Jezebels ✔️✔️these are women who could not be handmaids because they were attractive or too
educated. they are basically prostitutes. the government runs Jezebels for the enjoyment of visiting
diplomats, tourists, and commanders. they have a nonexistent status but are sent to the colonies when
they are unable to do their job anymore.
Ofglen ✔️✔️Another Handmaid who is Offred's shopping partner and a member of the subversive
"Mayday" underground. At the end of the novel, Ofglen is found out, and she hangs herself rather than
face torture and reveal the names of her co-conspirators.
Offred ✔️✔️The narrator and protagonist of The Handmaid's Tale. She belongs to the class of
Handmaids, fertile women forced to bear children for elite, barren couples. She remembers her real
name but never reveals it. She no longer has family or friends, though she has flashbacks to a time in
which she had a daughter and a husband named Luke. The cruel physical and psychological burdens of
her daily life in Gilead torment her and pervade her narrative.
Moria ✔️✔️she was Offred's friend from the past life. She was the only one who saw what was
happening to society. She is apart of the Jezebels, tried to escape only having to surrender. She was a
symbol of heroism for Offred until offred realized that even she was broken in the end.
Commander ✔️✔️"You can't cheat nature". He is the highest ranked in Gilead. He takes part in
"ceremonies" and invited Offred to come to his study in order to play scrabble and eventually to the
Jezebels. He is trying to hold on to something like the past. Eventually, the commander is caught by his
wife about his affiliations with offered. He often seems a decent, well-meaning man, and Offred
sometimes finds that she likes him in spite of herself. He almost seems a victim of Gilead, making the
best of a society he opposes. However, we learn from various clues and from the epilogue that the
Commander was actually involved in designing and establishing Gilead.
Nick ✔️✔️He is kind of the pawn in this story. His purpose is to be a support for the commander and
his wife..He and Offred have a sexual chemistry that they get to satisfy when Serena Joy orchestrates an
encounter between them in an effort to get Offred pregnant. After sleeping together once, they begin a
covert sexual affair. Nick is not just a Guardian; he may work either as a member of the Eyes, Gilead's
secret police, or as a member of the underground Mayday resistance, or both. At the end of the novel,
Nick orchestrates Offred's escape from the Commander's home, but we do not know whether he puts
her into the hands of the Eyes or the resistance.