Offred

She is the central character at the heart of the novel, she is the protagonist, a handmaid and the
entire story is told from her point of view/perspective(narrator). This allows the reader to have a full
access to her most important and emotional, touching poignant memories. Offred provides the
reader with flashbacks that help the readers understand the setting, characters and theme, in
relation to Offred’s present life. The flashbacks emphasize the loss of morality in gilead in
comparison to the before time. She is seemingly submissive but actually rebels in small acts. She also
longs for freedom and to reunite with family. Like most of the women in Gilead, she is an ordinary
woman placed in an extraordinary situation. She is forced to bear children for the elite, specifically
for the commanders and their wives. Her name is a combination of the word ‘of’ and the name of
her commander fred.

Commander Fred

He is under the laws of gilead, in possession of Offred, his handmaid. He is an elite in Gilead society,
ranking towards the top of their military hierarchy. He ranges between being extremely unlikeable
and sympathetic. He rapes Offred once a month in what is known as the Ceremony. The commnader
treats Offred as a child, teasing her with the possibility of more freedom.

Wife/ serena Joy

She is Fred’s wife. She spends her day living as a traditional, upper class wife. She gardens, take care
of the home but minimally because she has servants to work for her as well. She hates Offred but
due to her barrenness and the value of children in Gilead’s society, she has to tolerate her presence.
Serena is unhappy despite her status .

Nick

He is a guardian or a low level official in Gilead society who has been assigned to the commander
home. He watches over the household and works as a grander and chauffeur. Nick and offred have
sex under serena’s instruction, in order to try to produce a child for ther commander’s household. It
is not made entirely clear but by the end of the novel, the reader is aware that he might have a
higher ranking that it seemed. He might be a member of the Eyes. What is also unclear is what Nick
did to help or harm offred at the end of the novel.

Moira

One of protagonist’s closest friends, moira is a feminist and lesbian who is unconquerably defiant in
the face of Gilead’s rules. She refuses to accept her fate as a handmaid and instead she ends up
working as a prostitute in a club for Commanders.

Aunt Lydia

She is one of another class of people in Gilead, the Aunts. They are responsible for ‘brainwashing’
and ensuring their compliance with the Ceremony. She works at the ‘red Centre’ where Offred was
reeducated. Her only appearances in the novel are in Offred’s flashbacks but it is clear that she is
commanding presence in that facility.

Ofglen

A handmaid who is assigned as Offred’s shopping partner and is a member of the Mayday resistance
group. She eventually hangs herself after she is found out.
Janine/Ofwarren

Offred met Janine while she was at the red center. She conceives an ‘unbaby’ or a child that is born
deformed which may or may not have been a product of her doctor. Unlike Offred and Ofglen she is
a conformist and is prepared to go along with what the Commander and his wife tell her.

Rita

She is a Martha or a domestic servant. She works in the commander’s household and appers to
support the Handmaids more than some others. She is infertile as are all the Marthas.

Cora

She is also a Martha and also works in the Commander’s household. She is more submissive than
Rita is and is content to remain in her position.

Context

In the novel, readers will be exposed to many troubling historic and religious practices that take
Gilead back the time before the concept ‘equal rights’ was even conceived of.
Death and the maiden

Paulina

She is a woman who was kidnapped, tortured, and raped while in medical school. Years later, she
identifies the man she thinks was her captor and puts him on trial in her home. She represents all
the victims that had suffered torture and abduction from a past dictatorship. She is a survivor,
fighter whom seeks even the slightest chance of attaining truth and ultimate revenge. Although she
was able to repress the memories all these years she ultimately cannot accept the past. Paulina as
the victim attain revenge as a form of closure

Doctor Roberto Miranda

He is the man Paulina believes to be her kidnapper, though his guilt is left somewhat ambiguous.
Roberto as the perpetrator. He represents the people of the nation that suffers through the
dictatorship, forced to submit to the rule of those in change. He is tied up at gunpoint by paulina.

