GILEAD THROUGH THE PAGES
The Handmaid’s Tale takes viewers into a desperate dystopian state.
MARGARET ATWOOD’S
feminist novel The Handmaid’s Tale has resonated with readers since its publication in 1985. It’s subsequently been adapted into a film, plays and even an opera. But no interpretation has captivated audiences quite like its small-screen inception. The show’s dystopian near-future seems to capture the zeitgeist of a society increasingly aware of how the powerful are able to abuse their positions.
Set in the fictional totalitarian state of Gilead, formerly the US, the titular ‘handmaids’ are the state’s last remaining fertile women, enslaved and forced to have the children of those who rule the land. They are assigned the names of their ‘commanders’ and dressed uniformly in red robes and white habits. But as series lead Offred (played by Elisabeth Moss) – or June, as viewers come to know her – says, ‘ They should never have given us uniforms if they didn’t want us to be an army’.
In its first season, The Handmaid’s Tale closely follows Atwood’s novel, but from there it takes on a life of its own. Season 3 – which concluded in August – sees the resistance strive to end the horrors of Gilead once and for all.
It also examines the architects of Gilead themselves, and we see the lines between good and evil become increasingly blurred. There’s Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), a matronly figure whose backstory sheds light on her actions. Or June’s newest commander, John Lawrence (Bradley Whitford), who shows remorse for the world he has created and takes steps to help the resistance, though his cruel streak never disappears entirely.
Meanwhile Commander Waterford’s wife Serena ( Yvonne Strahovski) – a character audiences love to hate – flits between maternal and monster at alarmingly regular intervals, and increasingly obvious parallels are drawn between Serena and June – the heroine handmaid so consumed by her goals that she, too, becomes ruthless.
With a fourth season of the show confirmed and the release of Atwood’s sequel The Testaments (which is already being separately developed for television), Gilead and its red-robed army are here to stay. But let’s hope its dystopian future remains far, far away.