A Crisis of Selves From Page to Screen : A comparison of the representation of Offred and June’s identity conflict in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and the Hulu adaptation thereof in a television series (2017)

This MA dissertation compares the representation of the Offred’s identity conflict in Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and the adaptation thereof in the Hulu television series by screenwriter Bruce Miller (2017). The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the series complexifies Offred’s identity quest using audio-visual techniques, such as voice-over, music, framing and shallow focus, as well as the female gaze, implying allowing the viewer to share the protagonist’s emotions. With that aim in mind, this dissertation studies how the adaptation makes use of visuals like facial close-ups to represent Offred’s use of the Handmaid’s mask as a way to protect herself or to manipulate others. The depiction of how three characters prevent Offred from reappropriating her agency is furthermore analysed in both media to show that the television series makes use of framing, composition and added screen time in its reworking to convey their complex relationship. Then, a thorough analysis of Offred’s struggle to reclaim her former self reveals that the television series renders Atwood’s story more hopeful on screen and idealizes Offred’s character through her newfound assertiveness. In contrast with Offred’s failure to maintain a sense of self in the novel, Hulu’s Offred in fact manages to reappropriate her agency and will to resist the authoritarian regime. This dissertation eventually demonstrates that the alterations in Offred’s crisis of selves from page to screen are explained by the twenty-first century feminist waves and gender and political context in which the television series is adapted.