Gilead will never forget these hard hitting quotes.
Based on Margaret Atwood‘s novel of the same name released in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale presents a dystopia in which in response to declining birth rates, fertile women are forced to live as concubines, known as handmaids, for wealthy, powerful men and their wives in a newly formed totalitarian country called Gilead in what used to be the United States. The series is centered on handmaid June Osborne as she survives in Gilead and fights to find her daughter and escape, and it has always managed to feel timely. It first premiered on Hulu in 2017. Although the upcoming sixth season will be its last, a spin-off based on Atwood’s sequel, The Testaments, is in the works.
Atwood’s original novel featured plenty of memorable quotes, some of which have become an important part of the series, as well. But there are also a number of quotes not included in Atwood’s work which stand out, often said by June as part of her voiceover narration, especially in the show’s early seasons. The best of the quotes touch on not just the politics of Gilead but also speak to something greater about everything from humanity to motherhood.
The Handmaid’s Tale
- Release Date
- April 26, 2017
- Cast
- Elisabeth Moss , Yvonne Strahovski , Joseph Fiennes , Ann Dowd , O.T. Fagbenle
10 “Can’t we all agree, gentlemen, that it’s embarrassing to be running a country in which people are constantly trying to escape?”
Commander Lawrence, Season 5, Episode 8, “Motherland”
In “Motherland,” Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) pitched his idea for New Bethlehem to June (Elisabeth Moss), tempting her with the possibility of a reunion with Hannah there, and June later received information about Hannah. Meanwhile, Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) hit rock bottom while separated from Noah in Toronto. While struggling with anti-refugee sentiment, including graffiti outside their home, Luke (O. T. Fagbenle) proposed moving somewhere less hostile, while June was reluctant because of her determination to get Hannah back to them.
Commander Lawrence was one of the few men who regretted at least some aspects of the creation of Gilead—in an effort to save humanity, things spun out of control, leading to something he didn’t truly want. In an attempt to mitigate the damage, he helped June and tried to get his peers to acknowledge Gilead’s flaws. The stream of people desperate to get out of Gilead wasn’t a good look.
9 “No mother is ever completely a child’s idea of what a mother should be. And I suppose it works the other way around as well.”
June Osborne, Season 2, Episode 3
The relationship between June and her mother—who June learned was sent to the Colonies—was explored through flashbacks in “Baggage.” June’s mother disapproved of her choices in job and partner and, as one of the few who saw what was happening to the country, felt June should be fighting back instead. In the present, June made progress in her attempt to escape into Canada, only to get captured in the end. Meanwhile, Moira’s (Samira Wiley) work with refugees forced her to confront her trauma and find ways to cope.
The Handmaid’s Tale has often dealt with the theme of motherhood, and “Baggage” addressed that head-on with June’s complicated relationship with her mother. June’s comments about motherhood took on the familiar territory of perfectionism as a parent and were presented in part from a child’s perspective, touching on the expectations children have of their parents, mothers in particular. But they also explored the reverse, the idea that parents also have expectations for their children which are also not always in line with reality.
8 “It’s June. You know my fucking name.”
June Osborne, Season 2, Episode 4
After nearly escaping to Canada, June faced punishment at the hands of Aunt Lydia, but due to June’s pregnancy, Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) could only go so far in Season 2 episode “Other Women.” When June returned to the Waterfords’ home, Serena enjoyed a baby shower, leading the tension between the two women to become even worse. Meanwhile, flashbacks showed the repercussions of Luke’s affair with June, including the role it played in June becoming a handmaid.
A crucial part of the control in The Handmaid’s Tale was the way women, handmaids especially, were stripped of their identities. One of the most obvious—and dehumanizing—ways this was done was to give handmaids new names based on their Commanders, so June became Offred, or “of Fred,” solidifying that they were essentially the Commanders’ property. Using their actual names became a form of rebellion, and in one of June’s many clashes with Aunt Lydia, she insisted she use it.
7 “It’s been five years since we had our children torn away from us. An eternity… We’ve missed everything. The steps. The smiles. The tragedies.”
June Osborne, Season 3, Episode 10, “Witness”
In “Witness,” June started piecing together an ambitious plan to get children out of Gilead and into Canada with the help of Lawrence, his wife and the Marthas—and she learned of the Marthas’ way of using baked goods to secretly deliver messages to each other when they communicated that they wouldn’t be able to get mood-stabilizing drugs for Lawrence’s wife. Meanwhile, Fred enforced changes to the Waterford household and made sure the went through with the Ceremony.
June’s comments in “Witness” also dealt with motherhood, but they were also more focused on the passage of time. For the mothers of Gilead who were separated from their children, five years felt like much longer, and June’s observations touched on how much the children changed in those five years and how much they really missed, from milestones to something as simple as seeing their children smile. It’s a reminder that for all the horrors endured in Gilead, the loss of their children was among the worst.
6 “There’s no such thing as a sterile man anymore. There’s only women who are fruitful and women who are barren.”
