History Characters / TheHandmaidsTale

* From the [[Characters/TheHandmaidsTaleTVShow 2017 Hulu Series.]]

* From the [[Character/TheHandmaidsTaleNovel 1985 Novel.]]
* From the [[Character/TheHandmaidsTaleTVShow 2017 Hulu Series.]]

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[[folder:Offred]]
The main protagonist of the book.
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* AmbiguousEnding: She was taken in a black van at the end of her narrative and nobody knows what happened to her. It's speculated that she made it to Canada, and the 1990 film version shows her pregnant and living alone in a trailer in the middle of nowhere.
* BabyFactory: What she is reduced to in her role as the Handmaid.
* DubNameChange: Called "Defred" in France and Spain, "Difred" in Italy and "Desfred" in Germany.
* HappilyMarried: To her husband Luke before Gilead took over and she was separated from him.
* NoNameGiven: Though it's hinted to be June, Offred isn't given any official name. She also isn't the first to bear that title.
* UnreliableNarrator: Suggested to be one near the end of the book when ''The Handmaid's Tale'' tapes were being examined for historical accuracy.
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[[folder:The Commander]]
Commander Fred Waterford is the head of the household for whom Offred serves as their breeding slave. In the book, Fred Waterford is suggested to be one of the two Freds of Offred's narrative, who may be responsible for "the sons of Jacob" takeover of America.
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* EvilIsSterile: The reason for shooting Congress, shredding the Constitution, and taking women into sexual slavery.
* MeaningfulName: "Frederick"is German for "victorious."
* PetTheDog: His treatment of Offred during the times he isn't performing the Ceremony with her.
* SexlessMarriage: Suggested between himself and his wife Serena due to their inability to have a child. It's also suggested that the Commander may be sterile, though Gileadean doctrine forbids men to be mentioned as sterile and instead puts the blame on the woman.
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[[folder:Serena Joy]]
A former televangelist, she becomes the wife of the Commander due to the new laws of Gilead preventing women from having self-sustaining employable work.
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* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: She wanted a society where women's place was in the home. Now that's been achieved, she's going crazy for lack of anything to do; she's not allowed to read or write and there's nothing to occupy her time besides desperately hoping and preparing for a baby that may never come.
* FemaleMisogynist: Given her treatment of Offred and her religious view of women in general.
* IronicName: Given how she handles her forced retirement as the wife of the Commander. In the academic analysis section in the book's prologue, it's noted this could be a TakeThat toward figures such as Tammy Faye Bakker and Phyllis Schlafly.
* SexlessMarriage: Suggested between herself and her husband due to their inability to have a child.
* StayInTheKitchen: What she believes women were meant to do, besides also being stay-at-home mothers.
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[[folder:Ofglen]]
A fellow Handmaid whom Offred associates with. She's also the second of three women to carry this title.
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* BabyFactory: Same situation as Offred.
* DrivenToSuicide: In the book, she hangs herself when she hears the vans coming for her.
* ReplacementGoldfish: The second Ofglen.
* SparedByAdaptation: In the series, she lives, but suffers AFateWorseThanDeath.
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[[folder:Nick]]
A driver who works for The Commander and Serena Joy.
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* BadassDriver: In addition to driving for the Commander, Nick is also a spy.
* CoolCar: Nick lovingly polishes the Behemoth, while Offred notes that "the way men caress good cars" hasn't changed.
* DoubleAgent: He's working for Gilead as an Eye, and LaResistance .
* FriendsWithBenefits: In the novel, both Offred and Nick promise each other "no strings," but it doesn't work out like that.
* RaceLift: Is played by the multiracial actor Max Minghella in the series.
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[[folder:Janine/Ofwarren]]
A fellow Handmaid whom Offred associates with.
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* BabyFactory: Same situation as Offred.
* EyeScream: In the series, she loses an eye.
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[[folder:Moira]]
A lesbian and friend of Offred that she was neighbors with prior to Gilead.
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* AgonyOfTheFeet: One of Moira's punishments for running away is to have her hands and feet whipped into pulp. In the series [[spoiler: this fate befalls Offred for helping her escape]].
* BlackBestFriend: In the series but not the book, although it's downplayed.
* BrokenPedestal: What she becomes when Offred meets her at Jezebel's.
* BuryYourGays: While Offred is hopeful she escapes Jezebel's, it's more likely Moira doesn't make it, although her story is left open-ended.
* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Moira prefers her life at Jezebel's because alcohol is available and lesbian sex is rather encouraged, whereas in the rest of Gilead, it's a hanging offense.
* RaceLift: Gilead is a white supremacist society in the book, but this element is left out of the television series, where she's played by Creator/SamiraWiley.
* StrawFeminist: In both the book and the series, Moira seems to think men are the problem.
* YouthfulFreckles: While Moira is an adult, her freckles denote her place as a PluckyGirl.
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[[folder: Rita and Cora]]
The Marthas who work as house servants in the Commander's home.
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* HappinessInSlavery: Both women seem fairly content in their role as unpaid housekeepers.
* ThoseTwoGuys: They're rarely apart, and Offred comments how ordinary the objects in their lives (like dish towels) seem, despite the strangeness of Gilead's new, forced culture.
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[[folder: Aunt Lydia]]
The brown-garbed head of the Red Centre. There are several Aunts who train the Handmaids, but Aunt Lydia is one of the worst.
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* DisproportionateRetribution: Gives Offred a black eye and tasers her for quoting the second half of the same Bible verse she just quoted. Has Janine's eye removed when Janine lips off at her. Oh yeah...and delivers the news to Ofglen [[spoiler: that she's been punished with a clitoridectomy]].
* DrillSergeantNasty: She carries a cattle prod, and seems to take delight in torturing her charges.
* PetTheDog: She feels badly that [[spoiler:Serena Joy forces the physically deformed Handmaids away from the party that they were promised, and she offers to bring Janine a tray of desserts when the latter breaks down over it.]]
* PsychoticSmirk: Responds with an absolutely ''chilling'' one to Janine, after the latter sasses her. And then she has the poor thing [[spoiler: carted off to have her eye ripped out]].
* SlutShaming: Does this to both Janine and Offred as part of their "training."
* TookALevelInBadass: The book Lydia was stern, but Ann Dowd's portrayal in the series is ''terrifying''.
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[[folder: Luke]]
The husband of Offred.
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* RaceLift: Is African-American in the series.
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[[folder: Professor James Darcy Pieixoto]]
The director of the 20th and 21st Century Archives at Cambridge University, England, who is part of the symposium of Gileadean Studies.
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[[/folder]]

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: She wanted a society where women's place was in the home. Now that's been achieved, she's going crazy for lack of anything to do; she's not allowed to read or write and there's nothing to occupy her time besides desperately hoping and preparing for a baby that may never come.

These are the characters from the book ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale''.

A fellow Handmaiden whom Offred associates with.

Commander Fred Waterford is the head of the household for whom Offred serves as their breeding slave.