Serena Joy, The Commander’s wife is a complex character in The Handmaid’s Tale. She is seen throughout the entire story as a cruel, coldhearted woman who believes she is better than the rest of the wives and handmaid’s. But diving deeper into the story, you can see Serena is a woman searching for her purpose of raising a child, and is willing to do what it takes to have the perfect family life that she wants.
Serena Joy is perceived as an anti- feminist queen. Her belief in the ways of Gilead and the Commander’s words are undeniable throughout the beginning of the Handmaid’s Tale. She’s build a wall around herself not allowing her to feel sadness or alone. One of the main duties of a wife, prior to Gilead’s formation, was to bear child for their husband and raise them together and live happily. However something has left Serena unable to bear children, and she is serving as a simple wife figure. The emptiness of …show more content…
“I want to see as little of you as possible, she said. I expect you feel the same way about me.” (pg 15.) Offred’s original expectation was for Serena to be a motherly figure, someone who would protect her, but Serena wanted nothing of the sort. She wanted nothing to do with Offred and clearly hated her due to her possible ability to give the Commander what he wanted, a child. “Don’t call me m’am, She said irritably. You’re not a Martha.” (pg. 15) She down played Offred’s importance to their marriage and saw her as only a handmaid, rather a person with feelings and emotions. Serena’s jealously about the ability to bear children is interpreted by Offred throughout the novel, like when Serena is cutting the flowers in her garden. “She was aiming, positioning the blades of the shears, the cutting with a convulsive jerk of the hands. Was it the arthritis, creeping up? Or some blitzkrieg, some kamikaze, committed on the swelling genitalia of the flowers? The fruiting body.” (pg.
Serena Joy is perceived as an anti- feminist queen. Her belief in the ways of Gilead and the Commander’s words are undeniable throughout the beginning of the Handmaid’s Tale. She’s build a wall around herself not allowing her to feel sadness or alone. One of the main duties of a wife, prior to Gilead’s formation, was to bear child for their husband and raise them together and live happily. However something has left Serena unable to bear children, and she is serving as a simple wife figure. The emptiness of …show more content…
“I want to see as little of you as possible, she said. I expect you feel the same way about me.” (pg 15.) Offred’s original expectation was for Serena to be a motherly figure, someone who would protect her, but Serena wanted nothing of the sort. She wanted nothing to do with Offred and clearly hated her due to her possible ability to give the Commander what he wanted, a child. “Don’t call me m’am, She said irritably. You’re not a Martha.” (pg. 15) She down played Offred’s importance to their marriage and saw her as only a handmaid, rather a person with feelings and emotions. Serena’s jealously about the ability to bear children is interpreted by Offred throughout the novel, like when Serena is cutting the flowers in her garden. “She was aiming, positioning the blades of the shears, the cutting with a convulsive jerk of the hands. Was it the arthritis, creeping up? Or some blitzkrieg, some kamikaze, committed on the swelling genitalia of the flowers? The fruiting body.” (pg.