressive and risks engaging with the guards just to defy the system. She escapes by stealing an Aunt's pass and clothes, but Offred later finds her working as a sex slave in a party-run brothel. She was caught and chose the brothel rather than to be sent to the Colonies. Moira exemplifies defiance against Gilead by rejecting every value that is forced onto the citizens.

Luke

Luke was Offred's husband before the formation of Gilead. He was married when he first started a relationship with Offred and divorced his first wife to marry her. Under Gilead, all divorces were retroactively nullified, resulting in Offred being considered an adulteress and their daughter illegitimate. Offred was forced to become a Handmaid and her daughter was given to a loyalist family. Since their attempt to escape to Canada, Offred has heard nothing of Luke. She wavers between believing him dead or imprisoned.

Professor Pieixoto

Pieixoto is the "co-discoverer [with Professor Knotly Wade] of Offred's tapes". In his presentation at an academic conference set in 2195, he talks about "the 'Problems of Authentication in Reference to The Handmaid's Tale. with a fundamentalist theonomy ruling the territory of what had been the United States but is now the Republic of Gilead. The fertility rates in Gilead have diminished due to environmental toxicity and fertile women are a valuable commodity owned and enslaved by the powerful elite. Individuals are segregated by categories and dressed according to their social functions. Complex dress codes play a key role in imposing social control within the new society and serve to distinguish people by sex, occupation, and caste.

The action takes place in what once was the Harvard Square neighbourhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Atwood studied at Radcliffe College, located in this area. As a researcher, Atwood spent a lot of time in the Widener Library at Harvard which in the novel serves as a setting for the headquarters of the Gilead Secret Service.

Religion

Bruce Miller, the creator and executive producer of The Handmaid's Tale television serial, declared with regard to Atwood's book, as well as his series, that Gilead is "a society that's based kind of in a perverse misreading of Old Testament laws and codes". Both Atwood and Miller stated that the people running Gilead are "not genuinely Christian". Margaret Atwood, writing on this, says that "Offred herself has a private version of the Lord's Prayer and refuses to believe that this regime has been mandated by a just and merciful God."

Christian churches that do not support the actions of the Sons of Jacob are systematically demolished, and the people living in Gilead are never seen attending church. Christian denominations, including Quakers, Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Roman Catholics, are specifically named as enemies of the Sons of Jacob. When a Commander dies, his Wife becomes a Widow and must dress in black until/unless she remarries.

"Daughter" applies to the natural or adopted children of the ruling class. They wear white until marriage, which is arranged by the government. The narrator's daughter may have been adopted by an infertile Wife and Commander, and she is shown in a photograph wearing a long white dress.

Handmaids

thumb|The [[bonnet (headgear)|bonnets that handmaids wear are modelled on Old Dutch Cleanser's faceless mascot, which Atwood in childhood found frightening. Atwood maintains that the Republic of Gilead is only an extrapolation of trends already seen in the United States at the time of her writing, a view supported by other scholars studying The Handmaid's Tale. Many have placed The Handmaid's Tale in the same category of dystopian fiction as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World, a categorization that Atwood has accepted and reiterated in many articles and interviews.

Even today, many reviewers hold that Atwood's novel remains as foreboding and powerful as ever, largely because of its basis in historical fact. Yet when her book was first published in 1985, not all reviewers were convinced of the "cautionary tale" Atwood presented. For example, Mary McCarthy's 1986 New York Times review argued that The Handmaid's Tale lacked the "surprised recognition" necessary for readers to see "our present selves in a distorting mirror, of what we may be turning into if current trends are allowed to continue".

Use and censorship in schools

Atwood's novels, and especially her works of speculative fiction, The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake, are frequently offered as examples for the final, open-ended question on the American Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition exam each year. As such, her books are often assigned in high school classrooms to students taking this Advanced Placement course, despite the mature themes the work presents. Atwood expressed surprise that her books are assigned in schools, largely due to her own censored education in the 1950s; however, she said it has not altered the material she has chosen to write about since.

