AsThe Handmaid’s Taleenters its fifth season and sees June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) deal with the trauma of surviving Gilead, it’s easy to underestimate the depth of the show’s religious undertones. The persistently horrible acts of the fictional nation might lead one to believe the show is anti-faith, but in fact, its thesis is quite balanced.The Handmaid’s Talehas persistently depicted the dangers of religion while simultaneously proving an intertextual understanding of the parts of faith that bring people hope.
The show, based onMargaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, is a dystopian drama about a young woman forced to live in a new nation named Gilead, after the ancient region that appears in the Bible. The nation of Gilead and its prospective leaders (men referred to as commanders) have taken over what was formerly the United States. The commanders of Gilead claim to lead a strict republic in the name of God. June and her family are captured after attempting to flee the new nation’s rule. Because of a worldwide fertility crisis, June is to become a Handmaid within Gilead, meaning that her duty, sacred to Gilead, is to bear children to the commanders and their wives, mimicking the relationship between Abraham, Rachel and Hagar as described in the Book of Genesis.
Of course, this is entirely against June’s will. Aside from being forced to perform sex acts, she has been separated from her daughter. As the show progresses, June and the other handmaids find little ways to rebel, until June finally escapes into Toronto as a refugee. The fifth season sees June dealing with the trauma of the horrors inflicted upon her by Gilead’s government, as well as finding a way to rescue her lost daughter.
The Hypocrisy of Gilead
All of Gilead’s crimes are done in the name of their God, and as such, it is quite easy to observe that part of the show’s purpose is to warn of the dangers of religion. In the introduction to the book, Margaret Atwood explains that Gilead’s atrocities are limited only to actual atrocities that have been performed at least once over the course of human history, and that she left nothing of that sort up to the imagination. It is unclear if the show has followed suit, but it does not seem improbable, especially as the first season of the show is very true to Atwood’s novel.
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The show wastes no time depicting the pain, felt both physically and emotionally, in the lives of those who lived or are living in Gilead, giving viewers a regularly powerful reminder of how religious ideas can be used to control and harm. However,The Handmaid’s Taledoes not forget to examine what it is that makes so many people religious in the first place: hope. There are several instances throughout the five seasons that provide glimpses into religion for good, rather than evil.
Of course, Gilead is not always what it proclaims to be. The country demands that all of its leaders and residents abstain from sex outside of marriage, yet it is revealed in several episodes that commanders often visit what is called The Jezebels, or a lounge where men can go to sleep with prostitutes. Likewise, the scriptures used by the commanders or the aunts are often misquoted or used out of context. It is clear that most of the commanders do not take the faith seriously, rather they use the guise of religion for power and control.
Appearance of Other Religions
In Season 2, Episode 3, June is in the middle of an escape attempt. She is allowed to stay with a lower class Gilead family involved with the resistance. After the family leaves for the day, June discovers a Qur’an and a prayer rug underneath one of the beds. The man and his family have remained true to their own tenants of faith, despite being forced to publicly live another. In Season 3, Episode 7, June learns of a Baptist family that was killed for being associated with a religion Gilead disagrees with. Likewise, an instance in Season 2, Episode 5 in which June’s friendEmily(Alexis Bledel)is sent to Gilead’s work mills called the Colonies sees the death of one of Emily’s friends, who is then blessed by a former female rabbi.
The appearance of real religions within Gilead demonstrates the importance of faith in people’s lives, especially when they’re aware that practicing these religions means execution. The Handmaid’s Tale quietly portrays people’s need for religion in times of uncertainty, like death and war.
June’s Personal Faith
It is clear that despite the hardships forced upon June, she has remained true to her own personal faith, probably a Christian one, though the precise sect is never specified. In June’s personal flashbacks as depicted in Season 2, Episode 9, June tells Rita (Amanda Brugel), another servant forcibly taken by Gilead, that she baptized her first child, Hannah, and she would like her second child to be baptized as well. After June is able to send her second baby, Nichole, to live with her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenie) in Toronto, June’s best friend Moira (Samira Wiley) ensures that Nichole is baptized by a Christian minister. Significantly, June is told that Gilead no longer performs baptisms. This is portrayed as a happy moment, especially as it was June’s own choice to baptize her child. The baptism of Hannah indicates tradition within June’s household prior to the creation of Gilead. The return to normalcy as well as agency is a reminder of hope, that both Hannah and Nichole will have the opportunity to grow up in a land away from Gilead.
June frequently offers prayers and quotes scripture that she learned in her life before Gilead. In Season 2, Episode 2, June finds a clipping detailing the mass execution of her former colleges atThe Boston Globe, June offers a prayer in the name of Christ that her coworkers will find rest in the afterlife. The scene is somber but peaceful, and an angelic harp and voice can be heard in the background.
In Season 1, Episode 3, June is being questioned after her shopping partner, also a Handmaid, has been discovered to be gay. After being punished with a cattle prod by the woman in charge of the Handmaids,Aunt Lydia (Anne Dowd), June recites a scripture from the Beatitudes, a sermon given by Christ in the Bible. Even though it was Aunt Lydia who started the recitation, June finishes the recitation, and it becomes clear that June’s words are in defense of her shopping partner, rather than against them, as Lydia’s are.
June gives a voice-over reading of Exodus 3:7-8 after being shot by Gilead guards in an escape attempt. These words designate June as a Moses type, being called to bring hope and usher her fellow Handmaids out of their imprisonment. Likewise, after the former Handmaids kill June’s Commander in the Season 4 finale, Season 5, Episode 2 sees June reckoning with that violence. After realizing that her actions have inspired further violence in other women, June decides to turn herself in. Because the crimes happened in “no man’s land” rather than a specific nation, June is not punished by law. However, she begins to reckon with her own morality, especially as the Canadian police officer tells June that her forgiveness should be taken up with whichever deity she chooses.
June’s faith is important to her survival in Gilead. The character often uses her religious memories to give her strength to power through the hardship, or to parallel the horrendous deeds that have happened to her by demonstrating that Gilead has corrupted the intended purpose of religion.
The Handmaid’s Taleis undoubtedly a cautionary one, but not one that fails to see both sides of the issue. As it is in real life, faith within the show is used for both good and evil, and thus allows the viewer to examine the power that religion has always had.
