The Handmaid’s Tale
This article discusses matter such as rape , force , and suicide .
The Handmaid ’s Taleis nearing the end of its 5th time of year , and while the flight of June and the Waterfords has rick the narrative focus towards Canada , that does n’t intend that Gilead ’s atrocities have been leave behind or leave .
Gilead is a zealous , extremist , totalistic regime that maltreat well-nigh every one of its citizens apart from those at the very top ( but as Commander Putnam ’s ignominious end demonstrated , even the elites are never truly safe ) . As a result , the horrors that audiences have witnessed in this dystopia have been near interminable .
Updated October 29th, 2022 by Hilary Elizabeth:
It was an incredible succour to see June Osborne finally escape Gilead after many attempts and unnumerable injury , but as her quality arc has demonstrated thus far , that form of suffering is n’t easy to leave alone behind . And unfortunately , the fact that June left does n’t entail that the viciousness of Gilead has ended , and although more and more seem to be fighting back or work toward change , there are plenty of gut - wrench second to come forthe final time of year of the serial .
The Ceremony
The ceremony is apparently one of the most disturbing focal points of the entire serial , and there are stratum to the repugnance of this experience . It is an act that is sanction by the government and is limn as the handmaids doing their " job , " but it is little more than legalized rape .
Related : Aunt Lydia ’s 12 Most Terrifying Quotes
Gilead does n’t have a habit of treat its citizen with kindness or self-worth , but the fact that the handmaids ( and in many cases , unwilling wives , as well as the occasional unwilling commander ) are subjected to this and regale as if it ’s a privilege is disgusting .
Janine Loses An Eye
When Gilead overthrew the United States and instal an radical authorities , they understandably wanted to establish that they meant business . And one of the ways in which they terrorise the freshly - embrocate handmaids was to violently penalise them for act out .
Before most of the women even translate what form of position they were in , Aunt Lydia decided to make Janine an examplefor the class and had her eye remove as punishment for her ohmic resistance to handmaid training . Janine , as well as everyone with her , was traumatise by the natural action .
Jezebels
As is usually the case with the privileged in companionship , the Commanders do n’t actually play along their own rules . The Commanders themselves are able to get around the laws of Gilead . And is usually the typesetter’s case with Gilead , these bent rules oftentimes come at the disbursement of innocent victims .
As Commander Lawrence so aptly stated to Serena , Gilead does n’t have a stead for unusual women , so anyone who ca n’t conform to into the stricture of their lodge typically suffers horrifically as a consequence . In the case of Jezebels , women who misconduct or did n’t acquiesce to Gilead ’s regulation in some way are literally forced to become sex slaves for the high echelon of male society .
Janine’s Death Sentence
The layers of cruelty in this fussy scene are hard to grasp . Because yes , force the handmaids to execute malefactor is gruesome enough on its own , but attempting to get them to defeat one of their own is a special kind of psychological torment .
What makes this integral scenario even more absurd is that Janine is being sentence to death not long after an attempted felo-de-se , which Gilead take heroic measures to avail her recover from . The fact that they were willing to invest all of that metre and energy just so they could brutally kill her themselves is disgusting .
Hannah’s Torture Box
Nearly every moment require Hannah is downright agony to watch , but this was a particularly difficult scene because it drops all of the moral pretense that Gilead builds around its child .
It comes as no great shock that Gilead would be uncoerced to psychologically excruciate a child to compel her female parent into acquiescing to their demand , but actually seeing Hannah in this situation and with the significance that she has been so indoctrinate by her state that she either does n’t recognize or is afraid of her real mother is heartbreaking .
June’s Last Ceremony
The ceremony is traumatic under the best of circumstances , but when June irritates Fred andSerena in the belated leg of pregnancy , they both devise a " ceremony " which is nothing more than a way of punishing June with rape .
Related:10 Best Double agent In The Handmaid ’s Tale , Ranked
Serena nominally claims that she require to induce June ’s project , but it ’s obvious what the true intention is . The scenery was exceptionally hard to keep an eye on because it revealed the true horror of these ceremonies . June begs for Fred and Serena to stop , and they force her down . Although they attempt to hide behind religion and reason , once again , this scene really drops all the pretence palisade handmaids and exposes the most detestable aspects of Gilead social club .
The Bombing
The 2nd Ofglen , better known as Lillie Fuller , was an interesting insight into a different point of view for Gilead , at least at first . Unlike most handmaids , she seemed to be happy with her young posture . But that all change when Janine was sentenced to destruction .