Censorship in the United States

The American Library Association lists The Handmaid's Tale as number 37 on the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000". In 2019, The Handmaid's Tale is still listed as the seventh most challenged book because of profanity, vulgarity, and sexual overtones. Atwood discussed The Handmaid's Tale as the subject of an ALA discussion series titled "One Book, One Conference".

The book was challenged in 2012 as required reading for an International Baccalaureate class at one high school in North Carolina and as optional reading for Advanced Placement reading courses at another, because the book is "sexually explicit, violently graphic and morally corrupt". Some parents thought the book is "detrimental to Christian values".

In the same year, two parents in North Carolina protested against the book as required reading and presented the school board with a petition signed by 2300 people, prompting a review by the school's media advisory committee. According to local news reports, one of the parents said "she felt Christian students are bullied in society, in that they're made to feel uncomfortable about their beliefs by non-believers". In 2021 in Goddard, Kansas, "The Goddard school district has removed more than two dozen books from circulation in the district's school libraries, citing national attention and challenges to the books elsewhere."

In 2022, Atwood announced that, in a joint project undertaken with Penguin Random House, a unique "unburnable" copy of the book would be produced as a demonstration against censorship. The copy sold for $130,000 at auction in New York.

The book has been banned in school libraries in Florida, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas,

In March 2026, the state of Utah banned the novel from all public schools. This decision was made after at least three school districts determined it amounted to "objective sensitive material."

Censorship in Canada

In 2009, a parent in Toronto accused the book of being anti-Christian and anti-Islamic because the women are veiled and polygamy is allowed. Rushowy reports that "The Canadian Library Association says there is 'no known instance of a challenge to this novel in Canada', but says the book was called anti-Christian and pornographic by parents after being placed on a reading list for secondary students in Texas in the 1990s."

In 2025, the book was one of over 200 slated for removal from Edmonton Public Schools in response to the Alberta government's request to remove works that contained sexually explicit material. Atwood wrote a satirical short story on social media in response. After public backlash, Alberta premier Danielle Smith announced that the ministerial order would be rewritten.

In higher education

In institutions of higher education, professors have found The Handmaid's Tale to be useful, largely because of its historical and religious basis and Atwood's captivating delivery. The novel's teaching points include: introducing politics and the social sciences to students in a more concrete way; demonstrating the importance of reading to our freedom, both intellectual and political; and acknowledging the "most insidious and violent manifestations of power in Western history" in a compelling manner.

Analysis

Feminist analysis

Much of the discussion about The Handmaid's Tale has centred on its categorization as feminist literature. Atwood does not see the Republic of Gilead as a purely feminist dystopia, as not all men have greater rights than women.

Atwood has argued that while some of the observations that informed the content of The Handmaid's Tale may be feminist, her novel is not meant to say "one thing to one person" or serve as a political message—instead, The Handmaid's Tale is "a study of power, and how it operates and how it deforms or shapes the people who are living within that kind of regime". Atwood goes on to describe her book as not a critique of religion, but a critique of the use of religion as a "front for tyranny". Others have argued that The Handmaid's Tale critiques typical notions of feminism, as Atwood's novel appears to subvert the traditional "women helping women" ideals of the movement and turns toward the possibility of "the matriarchal network ... and a new form of misogyny: women's hatred of women".

Scholars have analyzed and made connections to patriarchal oppression in The Handmaid's Tale and oppression of women today. Aisha Matthews tackles the effects of institutional structures that oppress woman and womanhood and connects those to the themes present in The Handmaid's Tale. She first asserts that structures and social frameworks, such as the patriarchy and societal role of traditional Christian values, are inherently detrimental to the liberation of womanhood. She then makes the connection to the relationship between Offred, Serena Joy, and the Commander, explaining that through this "perversion of traditional marriage, the Biblical story of Rachel, Jacob, and Bilhah is taken too literally". Their relationship and other similar relationships in The Handmaid's Tale mirror the effects of patriarchal standards of womanliness.