Gerardo

He is Paulina’s husband. He is a lawyer who has recently been appointed by the president to a
commission that will examine human rights abuses during the military dictatorship, charged with
investigating murders carried out by the previous dictator’s regime. He has a high ideal of justice
which he invokes in an attempt to persuade his wife. Gerardo as justice address struggle with
acceptance developed the dichotomy of responsibilities to depict the various approaches that
people strive to adopt in order to change their lives.

“I will leave you men to fix the world”

“when crazy people have power, you’ve got to include them”

“she isn’t the voice of civilization, you are”

“people can die from an excessive dose of the truth”

“so, someone did terrible things to you and now you are doing something terrible to me and
tomorrow somebody else is going to on and on and on”

“And why does it always have to be people like me who have to sacrifice, why are we always the
ones who have to make concessions when something has to be conceded, why always me to has to
bite my tongue, why? This time I am going to think about myself, about what I need. If only to do
justice in one case, just one. What do we lose? What do we lose by killing one of them? What do we
lose? What do we lose?”

“you be reasonable. They never did anything to you”

The Awakening has been described as a case study of 19th-century feminism. One of the central
themes in the novel is that of self-ownership. Also called bodily autonomy, self-ownership was a key
tenet of 19th-century feminism. It signified a woman’s right to have control over her own body and
identity. So-called first-wave feminists argued that women could gain their freedom only by refusing
to allow other people namely, men to exercise control over their bodies. They focused, in particular,
on a wife’s right to refuse sexual relations with her husband. Their argument was that a woman’s
service as a wife and mother entitled her to ownership of her body and, therefore, the right to
refuse to have sex or be impregnated/be pregnant.

Edna

Main protagonist who, while in a passionless marriage to mr. Pontellier, falls in love with Robert and
has a brief affair with alcee arobin. A member of new orleans upper class, she has artistic leanings.
She is acting against, deviates, her goals are not living with her husband anymore, not seeking her
husband but independence

Leonce Pontellier

Edna’s husband, a successful and materialistic businessman, he is controlling and checking

everything, he is superficial and treats edna like an employee

Robert lebrun

Charismatic younf man who falls in love with edna during her summer on grand isle, has history of
maintain mock romances with unattainable women

Alcee Arobin

Accomplished ladies’ man who pursues an affair with edna, represents the danger of passion and its
threat to ednas autonomy

Mademoiselle Reisz

Virtuoso pianist whom edna meets on grand isle. Upon returning to new Orleans, edna visits her to
hear her play piano and read letters that Robert has written to her. What a woman should be

Madame adele ratignolle

The epitome of the “mother-woman” a devoted wife and mother whom edna bestfriends on grand
isle, their friendship continues while back in new orleans. She has a special connection with edna,
she shows that she is able to cope like edna,society’s expectations, she has embraced it/her role but
doesn’t espouse the conventions, she represents the perfect mother and wife but it is exactly the
opposite with edna

Madame lebrun

Owner and hostess of the grand isle boardinghouse, called the pension, mother of Robert and victor

Victor lebrun

Temperamental, strong-willed and spoiled but very good looking son of madame lebrun

Mariequita

Flirtatious Spanish girl who has a crush on victor and possibly on Robert as well
Etienne and Raoul Pontellier

Edna’s and leonce’s young sons

Dr. mandelet

Old family friend and physician to the Pontelliers, whom Leonce consults about ednas strange
behaviour. The doctor knows but does not tell leonce that edna is in love with another man

The Quadroon

Nanny to edna;s children

Mrs. James Highcamp

Middle aged society woman who enjoys the company of fashionable young men and spends time at
the racetrack with edna and Alcee

Mrs. merriman

Friend of Mrs. Highcamp and Arobin. Edna comes into contact with Arobin through mrs. merriman
and Mrs. Hoghcamp

