Why it’s actually called The Handmaid’s Tale #englishlit #handmaidstale #studyhacks

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Why is it called The Handmaid's Tale?

[00:00:01]Well, let's take a look. So, The Handmaid's Tale is likely a reference to Chaucer. As a matter of fact, in the historical notes of The Handmaid's Tale, it's confirmed that the professors named the audio tapes that they found that contained Offred's narrative, they called it The Handmaid's Tale as a reference to Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales because all of the tales in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are called the Wife of Bath's Tale, the Tale of the Wife of Bath, the Miller's Tale, the Knight's Tale, etc. So, there we have them embedded then, The Handmaid's Tale, in the literary tradition there. Of course, it's also The Handmaid's Tale.

[00:00:32]It's Offred's tale, but interestingly, it's not Offred's tale that they're calling it. It's The Handmaid's Tale.

[00:00:36]So, we're thinking about her as a symbol or a metonym, an example, a representative of the handmaid's experience more broadly in Gilead. So, this is kind of a historical document to the minds of the historical notes professors, right? To us, of course, we know it's fiction, but to them, this is a piece of discovery that they have found that shows what life was like at the time.

[00:00:58]It's almost a time capsule for them of what life was like at the time for handmaids in Gilead.

[00:01:04]Then, of course, we've got this idea of the fact The Handmaid's Tale also carries resonance of things like old wives' tale or telling tales, which suggest element of untruth or lies or fantasy of some description, which suggests and introduces this idea of doubt into Offred's narrative that she also confirms as she says things like, "This is a reconstruction. It didn't happen like this."

[00:01:27]And then, of course, we've also got, as confirmed in the historical notes, this element of a vulgar joke as a reference to The Handmaid's Tale as tale was meant to suggest either someone's bottom or someone's genitalia depending on which era we're talking about. This idea of thinking about The Handmaid's Tale as then linking her to sex and sexuality.

[00:01:46]Again, very similarly to the ideas of Chaucer and the Wife of Bath's Tale. So, thinking about them both as women here and linking them to this historical and literary tradition, but also being linked with sex and sexuality as well.

[00:02:01]And finally, of course, we've got this idea of them being audiotapes because that links us as well, this idea of her telling a tale, to the oral tradition, which is predominantly linked to the to femininity and female culture in that women historically, including in Gilead, were not allowed to read and were banned from reading and writing. So, how else could Offred preserve this narrative? It is preserved because she is speaking it and telling it in the same way that her voice, even when she is meant to be silent, still whispers and to us she still tells her tale as well. The fact that it survives means that Offred, regardless of her fate, also survives.

[00:02:37]Hope this helps. Remember, you can include analysis of the title, the epigraphs, and the historical notes all in your analysis of The Handmaid's Tale.

[00:02:43]That will help bolster your argument because it will show that you can pick up patterns across the text. Good luck with your exams and see you next time.

[00:02:50]Bye.