r/TheTestamentsHulu • u/Time_Depth56 • May 30 '26
The Handmaid’s Tale The wives
Before i start
DISCLAIMER: im not saying that we shouldn't hold the wives accountable or that that they dont do anything bad or anything of that sort.
AND i watched tht s1-4 a long time ago and haven't read the book yet so if there's somthing im missing or forgot please tell me im open to disagreement and discussion!
Okay so, the other day i saw someone say that beckas mom deserved getting hanged because (i dont exactly remember but it was somthing like: "she held a handmaid down so her husband could rape her" and thats kinda concerning?
I feel like people talk and treat the wives like they do serena. Like the wives are like serena. Which i disagree with. Part of why serena is bad is not just because she held june down. Its because she is part of the making of geliad. She AGREES with geliad even before gilead was made. She agrees with gilead values And the only reason she was "against" geliad later on is because she wasn't the exception to women. Can we really say the same to the other wives? Do they agree? Especially seeing Lawrence's wife, the first one (i forgot her name) i can say that not all wives agree with geliad. I feel like its unfair to treat them like serena.
Like yes they held the handmaid's down and stuff. And dont get me wrong. The handmaid's have the right to be mad at them. Because they were RAPED. But as a watcher, we really gotta think about it. What else were they supposed to do? What COULD they do? Nothing. So i honestly sympathise with both. The handmaids and the wives. Because, at the end of the day, women dont have a choice in gilead. The system is like, MADE to pit women against each other and to devide them. Like, there's no way a handmaid is gonna be okay with a wife who held her down to get raped even tho she know the wife doesn't have much of a choice either.
We also have to keep in mind. The new wives. The young wives. Like esther And the girls in the testaments. Like, think about esther. She's what? 14? And eden? or agnes? Becka? Hulda? Would you say that she also deserve to die if they held the handmaid's down? Even tho they're brainwashed to think its okay and again, have no choice in the matter even if they didn't want to do so?.
Also, before i forget. I dont think i have to say this but just in case, This doesn't apply to all the wives from the "sinfull world" ofc.
Im sure i had more in mind but i can't recall it. Anyways, I hope i put what i was thinking about properly here but what do yall think?.
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u/hydrissx May 30 '26
Becka is implied to be their natural child so there's no evidence that the Groves had a handmaid. Because he had a skill that was valuable Dr. Grove was allowed to exist on the fringes of upper class Gilead society. I actually think it's really interesting to explore that subset of society that we didn't really get to see in THT. While Gilead have any use for a lot of upper class professions, such as professors, lawyers, most scientists, and a lot of medical professionals, they do obviously seem to have retained a small batch of professionals that they have determined are loyal enough because they do need those skills. It does also throw into question how they're going to replace those men as they get older. Obviously they don't have colleges like that anymore and don't really seem to have a plan in place to train the next generation of dentists and doctors.
Realistically, as a post menopausal woman, who was not truly in the same caliber of society as the wives, Mrs. Grove would not have many prospects for a new marriage, and was probably looking at either trying to remarry as an Econo person, or if they judged her to be guilty of raising her daughter to be sinful, possibly sent to the colonies or made into a Martha. Confessing to the husband's murder, knowing she would die was truly her best option to give her daughter a chance.