The Handmaid's Tale - Characters

Characters

• Offred: The protagonist was separated from her husband and daughter after the formation of the Republic of Gilead and is part of the first generation of Gilead's women: those who remember pre-Gilead times. Having proven fertile, she is considered an important commodity and has been placed as a handmaid in the home of the Commander Fred and his wife Serena Joy to bear a child for them (Serena Joy is said to be infertile).

Offred is a slave name which describes her function: she is "of Fred", i.e. she belongs to her Commander, Fred, as a concubine, though in the novel she says herself that she is not a concubine, or a geisha girl, that she is just a tool; a "two legged womb". It is implied that her birth name is June. The women in training to be handmaids whisper names across their beds at night. The names are "Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. June", and all are later accounted for except June. In addition, one of the Aunts tells Offred to stop "mooning and June-ing". Miner suggests that "June" is a pseudonym, as "Mayday" is the name of the Gilead resistance, and it could be an attempt on the protagonist's part to invent a name; the Nunavit conference that takes place in the epilogue is held in June.

The only physical description of Offred presented in the novel is one she gives of herself. Offred describes herself as: "I am thirty-three years old. I have brown hair. I stand five seven without shoes". Notably, this description appears about halfway through the novel, so for a significant portion of the book the reader remains ignorant of her physical appearance.

• The Commander: His background is never officially described, as Offred hasn't a chance to learn of his past, although he does volunteer, in one of their later meetings, that he is a sort of scientist and was previously involved in something like market research. Later, it is hypothesized, but not confirmed, that he might have been one of the architects of the Republic and its laws. His first name is presumably "Fred".

As the story progresses, Offred learns that the Commander is dissatisfied with his marriage and his role in society, but is unwilling to bear the risks of abdicating either. He engages in forbidden intellectual pursuits with her, such as playing Scrabble, and introduces her to a secret club that serves as a brothel for high-ranking officers. Offred learns that the Commander carried on a similar relationship with his previous handmaid and that she killed herself when his wife found out. In the epilogue of the book, two identities are suggested to be the Commander, both instrumental in the establishment of Gilead. However, it is strongly suggested that the Commander was a man named Frederick R. Waterford who met his end in a socio-political purge shortly after Offred was taken away.

• Serena Joy: A former televangelist, she is now a Wife in the fundamentalist theocracy she helped to create. All power and public recognition have been taken away from her by the state, as for all women in Gilead, and her past as a television personality is covered up as much as possible by the regime. Assumed to be sterile (although the possibility is raised that it is the Commander who is actually sterile, as Gileadean theocratic laws dictate that sterility is solely the fault of women), she bears and resents the indignity of having a Handmaid and being present every month during a fertility ritual wherein the Commander has intercourse with the Handmaid while both are lying atop the Wife. She strikes a deal with Offred to arrange for her to have sex with Nick in order to become pregnant. According to Professor Pieixota, in the epilogue, Serena Joy or Pam are pseudonyms for the character's actual name. It is implied that she was actually named Thelma.
• Ofglen: A neighbour of Offred's and a fellow Handmaid, she is partnered with Offred to do the shopping for the household each day, so that the Handmaids are never alone and can police each other's behaviour. Ofglen is a member of the Mayday resistance, a secret organization that is rebelling against Gilead. In contrast to the relatively passive Offred, Ofglen is very daring, even leaping forward to knock out a spy for the Mayday resistance who is to be tortured and killed in a "particicution" (a portmanteau of "participation" and "execution") in order to save him the pain of a violent death. Ofglen later commits suicide before the government comes to take her away for being part of the resistance.

She is later replaced as Offred's shopping partner by another handmaid, also named Ofglen, who does not seem to share the original Ofglen's feelings about Gilead, and warns Offred against retaining any similar sentiments.

• Nick: The Commander's chauffeur who lives above the garage. On Serena Joy's suggestion and arrangement, Offred starts a sexual relationship with him to try to increase her chances of getting pregnant and saving herself from being shipped to the ecological and nuclear wastelands of the Colonies. Offred subsequently starts to develop feelings for him, even going so far as to trust him with information about her pre-Gilead life. Nick is an ambiguous character, and Offred does not know if he is a party loyalist or a member of the resistance. Near the end of the story and her time in the Commander's household, Nick urges Offred to go with the secret police despite Offred's uncertainty at whether this move will result in her escape or imprisonment. It is suggested in the epilogue that Nick was indeed a member of the Mayday resistance and that because of him, Offred was able to successfully escape the Commander's house.
• Moira: a close friend of Offred's since college, hinted in the book to be either Harvard University or Radcliffe College. An important aspect of Moira is her homosexuality and resistance to the new homophobia that rules society. Moira is taken to be a Handmaid shortly after Offred, but both women arrive at the indoctrination center (officially called the Rachel and Leah Center, informally referred to by the Handmaids as the Red Center) at the same time. While at the center, Moira manages to escape by stealing an Aunt's pass and clothes and leaving the Center wearing them. Offred then loses track of her for several years but encounters her working as a prostitute in a party-run brothel. Moira had been caught and offered the choice between being sent to the Colonies or prostitution; she chose prostitution. In Offred's flashbacks she is shown to be brazen and outspoken, but in the encounter at the brothel she is indifferent and resigned. Moira represents how the totalitarian state can destroy the hearts and characters of the most independent spirits. Moira, once strong and courageous, is now complacent and crushed.
• Luke: Luke was Offred's husband prior to the formation of the Republic. He had divorced his first wife to marry Offred, and since all divorces have been retroactively nullified by the Gilead government, Offred is considered to be an adulteress and her daughter a bastard. On that pretext, Offred is forced to become a Handmaid and her daughter is given to a family who is faithful to the party. Luke, the narrator, and their daughter try to escape to Canada, but are captured. Offred knows nothing about what happened to Luke and alternatively resigns herself to his death and searches for him among the men in Gilead.
• Professor Pieixoto: The "co-discoverer of Offred's tapes" and "keynote speaker at the Twelfth Symposium of the Gileadean Research Association", where he "speaks about the 'Problems of Authentication in Reference to The Handmaid's Tale'." While speaking at the symposium, he makes two jokes about Gilead women, treating their plight with a certain degree of humor.