Sex and occupation

In the world of The Handmaid's Tale, the sexes are strictly divided. Gilead's society values white women's reproductive commodities over those of other ethnicities. Women are categorized "hierarchically according to class status and reproductive capacity" as well as "metonymically colour-coded according to their function and their labour". The Commander expresses his personal opinion that women are considered inferior to men, as the men are in a position where they have power to control society.

Women are segregated by clothing, as are men. With rare exceptions, men wear military or paramilitary uniforms. All classes of men and women are defined by the colours they wear, drawing on colour symbolism and psychology. All lower-status individuals are regulated by this dress code. All "non-persons" are banished to the "Colonies". Sterile, unmarried women are considered to be non-persons. Both men and women sent there wear grey dresses.

The women, particularly the Handmaids, are stripped of their individual identities as they lack formal names, taking on their assigned Commander's first name in most cases.

Academe

The chapter entitled "Historical Notes" at the end of the novel represents a warning to academics who run the risk of misreading and misunderstanding historical texts, pointing to the satirized Professor Pieixoto as an example of a male scholar who has taken over and overpowered Offred's narrative with his own interpretation.

Philosophical analysis

Many elements of Gilead recall details from Plato's Republic. Gilead's social hierarchy of commanders, guardians, Marthas and handmaids, for example, has similarities to Plato's social hierarchy of philosopher-guardians, auxiliary-guardians and producers. Both societies are also home to a state-based eugenics program, and see gymnasiums used as educational spaces in which women are socialized into new gender roles. The powers that be in Gilead legitimize their rule through the extensive use of propaganda, much as Plato's rulers ensure co-operation on the part of the public by propagating a noble lie.

According to philosopher Andy Lamey, rather than straightforward allusions, the similarities to Plato are combined with features that differ, at times dramatically, from Plato's original. As Lamey writes, "the result is that Atwood's dystopia deliberately calls to mind a distorted version of Platonism, one that differs in ways large and small from the original." In the case of gymnasiums, for example, in Plato they see women socialized into roles that make them the equal of men, while in Gilead they are where handmaids are first taught their duties.

Vernon Provençal has suggested that the novel is a satire of Platonism.

It is implied that a total genocide has been committed against Native Americans living in territories under the rule of Gilead.

Genre classification

The Handmaid's Tale is a feminist dystopian novel, combining the characteristics of dystopian fiction: "a genre that projects an imaginary society that differs from the author's own, first, by being significantly worse in important respects and second by being worse because it attempts to reify some utopian ideal", with the feminist utopian ideal which: "sees men or masculine systems as the major cause of social and political problems (e.g. war), and presents women as not only at least the equals of men but also as the sole arbiters of their reproductive functions".

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction notes that dystopian images are almost invariably images of future society, "pointing fearfully at the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction". Atwood's stated intent was indeed to dramatize potential consequences of current trends.

In 1985, reviewers hailed the book as a "feminist 1984", citing similarities between the totalitarian regimes under which both protagonists live, and "the distinctively modern sense of nightmare come true, the initial paralyzed powerlessness of the victim unable to act". Scholarly studies have expanded on the place of The Handmaid's Tale in the dystopian and feminist traditions.

Hugo-winning science fiction critic David Langford quipped in a column: "The Handmaid's Tale won the very first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. She's been trying to live this down ever since."

Panopticism

Gilead employs a concept known as panopticism to keep its citizens in line. Panopticism is the idea coined by French philosopher Michel Foucault, which essentially states that prisoners who are under constant observation (or the threat of it) will begin to police themselves, thus creating a more docile populace. In Gilead, the term "eye" is used frequently as a subconscious reminder that everything they do is being observed at all times. Tanisha Singh points out on this topic: <blockquote>Atwood describes eyes in various ways throughout the novel, including the act of combining God and religion to surveillance. The terror of the 'eye' is propagated in the form of a greeting. For example: "Under His Eye," she says. The right farewell."</blockquote>The word "eye" is used in Gilead as a reference to the religion they follow, as well as a reminder of the fact that anyone of them could report the other for breaking the law at any time. This practice of self-policing makes Gilead a textbook example of the Panopticon.

