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| “ | Better never means better for everyone. It always means worse for some. | „ |
| ~ Fred Waterford |
The Republic of Gilead are the overarching antagonists of the 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale alongside its 1990 film and 2017 Hulu television series adaptations of the same name.
It is a totalitarian Christian theocratic regime that came into existence after wiping out the United States government through a military coup, creating a brutal and misogynistic society that forces people into strict social classes, with women being made subservient to the men of society. The highest social class is men known as Commanders and their Wives, with the lowest being Handmaids, women forced to act as breeding slaves for the Commanders and Wives who cannot get pregnant.
Overview[]
The Republic of Gilead was formed from a group of anarchists known as the Sons of Jacob, a group of Christian fanatics that came into existence sometime after the infertility crisis that had plagued the world had greatly affected the United States. They were controlled by a group of men who would become the Commanders (specifically B. Frederick Judd in the novels) and supported by the women that would become the Wives. Eventually, they orchestrated the "President's Day Massacre" in which members of the Sons of Jacob, who for years had infiltrated the United States government and its military, enabling the group to kill most of the officials in the country promptly and instate members of their group as the new heads of state. They then closed the borders with its neighbors Mexico and Canada, ceased diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, and declared the country as the Republic of Gilead, although both Alaska and Hawaii remained as the last two states that the United States government controlled, and many areas in Gilead became warzones between forces loyal to the American government and the Gilead military.
Social Classes[]
Commanders[]
Commanders are the highest class in all of Gilead, being the ones who control the regime's government and in the case of Field Commanders, operate directly on the battlefield. Despite being the ones who control the regime, many of them violate the religious laws of the country by cheating on their Wives or sleeping with Handmaids outside of the ceremony. This leads to them often executing each other for committing "sins" despite all Commanders being shown to violate the laws in one way or another. The Commanders ultimately are the undoing of Gilead, since their tendency to violate the laws they helped create lead to them to turn on each other and eventually collapsing the theocracy.
Wives[]
Wives are the highest class of women in Gilead. They are women who played a major role in the creation of Gilead and/or were the partners of the Commanders who were involved in constructing the regime. The Wives will bear children for the Commanders or be assigned Handmaids if they cannot. They are blamed even if the Commanders are infertile, as in Gilead it is forbidden to blame men for failure to conceive. Despite being subjugated themselves, Wives are considered war criminals since they aided in Gilead's creation and participate in the rape of the Handmaids.
Aunts[]
Aunts are a class of intelligent older women who are tasked with training the women who are assigned to become Handmaids. Notably, they are the only class of women in Gilead who are permitted to read and write. As shown with Aunt Lydia, many of these women were originally in sophisticated positions of American society, with Lydia herself being a judge, making her eligible to become an Aunt. The Aunts are responsible for writing many of the laws in Gilead even said laws are enforced and controlled by Commanders.
Guardians[]
Guardians are young men who serve as the military force in Gilead, either serving on the front lines in the war against what remains of the American government or as patrol guards in the country. Many of them were involved with the Sons of Jacob prior to it taking over the country and are often married to young women or promoted to Commanders after enough time.
Econopeople[]
Econopeople are individuals from before the time of Gilead who followed the religious beliefs of the Regime and thus were allowed to keep some of their rights, primarily being allowed to keep going to work and to have children normally without the involvement of the Aunts or a Handmaid. They are the largest social class in Gilead and the working force. In the television series, the Econopeople are shown to live in large apartment buildings and regularly attend church.
Marthas[]
Marthas are infertile women who act as houseworkers for Commanders and Wives, primarily cooking their meals. The Marthas are shown to have a network by which they communicate that is not monitored by the Commanders, although it's possible the Eyes know about it.
Handmaids[]
The absolute lowest class in Gilead, Handmaids are women who are forced to become breeding slaves for Commanders and Wives who are not fertile. Most of the Handmaids are women from before the time of Gilead that were imprisoned and tortured by Aunts until they became subservient to Gilead due to not following the religious beliefs of the regime. Fertile Econowomen would be turned into Handmaids if they violated the laws of Gilead, although young girls born to Wives would not become them as they were trained to be Wives, meaning that Handmaids are the smallest class in the country. Other countries such as Mexico show interest in purchasing Handmaids due to how bad the fertility crisis had become worldwide.
The Eyes[]
The Eyes are a network of spies across Gilead that exist to uphold the laws and systems of the countries. Formed by members of the Sons of Jacob who infiltrated the CIA and other national intelligence agencies of the United States, Eyes actually spy on Commanders and their Wives more than the Econopeople, as the Econopeople are already policed by the Guardians, whereas the Commanders who break the rules are often able to get away with it due to being under less scrutiny. Anyone can secretly be an Eye, but the most common person to be an Eye are Guardians posted in Commander's households, such as Nick Blaine, a driver Guardian living in the Waterford household.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- While Gilead isn't based on a specific government in real life, Margaret Atwood has stated that she based its rise off the reaction that religious extremists had in the 1980s to the Women's Rights movement.
External Links[]
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 Villains
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Republic of Gilead Wives Aunts Other | ||