The colonel

Edna’s father, aretired colonel in the Confederate army

Janet

Edna’s older sister, who raised Edna after their mother died

The lady in black

Highly devout, ederly woman staying at the grand isle boardinghouse, usually seen with a
prayerbook or rosary in hand. She is conventional, Victorian widow woman, she devoted herself to
memories and lacks of any passion, religious, what society expects from a widow woman which is
the opposite of lovers , the represents the rules and the lovers represent freedom

The lovers

Courting couple on grand isle usually seen by themselves, they represent edna and Robert and the
life they have had if circumstances were different, the lady in black juxtaposed with the lovers to
implicate an inevitable failure of the relationship

Monsieur farival

Elserly gentleman vacationing on grand isle at the boardinghouse

The farival twins

Monsieur farival granddaughters who repetedly practice on piano a duet from the opera zampa,
they represent the destiny of adolescent Victorian girls, their inability to separate from eachother
has kept them from pleasure, possibility, promise and their prefer the imitation rather than personal
growth
In the beginning of the novel, Edna is a character who fits in with the society, but is unhappy with
it.  Her unhappiness and influence from Mademoiselle Reisz is what eventually leads her to become
independent.  She is unhappy with her marriage and does not do much with her kids.  In fact, when
she decides to break away from what the society expects of her and becomes independent, she
sends her kids to live with their grandmother while she has an affair and lives for herself.  The way
Edna goes about her independence is all wrong, because she does it in a selfish manner, abandoning
her husband and kids, and isolating herself from most of the society.  She was out for one thing only:
her own pleasures and desires.  Although Edna gets what she wants eventually, she is still not very
happy with her life, and she commits suicide.

The three main female characters of this novel were remarkable in their own ways.  Adele Ratignolle
led the perfect life that was expected of her, and she was fairly happy with
it.  Mademoiselle Reisz lived the life she wanted, not caring what was expected of her and she was
happy.  Most importantly, despite Edna Pontellier’s selfish and unacceptable behavior, she deserves
some credit for breaking away from the lifestyle that she was so unsatisfied with, and for going out
on her own.  These three women had very strong personalities which is what made them such great
characters.

One of the most important features in Edna’s Awakening is her relationship with Robert. Unlike her
relationship with her husband, which always seems to bring out her depression, Edna develops
strong feelings for Robert. Edna’s rebellious state that she had gone through in youth seems to
return to her and she does not repress it. Edna and Robert become devoted to one another and
spend most of the summer together, although it never becomes physical. Edna’s obsession with the
idea of unfulfilled love is brought out through her relationship with Robert.

Edna also seeks to establish herself and find herself through art. As Edna becomes more and more
engaged within her art she begins to fall away from the Societies standards. She begins to spend
more time finding herself rather than spending her time caring for her family and her home.

Overall Edna never seems to look ahead to see what her actions will cause. Edna almost takes on a
childish characterization which further emphasizes the idea of her going through a rebirth within the
novel. Edna seems to be strong enough to rebel but not strong enough to continue the rebellious
nature and to deal with the consequences.

“You are burnt beyond recognition,’ he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece
of personal property which has suffered some damage.” 

“An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her
consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist
passing across her soul’s summer day.”

“They were women who idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a
holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.”

“At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence
which conforms, the inward life which questions.”

‘Are you coming in, Leonce?’ she asked, turning her face toward her husband. ‘Yes, dear,’ he
answered, with a glance following a misty puff of smoke. ‘Just as soon as I have finished my cigar.‘”
“The years that are gone seem like dreams—if one might go on sleeping and dreaming—but to wake
up and find—oh! well! Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain
a dupe to illusions all one’s life.”

“In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and
to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.”

“She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet, half-darkness which met her moods.
But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the
stars. They jeered and sounded mournful notes without promise, devoid even of hope.”

“Her husband seemed to her now like a person whom she had married without love as an excuse.”