The Handmaid's Tale Summary: Plot, Characters and Setting
The Handmaid's Tale is narrated by a woman called Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian state that has replaced the United States in a near-future New England. Her job is to bear a child for a ruling Commander and his wife.
She tells her story in the first person, switching between daily life in the Commander's house and memories of her family and of the time before Gilead.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Margaret Atwood |
| First published | 1985 |
| Narrator | Offred (her real name is never given) |
| Setting | Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States; the story is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Structure | 46 short chapters in 15 sections, then the Historical Notes |
| Genre | Dystopian novel; Atwood calls it speculative fiction |
Where and when does the story take place?
The novel is set in the Republic of Gilead, a state that has taken over the former United States. The narrator lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a country where fertility has fallen sharply and the regime controls women's lives, work, money and reading.
Gilead came to power after an attack on the government. Women lost their jobs and bank accounts almost overnight, and fertile women were sorted into a new class: the Handmaids.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens in The Handmaid's Tale?
Offred is placed in the household of a Commander, Fred, and his wife, Serena Joy. Once a month the three take part in the Ceremony, a ritual in which the Commander tries to father a child with Offred while his wife looks on. If she does not conceive, she can be sent away as a failure.
Between these scenes she remembers her husband Luke, her daughter, who was taken from her, her mother, and her friend Moira. She also shops each day with another Handmaid, Ofglen, who turns out to belong to a secret resistance called Mayday.
The Commander begins to break the rules. He invites Offred to his study to play Scrabble and read banned magazines, and later takes her in secret to Jezebel's, a hidden club for officials. At the same time, Serena Joy, who suspects her husband may be sterile, arranges for Offred to sleep with Nick, the household's driver.
Offred and Nick fall into a real relationship. When Ofglen is about to be caught she kills herself, and a new woman takes her place. Near the end, Offred fears that Serena Joy has found out about her visits to Jezebel's. A black van arrives for her, and she steps into it without knowing whether it means rescue or arrest. The last pages are covered in our guide to how the book ends.
↑ Back to the topWho are the main characters?
Offred is the narrator. Her name means Of Fred, the Commander she serves, so it is not her own. The Commander (Fred) is a senior official. Serena Joy is his wife, bitter about having to share her household with a Handmaid.
Nick is the driver and Offred's lover. Ofglen is her shopping partner and a member of the resistance. Moira is Offred's close friend from before Gilead, who tries to escape. Aunt Lydia trains the Handmaids at the Red Center. Janine is another trainee Handmaid, and Luke is Offred's husband, whose fate she never learns.
Rita and Cora are Marthas, the household servants. Our guide to the characters goes through each in more detail.
↑ Back to the topHow is the book structured?
Offred speaks in the first person, mostly in the present tense, and moves between the present and flashbacks to her old life. The story is divided into 46 chapters grouped into 15 sections, most with titles such as Night, Shopping or Salvaging.
The book closes with Historical Notes, a transcript of a lecture given in 2195 by a scholar who studies Gilead. It explains that Offred's story was recovered as a set of cassette tapes.
↑ Back to the topIs there a sequel?
Yes. Atwood published The Testaments in 2019. It was set about fifteen years after the original, and shared the Booker Prize with Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Handmaid’s Tale
This guide covers the novel only. The TV series and the 1990 film differ in places.