Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Overview… basically the world’s worst dorm mom. In the new Republic of Gilead, Aunt Lydia has the critical job of preparing women to become “Handmaids,” or fertile women who are used as substitute wombs for infertile wives. She uses a combination of fear, shame, and religion to train her charges for their duties, often reminding them how in “old” America, they were subject to constant attention from men. Now they’re free. Or so she says.
Personality… emotional and controlling. It seems like Aunt Lydia hates nothing in the world as much as men, whom she sees as sex-crazed animals. Gilead, which controls women so strictly they are not even allowed to read, seems like a safe haven to Aunt Lydia. And she enjoys the power she has over the new Handmaids. All for God and country, of course.
Get to Know her in...
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This 1990 film adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel brings to the screen the painful struggles of Offred in the repressive Republic of Gilead. The all-star cast includes Natasha Richardson as Offred, Faye Dunaway as Serena Joy, Robert Duvall as The Commander, and Elizabeth McGovern as Moira.
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Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now?.
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Overnight, Offred's husband, daughter, and her job as a librarian were ripped away. Because of chemical pollution, only about 1% of women can become pregnant. Since Offred is one of the fertile women, she has been kidnapped to conceive a baby for a high-ranking official in Gilead. She would try to escape, but every day she sees hanged corpses of those who committed even minor infractions. For now, she is putting on a compliant face until she can find a way out.
