rebellion

rebellion context

• The Handmaids tale was written at a tumultuous time in US history

• People were protesting for and against issues like LGBTQ, Women’s & abortion rights

• Protests are a way to resist various forms of injustice/oppression

who is considered a rebel

• all of the main characters rebel against gilead but those who dont have power are considered rebels

• Commander/Serena - positions of power, acts of resistance for personal gain → rebelling because stifling laws make lives inconvenient

• Moria/Ofglen fight injustice → Gilead directly responsible for oppression

The Commander

• most powerful character

• as a man benefits most from gilead regime → but still rebels

• He invites Offred to his study where they read and play scrabble, later they go to a brothel and have sex

• Both of these violate gilead rules and can be seen as rebellion. However, Commander uses offred as means of rebelling (uses power & influence over her to benefit himself)

“You want my life to be bearable to me, I say if my life is bearable, maybe what they are doing is right after all”

• Commander says feels guilty about offreds situation and wants to improve it by meetings (disingenuous)

• offred becomes a tool commander does to relive guilt and reassure. “what they are doing is right after all”

• commander is willing to rebel to make offreds life “bearable” but he directly benefits from her oppression

when the commander takes offred to jezebels she is used for his benefit

• “he is demonstrating, to me, his mastery of the world. he’s breaking the rules”

• commanders hubris is a reason why he rebel

• “breaking the rules” - game for him

• compared to ofglen and moria who rebel to resist injustice - he wants to demonstrate “his mastery of the world”

• he wants people to understand how powerful he is. by brining offred he uses her to demonstrate his power

ultimately while the commander..

does rebel against Gilead, he doesn’t do so in a way that would actually change the society.

He will rebel against Gilead when it suits him, but wont rebel in a way that takes away power

Serena Joy

• also uses offred as tool for rebellion

• she doesn’t rebel against Gilead in a way that would improve situation for Handmaids

• recognises she benefits from gileads rule

Serena smoking a cigarette

• “she had a cigarette she then was a woman who might bend the rules.”

• serena tells offred that their relationship is a “business transaction”

• later in the book when Offred agrees to sleep with Nick to get pregnant, serena offers her a cigarette

• similar to the commander, she uses offred as a instrument for her rebellion & benefit

Serena and infertile commander

• demonstrates to offred on several occasions she’s willing to break rules → suggests commander is infertile which is considered “heresy”

• both of these instances show she’s willing to rebel in small, indirect ways

• due to the transactional relationship she doesn’t have to do any of this herself

Serena Joy Ultimately…

• ultimately serena strategically uses her small acts of dissent to persuade offred to rebel on her behalf

• this shows how their relationship is transactional, but shows how serena is willing to rebel against gilead if she benefits

Moira’s rebellion for survival

• lesbian labelled as “gender traitor” threatened with death

• rebellion not for comfort or power - for survival

• ultimately ends up at Jezebels with her rebellious spirit broken

• empitomises classic ideas of rebel

Moira’s escape from the red centre

“moira had power now, shed be set loose .. moira was our fantasy”

• she is able to gain “power” back by escaping which is seen as “fantasy” to handmaids who are indocrtrinated into submission

• compared to commander & serena - moira doesn’t have power

• by escaping she takes back some power but she is also able to ensure survival

moira Jezebels

• caught and sent to jezebels

• offred notices she is resigned to her fate

• “swashbuckling, heroism, single-handed combat. something i lack” → moira’s rebelliousness source of hope for handmaids

ultimately moira

even though her rebellion is essential to her survival, moira has been broken down by gilead to the point she is resigned to her fate

ofglen

• similar to moira that she directly rebels against gilead

• because she views it as a way to survive and be free of oppression

may day

• Ofglen reveals she’s member of resistance group Mayday

• “you can join us”

• ofglen provides offred with a sense of security and hope

• however like moira ofglen isn’t able to survive gilead - revealed as a rebel khs

ofglens suicide

• replaced with handmaid

• offred realises her own complacency “i am alert again”

• knowing ofglen is a member of mayday, offred relaxes - the pressure to rebel against gilead herself is gone → she can rely on others to do direct action

• the comfort of knowing someone else is resisting gives her a sense of hope - and doesn’t need to do anything herself to rebel