Awards

1985 – Governor General's Award for English-language fiction (winner)
1986 – Booker Prize (nominated)
1986 – Nebula Award (nominated)
1986 – Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (winner)
1987 – Arthur C. Clarke Award (winner)
1987 – Prometheus Award (nominated)
1987 – Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book (winner of the Canada and the Caribbean region)

In other media

Audio

An audiobook of the unabridged text, read by Claire Danes (), won the 2013 Audie Award for fiction.
In 2014, Canadian band Lakes of Canada released their album Transgressions, which is intended to be a concept album inspired by The Handmaid's Tale.
On his album Shady Lights from 2017, Snax references the novel and film adaption, specifically the character of Serena Joy, in the song "Make Me Disappear". The first verse reads, "You can call me Serena Joy. Drink in hand, in front of the TV, I'm teary-eyed, adjusting my CC."
A full cast audiobook entitled The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition was released in 2017, read by Claire Danes, Margaret Atwood, Tim Gerard Reynolds, and others.
An audiobook of the unabridged text, read by Betty Harris, was released in 2019 by Recorded Books, Inc.

Film

The 1990 film The Handmaid's Tale was based on a screenplay by Harold Pinter and directed by Volker Schlöndorff. It stars Natasha Richardson as Offred, Faye Dunaway as Serena Joy, and Robert Duvall as the Commander (Fred).

Radio

A dramatic adaptation of the novel for radio was produced for BBC Radio 4 by John Dryden in 2000.
In 2002, CBC Radio commissioned Michael O'Brien to adapt Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale for radio.

Theatre

A stage adaptation written and directed by Bruce Shapiro played at Tufts University in 1989.
An operatic adaptation, The Handmaid's Tale, by Poul Ruders, premiered in Copenhagen on 6 March 2000, and was performed by the English National Opera, in London, in 2003. It was the opening production of the 2004–2005 season of the Canadian Opera Company. Boston Lyric Opera mounted a production in May 2019.
A stage adaptation of the novel, by Brendon Burns, for the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke, England, toured the UK in 2002.
A ballet adaptation choreographed by Lila York and produced by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet premiered on 16 October 2013. Amanda Green appeared as Offred and Alexander Gamayunov as the Commander.
A one-woman stage show, adapted from the novel, by Joseph Stollenwerk premiered in the U.S. in January 2015.

Television

MGM Television has produced a television series based on the novel for Hulu, starring Elisabeth Moss as Offred. The first three episodes were released on 26 April 2017, with subsequent episodes following on a weekly basis. Margaret Atwood served as consulting producer. The series won eight Primetime Emmy Awards in 2017, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Moss). The series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on 25 April 2018, and in May 2018, Hulu announced renewal for a third season. The third season premiered on 5 June 2019. Hulu announced season 4, consisting of 10 episodes, with production set to start in March 2020. This was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Season 4 premiered on 28 April 2021; season 5, on September 14, 2022. Season 6 was to premiere at the end of 2023, but production was delayed due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and eventually premiered on April 28, 2025.

Comics

On March 26, 2019, The Handmaid's Tale was adapted into an authorized graphic novel illustrated by Canadian artist Renée Nault, and published by Doubleday.

Sequel

In November 2018, Atwood announced the sequel, titled The Testaments, which was published in September 2019. The novel is set fifteen years after Offred's final scene, with the testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.

Notes

Citations

Sources

Parenthetical page references are to the 1998 ed. Digitized 2 June 2008 by Google Books (311 pp.) (2005), La Servante écarlate [The Handmaid's Tale] (in French), Rué, Sylviane transl, Paris: J'ai Lu, .

External links

The Handmaid's Tale ballet at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet