NOTE: This page is about the novel version of the character. For the original novel version, see Aunt Lydia (Novel), and for the television series adaptation, see Lydia Clements.
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| “ | Today, only one out of a hundred women can still bear children, and some women stopped. Believing there would be no future, they refused. Refused to bear children! They wouldn't even try! They were lazy women! They were sluts! | „ |
| ~ Aunt Lydia |
Aunt Lydia is a major antagonist in the 1990 dystopian film The Handmaid's Tale, based on the 1985 novel of the same name.
She is an "Aunt" one of the high ranking women in the totalitarian regime Gilead, who is tasked with brainwashing "Handmaids", women who are forced to be breeding slaves. Unlike her novel counterpart who was secretly working against Gilead, this version of Lydia is an insane religious fanatic who truly believes in what she is preaching to the Handmaids and believes she is doing the right thing by forcing religious indoctrination onto them.
In the 1990 film adaptation she was portrayed by Victoria Tennant, who also played Corrine Dollanganger in Flowers in the Attic.
Personality[]
Lydia demonstrates her complete obsession with Gilead's religious doctrine, such as showing extreme contempt for extramarital sex. She is relentless in her brainwashing of the Handmaids, instructing them on the nature of their role and the duties they will have to carry out while assigned to a Commander and his wife. When one of the women she lectures on the harms of extramarital sex breaks down and admits she slept with a man, Lydia hugs her and assures her that she is on a better path, showing how deluded Lydia is that she genuinely believes in everything she is preaching about women being forced to become breeding slaves. Lydia is last seen ordering the executing of a man due to him raping a Handmaid and killing her baby, although this is actually not the truth and just a way for Gilead to execute a member of the resistance, but it's unknown if Lydia knew that the man was being falsely executed.
Quotes[]
| “ | In the days of evil and anarchy you had freedom to, now you are granted freedom from. Don't underrate it. | „ |
| ~ Lydia trying to convince the Handmaid's that it's better to not have freedom. |
| “ | You are the lucky ones. You are going to serve God and country. I pronounce you handmaids. | „ |
| ~ Aunt Lydia's indoctrination. |
| “ | Oh God, make me fruitful. | „ |
| ~ Lydia praying. |
| “ | I hate to punish her, but she abused herself and your body is a temple of purity. So let that be a lesson to you. We know men can't help it, but we're different. We have self control. Dignity. | „ |
| ~ Lydia showing she is both a misogynist and a Misandrist. |
| “ | Order, order! You may form a circle. Orderly, orderly. This man has been convicted of the rape of a Handmaid. Deuteronomy 25. "If the man forces her and lies with her... then the man that lay with her shall die." This crime took place at gunpoint. The Handmaid was pregnant. The baby died! | „ |
| ~ Lydia riling up a group of Handmaid's to murder a member of Mayday because they think he's a rapist. |
Trivia[]
- The film version of Aunt Lydia is by far the most villainous version of the character, as her original novel counterpart was secretly plotting against Gilead and her television counterpart is mentally ill, resulting in her shifting between kind and sadistic depending on the situation. This is a result of the film adaptation only adapting the first novel, which does not include Lydia's redemption in The Testaments.
External Links[]
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 Villains
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Republic of Gilead Wives Aunts Other | ||