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Wives of Gilead
For Serena Joy Waterford, see the Main Characters page.
In General
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Wives wear petroleum blue/teal outfits.
- Female Misogynist: The Commanders' Wives subscribe to the Stay in the Kitchen mentality of Gilead.
- Gilded Cage: They are exempt from any sort of labor, but are unable to participate in the government of Gilead. Like all other women in the regime, they are forbidden to read. They are expected to engage in knitting and gardening, and, of course, managing their households and raising children, but always under the authority of their husbands.
Naomi Putnam
Played By: Ever Carradine
The snide Wife of Commander Warren Putnam. After her husband is executed in Season 5, she ends up marrying Commander Lawrence.
- Character Development: She begins as a snide, snotty Wife who's rude to just about everyone. By Season 3 she shows kindness and gratitude to June and Janine, by Season 4, she's become a genuine friend to Serena, and by Season 5, she expresses disgust that the Handmaid Warren has chosen (Esther) is so young, and openly tells Janine that not only is she grateful for her child (through Janine), she also is grateful for Janine being a part of her life. That is a big step.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She is part of the group of Wives who joins Serena in asking the Commanders to make an exception for the Bible to the ban on women reading. She backs off when she sees that Serena begins to read, but the impulse to protect her adoptive daughter was there.
- Foil: To the Waterfords, when paired with her husband. She is abrasive toward her Handmaid, he plays nice to use Janine for sex. The results are also similar to the Waterfords' and the first Offred.
- It's All About Me: She's one of the most vapid and shallow Commanders' Wives seen so far.
- Jerkass: She's even bitchier than Serena, believe it or not, and is often quite rude to Serena's face. Mostly in a maddeningly passive-aggressive way, to boot.
- Lack of Empathy: Oddly enough, whereas Serena Joy betrays bits of (mostly hollow) empathy for June's pain, Naomi gives none to her Handmaid.
- Manipulative Bastard: She approaches the Commanders after it is discovered that Commander Putnam was carrying on an affair with Ofwarren/Janine outside the allowed "Ceremony" and requests they execute the harshest possible punishment they can under the pretense of "saving" him from "damnation," but in reality, she only does it to exact revenge for being cuckolded.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: She gets Charlotte/Angela from Janine, but she actually doesn't know how to care for her and does not appreciate the miracle that a healthy baby is in their society.
- Pet the Dog: Of course, on conditions that things are done for her, but she has a few sincere moments.
- She begrudgingly let Janine say goodbye to a dying Charlotte, though it's likely out of deference for her husband.
- Then played straight when she does let Janine hold Charlotte in gratitude for Janine saving the baby.
- She also thanks June for helping the baby.
- Spanner in the Works: Her admonishment to Serena Joy is one of the final turning points where Serena Joy accepts that there's something going on between Commander Waterford and June.
- Took a Level in Kindness: A small one as of Season 3, which shows her actually being generous to the Handmaids and showing gratitude to June and Janine. Later seasons have her take more levels.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Has zero regard for her Handmaid Ofwarren/Janine, despite the fact that the poor girl is forced to give birth, then surrender her own daughter to Naomi's custody. She mellows a bit on that on the conditions that Janine does save her baby's life.
- And then she gets significantly better in Season 5, where she fully tells Janine that she is grateful for her too.
- Woman Scorned: She manipulates the Commanders to amputate her husband's right hand in order to punish him for cheating on her with a Handmaid.
Eleanor Lawrence
Played By: Julie Dretzin
The wife of Lawrence and the love of his life.
- The Atoner: Being that she is a Wife in Gilead, it's unknown what role she played in Gilead's early design, but she is vocal about her opposition of the Colonies to Emily.
- Broken Bird
- Cloud Cuckoolander: One day out in public in Gilead and it is evident why Lawrence keeps her under wraps.
- Driven to Suicide: One interpretation of her sleeping pill overdose.
- Due to the Dead: A chilling one when June kisses Eleanor on the forehead when she leaves Eleanor to die by overdosage.
- Foil: To the Wives. Other than being kept in recluse due to her socially unacceptable behavior, exasperated by the lack of bipolar medication in Gilead, she lacks the sanctimony of the other Wives. Like other Wives, she did desire children, but she also has a full grip of how terrible Gilead is and never tries to procure children for herself. She is a more active ally to her Handmaid June and tries to help her see Hannah. She also tries to speak out against her husband's part in Gilead's design.
