Handmaid's Tale Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Offred

The narrator, a Handmaid named 'of Fred' whose real name is never stated. She survives Gilead by memory and small defiance, falls into forbidden love, and vanishes into a black van, leaving only her tapes.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Red Center and the House of Red; Part 2: The Ceremony and the Memory of Luke; Part 3: Scrabble, Mayday, and Jezebel's; Part 4: Nick, the Van, and the Historical Notes
Themes:: Control of women's bodies; Resistance in small acts; Language as power; The unreliability of survival

The Commander

Offred's master, a high-ranking architect of Gilead who breaks his own rules for Scrabble, magazines, and brothel visits. He wants to feel like a good man while owning a woman.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Red Center and the House of Red; Part 2: The Ceremony and the Memory of Luke; Part 3: Scrabble, Mayday, and Jezebel's; Part 4: Nick, the Van, and the Historical Notes
Themes:: Control of women's bodies; Complicity of the privileged; Language as power

Serena Joy

The Commander's Wife, a former televangelist who preached domesticity and now lives it, bitter and sterile. She brokers Offred's affair with Nick, then betrays her.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Red Center and the House of Red; Part 2: The Ceremony and the Memory of Luke; Part 4: Nick, the Van, and the Historical Notes
Themes:: Complicity of the privileged

Nick

The chauffeur above the garage who becomes Offred's lover and claims to be Mayday. His loyalties stay ambiguous even as he tells her to trust him.

Appears in:: Part 4: Nick, the Van, and the Historical Notes
Themes:: The unreliability of survival

Moira

Offred's defiant lesbian friend who escapes the Red Center in a stolen uniform, is caught, and chooses the brothel over the Colonies. Her broken spirit is Offred's darkest mirror.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Red Center and the House of Red; Part 3: Scrabble, Mayday, and Jezebel's
Themes:: Resistance in small acts

Ofglen

Offred's shopping partner and secret Mayday member. She hangs herself before arrest; her replacement is an orthodox informer.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Red Center and the House of Red; Part 3: Scrabble, Mayday, and Jezebel's
Themes:: Resistance in small acts

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Luke

Offred's husband from before Gilead, whose earlier divorce makes her an adulteress under the new law. He vanishes during the escape attempt, dead or imprisoned, she never knows.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Ceremony and the Memory of Luke
Themes:: The unreliability of survival

Aunt Lydia

The indoctrinator at the Red Center who justifies enslavement with slogans about freedom. Her voice haunts Offred's narrative as the regime's internalized conscience.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Ceremony and the Memory of Luke
Themes:: Language as power

How they are connected

Key relationships

The Commander Offred
Offred's master, a high-ranking architect of Gilead who breaks his own rules for Scrabble, magazines, and brothel visits.
Serena Joy The Commander
The Commander's Wife, a former televangelist who preached domesticity and now lives it, bitter and sterile.
Serena Joy Offred
She brokers Offred's affair with Nick, then betrays her.
Serena Joy Nick
She brokers Offred's affair with Nick, then betrays her.
Nick Offred
The chauffeur above the garage who becomes Offred's lover and claims to be Mayday.
Moira Offred
Offred's defiant lesbian friend who escapes the Red Center in a stolen uniform, is caught, and chooses the brothel over the Colonies.
Luke Offred
Offred's husband from before Gilead, whose earlier divorce makes her an adulteress under the new law.
Ofglen Offred
Offred's shopping partner and secret Mayday member.
Aunt Lydia Offred
Her voice haunts Offred's narrative as the regime's internalized conscience.

Go deeper

Handmaid's Tale themes & symbols

Control of women's bodies · Complicity of the privileged · Resistance in small acts · Language as power

Themes explained

Read the full Handmaid's Tale summary

The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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