June Osborne, Season 1, Episode 4, “Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum”
As a form of punishment, Serena forced June to stay in her room for nearly two weeks, and out of boredom, June examined every inch, including the closet, where she found the phrase “nolite te bastardes carborundorum” scratched into the wall. As she examined it while lying on the floor, she was interrupted by Rita (Amanda Brugel), who thought June had harmed herself. June lied about what she was doing and claimed she passed out, prompting a visit to the doctor.
Gilead and its leaders—men—were seemingly willing to do anything and everything to maintain power and control over women, including clinging to illusions about the cause of rising infertility. They would never admit that it was more likely the men who were infertile, not the women. Instead, they ignored the possibility entirely and valued women according to whether or not they were fertile, or seemed to be, and used that as an excuse to treat them as less than human.
5 “Never mistake a woman’s meekness for weakness.”
Ambassador Castillo, quoting Serena, Season 1, Episode 6, “A Woman’s Place”
The ambassador to Mexico (Zabryna Guevara) visited Gilead in “A Woman’s Place,” leading to the handmaids performing labor like scrubbing blood from public places to present a more sanitized version of Gilead. Ambassador Castillo had questions for June in particular, and although she lied at first and claimed she was happy in Gilead, she later admitted the truth about what was happening. She also learned that, although she had assumed Luke was shot and killed when they were captured, he was actually alive.
“A Woman’s Place” provided great insight into Serena’s character, especially who she was before Gilead, and made clear just how much Serena had lost, too, although that didn’t excuse her behavior. Castillo repeated Serena’s own words about women, reminding her of her past and contrasting it with life in Gilead. But those words didn’t just apply to Serena—they also applied to June, who complied with Gilead’s laws to survive but was working hard to change things.
4 “They should never have given us uniforms if they didn’t want us to be an army.”
June Osborne, Season 1, Episode 10, “Night”
In the Season 1 finale, “Night,” Serena confronted June and Fred (Joseph Fiennes) about their relationship—she forced June to take a pregnancy test, which was positive, and told Fred the baby was most likely not his. Meanwhile, Moira and Luke reunited in Canada. The season ended on a cliffhanger, much like Atwood’s novel, as a group of secret police known as Eyes escorted June from the Waterford household and drove away with her in the back of a van.
As the season progressed, June became bolder—more determined to fight and make it out of Gilead and less inclined to simply accept Gilead as her new reality. Some, though not all, of her fellow handmaids were just as determined to fight back, leading June to see their red uniforms in a new light. Rather than a symbol of their oppression, they instead became a sign of uprising and rebellion.
3 “They said it would be temporary. Nothing changes instantaneously. In a gradually heating bathtub, you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.”
June Osborne, Season 1, Episode 3, “Late”
In “Late,” June and Serena visited Janine (Madeline Brewer) and her baby. The visit prompted June to think back to the early days, as things began to shift before Gilead was created and she and Moira attended protests as women were being stripped of their rights—most notably in “Late,” they were fired from their jobs as their bank accounts were frozen and all assets transferred to their husbands or closest male kin. June also learned what became of the original Ofglen.
“Late” offered a harrowing look at the brutality of Gilead, as though June’s perspective wasn’t enough. In her voiceover, June commented on the gradual shift towards Gilead, including how people’s complacency helped lead to its creation and how even extreme actions went unchallenged under the guise of being temporary measures for everyone’s benefit. It was a lesson June learned too late, but it was also a mistake she would never repeat.
2 “Better never means better for everyone. It always means worse for some.”
Fred Waterford, Season 1, Episode 5, “Faithful”
In Season 1 episode “Faithful,” Serena, suspicious Fred was infertile, suggested that June sleep with Nick (Max Minghella) in an attempt to get pregnant, while June and Fred continued their secretive games of Scrabble in his office. Meanwhile, flashbacks showed the unconventional beginning of June’s relationship with Luke—he was married to another woman at the time, and her role in his adultery is what led to her being designated a handmaid in Gilead.
Fred’s quote about improvement seemed insightful at first, touching on the way systems can fail people and how improvements are never perfect. But it was chilling coming from Fred, a Commander, because of the way he and other men—and to a certain extent, their wives—benefitted at the expense of women overall, from the handmaids forced to live with them and have their children to the ways even Commanders’ wives were stripped of rights.
1 “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
June Osborne, Season 1, Episode 4, “Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum”
Serena Banished June from her room for nearly two weeks, and as june’s mental state became more fragile, she thought back to her time with Moira at the Red Center, where Moira scratched graffiti in a bathroom stall in part as a message to let others in the future know they weren’t alone. Simalarly, in the closet of her room, June found the phrase “nolite te bastardes carborundorum” carved into the wall, put there by Waterfords’ previous handmaid.
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum” was a famous Latin phrase from Atwood’s original book, so it was exciting but not surprising when it turned up in the series. Translated to, “Don’t let the bastards grind you down,” it was something of a motivational rallying cry from June and a reminder to keep fighting rather than letting Gilead win. As Moira noted in flashbacks, a reminder that June wasn’t alone. Tragically, though, it wasn’t as helpful to the first Offred, who took her own life.
This article was originally published on collider.com