The Handmaid’s Tale — A Level Student Guide
The Handmaid’s Tale — A Level Student Guide
Details
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is one of the most influential dystopian novels of modern literature — a disturbing exploration of power, gender, identity, freedom, language, reproduction and resistance.
Set in the totalitarian theocracy of Gilead, the novel follows Offred, a Handmaid whose identity, movement and reproductive freedom are tightly controlled by the state. Through her fragmented memories of the world before Gilead and her experiences within the Commander’s household, Atwood explores how political power can penetrate the most private areas of human life.
This comprehensive Coleman’s Notes® A Level Student Guide takes students beyond plot knowledge into the close literary analysis, interpretation and critical argument required for advanced English Literature study.
The guide is particularly relevant to AQA students: The Handmaid’s Tale remains a core prose text for A Level English Literature A — Modern Times: Literature from 1945 to the Present Day, and is also listed for English Literature B — Elements of Political and Social Protest Writing. It is additionally an Imagined Worlds text for AQA English Language and Literature.
Inside this 62-page guide: detailed plot summary; chapter-by-chapter analysis; essential guide to Gilead; social hierarchy and colour coding; character relationship map; detailed studies of Offred, Serena Joy, the Commander, Moira, Nick and Ofglen; extended character dossiers; power and political control; gender and the control of women; language; memory and identity; storytelling and testimony; religion and biblical appropriation; sexuality and desire; motherhood; resistance and complicity; surveillance; freedom and choice; history; Political and Social Protest Writing; Modern Times; narrative method; symbols and motifs; historical and cultural context; critical perspectives; comparative pathways; key short textual references; five detailed essay plans; five model answers; 25 Exam & Revision Questions; fifteen key episodes; ten critical debates; passage-analysis workshops; additional practice essay questions; exam technique; revision toolkit; thirty Quick-Recall Questions with answers; and a final revision checklist.
Particular attention is given to Offred as survivor, witness and storyteller, examining how Atwood uses first-person narration, memory, fragmentation, irony and uncertainty to construct both an individual identity and a record of political oppression.
The guide also explores Serena Joy and female complicity, the Commander and institutional hypocrisy, Moira and Ofglen as contrasting models of resistance, Nick and the uncertainty of trust, the Red Center, the Wall, Jezebel’s, Mayday and Gilead’s reproductive hierarchy.
Dedicated sections examine language and political control, literacy, naming, surveillance, motherhood, the appropriation of religion, dystopian society and the Historical Notes, helping students understand how Atwood transforms the personal experience of one woman into a much wider examination of politics and history.
Designed specifically for A Level study and revision, this premium guide helps students move from secure knowledge of the novel towards confident, sustained literary argument.
Individual Student Guide — £7.95
UNDERSTAND • ANALYSE • REVISE • SUCCEED
Coleman’s Notes® is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by AQA, Margaret Atwood, her publishers or other rights holders.