From Villainess to Gilead’s Nemesis: The (Un)easy Rehabilitation of Aunt Lydia
The article takes under scrutiny the evolution of the key antagonist from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, namely, Aunt Lydia. In the sequel to her most popular novel, that is, The Testaments, the author boldly rewrote the villainous Aunt as Gilead’s undercover agent, forcing the reader to rec...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Canada and Beyond |
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| Online Access: | https://revistas.usal.es/dos/index.php/2254-1179/article/view/31507 |
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| author | Ewelina Feldman-Kołodziejuk |
| author_facet | Ewelina Feldman-Kołodziejuk |
| author_sort | Ewelina Feldman-Kołodziejuk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article takes under scrutiny the evolution of the key antagonist from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, namely, Aunt Lydia. In the sequel to her most popular novel, that is, The Testaments, the author boldly rewrote the villainous Aunt as Gilead’s undercover agent, forcing the reader to reconsider their own perception and reception of this character retrospectively. Predictably, many critics and fans found the said transformation implausible. Taking The Testaments as a point of departure, the article rereads the original tale, which, astonishingly, discloses a number of equivocal passages that in fact might provide credibility to Atwood’s audacious refashioning of Aunt Lydia as a Mayday spy. The article offers a reevaluation of Aunt Lydia’s villainy in The Handmaid’s Tale through the lens of her undercover identity, revealed in The Testaments. Firstly, it dissects the techniques and ploys the author used in the sequel to breed readers’ empathy for hitherto despised Aunt Lydia. It focuses on the overlap between the transformation of her character and the shift from the original novel’s criticism of second wave feminism towards the sequel’s embrace of the fourth wave. Finally, and most importantly, it discusses a selection of equivocal fragments from The Handmaid’s Tale that specifically pertain to Aunt Lydia. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ad73767af0af4a64941eba04d0b27482 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2254-1179 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Canada and Beyond |
| spelling | doaj-art-ad73767af0af4a64941eba04d0b274822025-02-07T08:51:16ZengEdiciones Universidad de SalamancaCanada and Beyond2254-11792025-01-01148510310.14201/candb.v14i85-10336976From Villainess to Gilead’s Nemesis: The (Un)easy Rehabilitation of Aunt LydiaEwelina Feldman-Kołodziejuk0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1205-1510University of BiałystokThe article takes under scrutiny the evolution of the key antagonist from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, namely, Aunt Lydia. In the sequel to her most popular novel, that is, The Testaments, the author boldly rewrote the villainous Aunt as Gilead’s undercover agent, forcing the reader to reconsider their own perception and reception of this character retrospectively. Predictably, many critics and fans found the said transformation implausible. Taking The Testaments as a point of departure, the article rereads the original tale, which, astonishingly, discloses a number of equivocal passages that in fact might provide credibility to Atwood’s audacious refashioning of Aunt Lydia as a Mayday spy. The article offers a reevaluation of Aunt Lydia’s villainy in The Handmaid’s Tale through the lens of her undercover identity, revealed in The Testaments. Firstly, it dissects the techniques and ploys the author used in the sequel to breed readers’ empathy for hitherto despised Aunt Lydia. It focuses on the overlap between the transformation of her character and the shift from the original novel’s criticism of second wave feminism towards the sequel’s embrace of the fourth wave. Finally, and most importantly, it discusses a selection of equivocal fragments from The Handmaid’s Tale that specifically pertain to Aunt Lydia.https://revistas.usal.es/dos/index.php/2254-1179/article/view/31507the handmaid’s talethe testamentsgileadfeminismsisterhoodrereading |
| spellingShingle | Ewelina Feldman-Kołodziejuk From Villainess to Gilead’s Nemesis: The (Un)easy Rehabilitation of Aunt Lydia Canada and Beyond the handmaid’s tale the testaments gilead feminism sisterhood rereading |
| title | From Villainess to Gilead’s Nemesis: The (Un)easy Rehabilitation of Aunt Lydia |
| title_full | From Villainess to Gilead’s Nemesis: The (Un)easy Rehabilitation of Aunt Lydia |
| title_fullStr | From Villainess to Gilead’s Nemesis: The (Un)easy Rehabilitation of Aunt Lydia |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Villainess to Gilead’s Nemesis: The (Un)easy Rehabilitation of Aunt Lydia |
| title_short | From Villainess to Gilead’s Nemesis: The (Un)easy Rehabilitation of Aunt Lydia |
| title_sort | from villainess to gilead s nemesis the un easy rehabilitation of aunt lydia |
| topic | the handmaid’s tale the testaments gilead feminism sisterhood rereading |
| url | https://revistas.usal.es/dos/index.php/2254-1179/article/view/31507 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ewelinafeldmankołodziejuk fromvillainesstogileadsnemesistheuneasyrehabilitationofauntlydia |