After being horrifically brutalized for speaking out in defense of Janine , clear she was traumatized and willing to do whatever it took to hurt Gilead . Lillie became a suicide bomberand direct the Commanders , but there were many handmaids who were killed in the tone-beginning as well .
Janine & Emily Go To The Colonies And Back
InGilead , there is no theatrical role for a woman that is a good one . Even the married woman deal with a in high spirits level of oppression , although they do have some index and privilege . After Emily and Janine are sent to the Colonies to work to death , they are bring back as handmaids after the onset on the Commanders that also kills handmaids .
It was disconcerting to see them back in this situation even though life-time in the Colonies was just as nasty in different ways , which really show that there are very few ways to escape for these women .
Fred Beats Serena
Serena is an extremely problematic character who is hard to feel ruth for because she is such a horrific abuser herself . However , Fred ’s viciousness towards her and the situation at big makes this incident far harder to watch .
Related : The Handmaid ’s Tale ’s 8 Most Villainous Characters , Ranked
Although Fred clearly has no trouble with the rules being dented under his supervision , the fact that Serena went around him to give up a female medico to facilitate a child upset him to the point where he uses incredibly violent bodied penalisation against her . The cruelty of his legal action is bad enough , but the fact that he is so enraged because Serena tried to help a child is disturbing .
Eden Is Married Off To Nick
Nick ’s marriage to Eden was disturb for a few reasons . Firstly , the driving military unit behind it was that Fred and Serena notice that he and June were bonding , and they require to ensure that June was as miserable and alone as potential .
Secondly , Eden was a teenage lady friend and Nick was an grownup man , and neither of them were given any choice regarding their union . Nearly every moment of their human relationship was cringe , but it was particularly difficult to see Nick realise that he was getting married against his will , and the consummation of their spousal relationship was a disgusting scene , even inHandmaid ’s Taleterms .
Eden’s Execution
Despite their outward obsession with children , Gilead considers its citizens to have lead childhood very early on , and thus they are more than comfortable subject them to many adult things like marriage and executions .
Eden ’s marriage to Nick was doomed from the starting line , but her death is nearly impossible to watch for many reasons . Firstly , her teenaged Romeo and Juliet fancy go as far as a willingness to " conk out for love " really exemplifies how young and sinless she was . Secondly , bear so many people witness the deaths of these children is unfathomable . And finally , it ’s gutting to realize that Eden was only in this position to start out with because her Church Father turned her in to the authorities .
The Rings
Given thatThe Handmaid ’s Taleis a dystopian drama , it ’s clean to say that most viewers do n’t anticipate horror movie derail scare in the series . But even after all the bloodcurdling things the show has explore , it still managed to shock when it first revealed the handmaids with rings in their mouths .
It was bonny to take on that Washington D.C. would be an even more vivid version of Gilead , but to quite literally break the handmaids from speaking or even opening their mouths was an enactment of state violence that even shocked June .
Eleanor’s Death
Nearly every face of Eleanor ’s story was a calamity . She was one of the few multitude in the country and in a attitude of relative power who seemed to be kind , and her empathy wound her in the long streamlet .
She desperately want to annul make a ceremony , but Fred convinced Commander Winslow to intervene and assure that June was raped . The psychic trauma of that experience along with the fear that she would do something to harm the possibleness of children escaping led her to suicide , and to make it even more brutal , June knew what she was doing and permit it happen for keep the design for Angel ’s Flight safe .
Emily’s Mutilation
The Handmaid ’s Taletelevision serial publication focuses even more on what Gilead does to citizenry who are LGBTQ+ . Everything about Emily ’s experience is worrying , and the fact that her partner was so rakishly and nonchalantly attend was almost more gutting than what happened to Emily later on .
After watching her girlfriend die , she is genitally mutilated in a false attempt to change or erase her sexuality . Clearly , this is just meant to be an unimaginably yucky var. of punishment , and as common , Gilead dresses it up as if it ’s god ’s will .
Esther Keyes' Endless Gauntlet Of Torment
It was already obvious that women on every echelon of society could be horribly mistreated , but that point was really driven home with Esther Keyes . She began as a wife who had been repeatedly raped by many men in the hopes of get under one’s skin meaning , and when she acted out , she was demoted to handmaid tariff .
Commander Putnam did n’t hesitate to sexually lash out this child either , and his rape resulted in a pregnancy . Esther was punished for attempting self-destruction and Aunt Lydia entail that she may have done something to pull Commander Putnam ’s attention . It ’s hard to think anyone who has had a tougher go of things than Esther .
Next:9 Best TV Shows To Watch On Hulu This calendar month
