Overview
This lecture provides a detailed character analysis of Serena Joy from The Handmaid’s Tale, focusing on her role in Gilead, her symbolism, relationships, and key moments that reveal her complexity and hypocrisy.
Role and Background in Gilead
- Serena Joy is the Commander’s Wife, having more status than Handmaids but still subordinate to men.
- Formerly a Christian TV singer and advocate for women staying at home, she helped create Gilead but feels trapped as a housewife.
- She is depicted as hypocritical, manipulative, and resentful of her loss of agency.
- While Offred hopes for a maternal bond, Serena Joy is cold and antagonistic.
Symbolism and Thematic Significance
- Serena symbolizes women enforcing patriarchy, exemplifying internalized misogyny.
- Her name is ironic—she is neither serene nor joyful.
- The blue attire links the Wives to the Virgin Mary, symbolizing purity and motherhood.
- Her garden, especially the red tulips, symbolizes fertility and violence—areas she tries to control.
Women as Enforcers of Patriarchy
- Serena Joy is a static but complex figure, representing how oppressed women can oppress others.
- She embodies feminist fears about women promoting anti-feminist values and enforcing societal constraints.
- Atwood uses Serena to criticize women who hinder equality by enforcing traditional roles on others.
Key Characteristics
- Lacks empathy, treating Offred as a rival and tool rather than another victim of Gilead.
- Hypocritical: advocates for traditional values yet resents living by them herself; breaks Gilead’s rules.
- Unlikeable and antagonistic, presented as a key female villain.
Key Moments
- Offred meets Serena Joy (Ch. 3), marking the tense dynamic between them.
- During the Ceremony (Ch. 16), Serena is resentful and punishes Offred.
- Serena arranges for Offred to sleep with Nick to achieve pregnancy (Ch. 31).
- Shows Offred a photo of her daughter to manipulate her (Ch. 35).
- Discovers Offred’s lingerie, accuses her of being a temptress and threatens her (Ch. 45).
Relationships with Other Characters
- With Offred: marked by manipulation, resentment, and rivalry; undermines possible female solidarity.
- With The Commander: lacking affection; Serena resents her subordinate domestic role.
- With Nick: little personal relationship, but she orchestrates his affair with Offred for her own benefit.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Patriarchy — A system where men hold power and women are largely excluded from it.
- Internalized Misogyny — When women adopt values or behaviors that oppress other women.
- Hypocrisy — Claiming moral standards but acting in contradiction to them.
- Symbolism — Using objects (e.g., colours, gardens) to represent larger ideas/concepts.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review and compare Atwood’s and the TV show's depiction of Serena Joy.
- Prepare notes on how Serena Joy’s actions support or undermine feminist analysis of the novel.
- Read Alanna Callaway’s essay for critical perspectives.
- Reflect on key quotes and their significance for Serena Joy's character.