- Madwoman in the Attic: The way Lawrence keeps her out of sight upstairs is reminiscent of this trope.
- Morality Pet: If you want Lawrence to do something good, the best way is to convince him that it'll benefit Eleanor.
- Secret-Keeper: There are issues with whether she's mentally competent enough to not blurt anything, thus why Lawrence often keeps her away from visitors like Aunt Lydia. But she's wary about the rebellion operations in her husband's household. Later on, when her medication runs out, this is averted in full display when she nearly blurts out June's plan to Mrs. Putnam and Mrs. Winslow, but the two wives appear to be oblivious to what is happening. This liability ultimately is what makes June not help Eleanor when she is in the middle of an overdose.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Played with. Her overzealousness in saving one more child, accommodating everyone oppressed in Gilead in ways inconvenient to the secrecy of the child rescue mission, has June leaving her to die by pill overdose.
Mrs. O'Conner
Played By: Marisa Tomei
A Wife who ends up in the Colonies for committing the "sins of the flesh."
- As the Good Book Says...: She is fiercely religious and quotes verses from the Bible. She has a strong belief that God and her faith will save her even though the very regime she supports has condemned her to a slow and painful death.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: She supported the rise of the fundamentalist regime of Gilead and ended up being forced to share her husband with another woman. As a result of feeling neglected and unloved, she has an affair, is discovered and sent to die a slow, agonizing death in the Colonies.
- Dead Star Walking: Marisa Tomei is more famous than a lot of the regulars, and she only survives for a single episode.
- The Fool: Her romantic outlook on life is borderline delusional, and she is hopelessly out of her league in her new environment.
- Fool for Love: She must have surely known the punishment for sins of the flesh, but she still risked having an affair because she fell in love.
- Naïve Newcomer: She has no idea what awaits her in the colonies.
- Obliviously Evil: In Emily's opinion, her role as a Gilead Wife automatically makes her this at best. By the end, however, Emily still considers her an accomplice of Gilead's crimes and poisons her.
- Say Your Prayers: The last time we see her, she's writhing on the floor from Emily's poisoning and asks Emily to pray with her. Emily refuses.
Tabitha McKenzie
Played By: Amy Landecker
The wife of Commander McKenzie. She and her husband are Hannah's new parents.
- Abusive Parents: The Commander and Wife to whom June and Luke's daughter Hannah was assigned to have physically punished their 'daughter' "only twice", according to their Martha. By Gilead standards, it's no doubt a correct Biblical way to bring up children. By modern standards held by most viewers, it would be abuse, plain and simple.
- Affably Evil: She shows at least a little sympathy to June. She takes a minute to assure her that Hannah is fine, and the two even have a lighthearted conversation about Hannah wanting a pet dog despite being allergic. Despite this, she still holds firm that she is Hannah's mother, not June—when June reminds her otherwise, it brings an end to their conversation.
- Anti-Villain: She comes off as one of the kinder Wives we've seen thus far, given that she's at least somewhat sympathetic to June's situation, and is explicitly stated to have been a charitable person who fed homeless children in pre-Gilead times.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She may be a jerk, but she's right in trying to convince June that all attempts to see Hannah may end up badly, and for one of her Marthas, it does.
- Non-Idle Rich: According to Commander Lawrence, she is a perfectly suitable mother to Hannah, having used her free time pre-Gilead to feed orphaned children in Africa.
- Pet the Dog: She gives the information-starved June a few precious details about Hannah's life, and it serves to reassure her that her daughter is being well taken care of.
Olivia Winslow
Played By: Elizabeth Reaser
The friendly wife of High Commander Winslow, she and her husband are introduced as the Washington D.C hosts of Fred and Serena Waterford. She wants to convince Serena to move to Washington.
- Affably Evil: She looks sweet and fun at first. And then you see her Handmaid. And then you see her walking through the abandoned mansion of a family who was victimized by Gilead as if she was a realtor trying to sell the place to Serena, completely apathetic to the terrifying fate of the previous occupants.
