Lecture Notes: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Setting and Background

• Title: The Handmaid's Tale
• Author: Margaret Atwood
• Setting: Republic of Gilead
  • Theocratic and totalitarian nation
  • Replaced the United States

Main Characters

• Offred
  • A Handmaid in Gilead
  • Real name not provided, named Offred after her Commander
• The Commander
  • An elite figure in Gilead
• Serena Joy
  • The Commander's wife
  • Former gospel singer and advocate for traditional values
• Aunt Lydia
  • Oversees the Handmaids' training
• Luke
  • Offred’s former lover, married man who left his wife for Offred
• Moira
  • Offred’s friend who escapes the Red Center
• Nick
  • A Guardian; potential love interest to Offred

Plot Summary

• Role of Handmaids:

  • Result of low reproductive rates
  • Tasked with bearing children for elite couples
  • Ritualistic relations with the Commander, Serena watches

• Offred’s Past:

  • Raised by a single feminist mother
  • Society prior to Gilead: rampant pornography, prostitution, and violence against women
  • Had an affair with Luke, had a daughter

• Rise of Gilead:

  • Authoritarian theocracy replaces old society
  • Offred and Luke are captured trying to flee to Canada
  • Offred sent to the Red Center to be trained as a Handmaid

• Life in Gilead:

  • Strict routine and surveillance
  • Regular ceremonies and doctor visits
  • Forbidden from reading or independent action

• Resistance and Rebellion:

  • Offglen introduces Offred to Mayday, a revolutionary group
  • Offred’s secret meetings with the Commander
  • Affair with Nick, feeling of personal rebellion

• Climax and Conclusion:

  • Offred’s escapades with the Commander and Nick
  • New Offglen after the original hangs herself
  • Serena confronts Offred about Jezebel’s
  • Black van arrives; Nick tells Offred it’s Mayday
  • Offred’s fate remains uncertain

Epilogue

• Year 2195:
  • Gilead has fallen
  • Professor Pieixoto lectures on Offred’s story
  • Story found on cassette tape, fate remains unknown

Themes

• Totalitarian control
• Women's rights and roles
• Rebellion and resistance

Final Notes

• Importance of Offred’s narrative
• Uncertainty of freedom or capture

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