- When she is tearfully praying with Mrs. Putnam and Mrs. Lawrence, June offers her sympathies (although mostly to cover up for Mrs. Lawrence's erratic statements) and Olivia coldly orders her to pray for the safe return of her husband.
- Amoral Attorney: She was a corporate lawyer before Gilead, and she acclimatized perfectly in the country's new, murderous regime.
- Career Versus Man: She confesses to Serena that her book helped her a great deal decide herself in favor of starting a family with her husband.
- Cheating with the Milkman: Or the armed guards, in this case. During a party in Washington, Olivia and the other Wives let Serena know that they're sleeping around with the young, hunky guards while their husbands are running an evil theocratic regime- apparently, it's a normal practice, and they invite Serena to enjoy the "benefits" of living in Washington.
- Lack of Empathy: Especially obvious when she is showing Serena around an abandoned mansion, which still contained the belongings of the previous inhabitants (including children). Olivia cheerfully tries to convince Serena to move into the mansion, sparing no thought for the family whose life was destroyed by Gilead. The whole scene is reminiscent of an incident where the infamous Nazi-sympathizer Unity Mitford entered an apartment she was given by the Nazis and started making comments about replacing the drapes... with the original, Jewish inhabitants crying right there in the living room as they were being forced to leave (God knows towards what fate).
- Laser-Guided Karma: After her husband disappears, she is distraught and fears that her many (stolen) children will be taken away from her. It's very satisfying to see her so desperate, especially after she haughtily orders June to pray for her husband.
- Obliviously Evil: When asked who the six multiracial children living in their house belong to, she smiles brightly and says, “Who else's would they be?”
Esther Keyes
Played By: Mckenna Grace
The teenaged wife of a senile commander, Esther is as bloodthirsty as they come after enduring Gilead's abuses. Eventually she is captured and forced into becoming a Handmaid.
- Creepy Child: In her first scene, she's happily babbling to June that God sent her "wonderful" dreams of the two of them killing people. Later, when talking to June, she instantly switches from a kindly girl to a strict, brutal Commander's Wife not unlike Serena Joy—commanding Janine to eat the pork of Mr. Darcy seemingly just for a powerplay. This all justifiably stems from being a child bride raped repeatedly by several men, which she confesses to June later.
- Cute and Psycho: She is a very pretty teenage girl, but also filled with homicidal rage.
- Fallen Princess: After she is captured by the guardians, Esther is "demoted" from a commander's wife to become a Handmaid.
- Meaningful Name: In the Bible, Esther is a Jewish woman who uses her marriage to the Persian king Ahasuerus to save her fellow Jews from persecution. Though this may not be her true name, as Gilead has shown before to change children's names, it's fitting for someone using her role as a Commander's wife to help Handmaids hide from Gilead. There's also an ironic twist - Esther, in the Bible, once foiled a plan to poison her husband, whereas this Esther is actively and proudly poisoning her husband.
- Rape as Backstory: After her elderly commander was unable to impregnate her, he had guards, Eyes, and other commanders routinely rape Esther.
- Rape and Revenge: At the urging of June she kills one of her rapists who had decided to come by the farm.
- Shout-Out: One wonders if this Esther references a similarly psychotic Esther trying to kill adults. Or yet another teenage psychopathic killer played by Grace.
Widows
In General
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Widows wear suits of darker hues than wives as a sign of mourning for their late husbands.
Pamela
Played By: Laila Robins
The mother of Serena Waterford.
- Jerkass Has a Point: It's no doubt that she's emotionally abusive and lacks empathy for her own daughter, but she's right in saying that Serena Joy has only one viable option, and that is going back to her husband. Divorce is not permitted in Gilead, and a Wife loses her social position, her privileges and sometimes her life if she misbehaves and embarrasses her husband. Since Serena's status is the only thing protecting her in Gilead's virulently misogynistic regime, Pamela recognizes that Serena has no real choice but to return to her abuser.
- My Beloved Smother: Pamela is suffocating and judgmental towards Serena after she estrangement from Fred, regardless of Fred having allowed Serena to be mutilated.
- Rich Bitch: She isn't lacking for anything except empathy for her daughter's feelings, living in a luxurious house near Cape Cod.
- Widow's Weeds: She lost her husband and wears the black clothing traditional to the Widows of Gilead.
