The Handmaid's Tale Test

The Handmaid's Tale Test is inspired by psychometric methodology and based on research into the characters of the book series. The test provides feedback such as the following:

Emily Malek

Emily Malek is a former university professor whose quiet life is shattered by the rise of Gilead, transforming her from a cautious academic into a fierce, radicalized insurgent. Forced into servitude and subjected to horrific physical mutilation, she responds with a quiet, burning rage. She channels her grief into direct, often violent acts of resistance, refusing to let her oppressors break her spirit. While her defiance saves lives and strikes genuine blows against the regime, the extreme measures she takes leave her deeply traumatized. When she finally escapes to safety, she struggles with intense guilt, hyper-vigilance, and the difficult task of reclaiming her humanity.

June Osborne

June Osborne is a stubbornly resilient captive who transforms from a traumatized handmaid into a fierce, volatile leader of the Gilead resistance. Driven by an fierce maternal instinct to rescue her daughters, she constantly battles the tension between her desire for a peaceful family life and her growing hunger for retributive justice. She routinely risks her life to orchestrate daring escapes, yet her increasingly reckless choices often endanger her closest allies. She masks her profound trauma with dark defiance, using tactical manipulation and sudden violence to reclaim her agency. Ultimately, she is a survivor who refuses to accept powerlessness, even when her crusade costs her her own humanity.

Moira Strand

Moira Strand is an outspoken activist and loyal friend who confronts oppression with sharp pragmatism and defiant humor. As a feminist and lesbian who openly resists the regime, she becomes a legendary figure of rebellion before the trauma of captivity temporarily wears down her spirit. She balances a fierce desire for justice with a realistic understanding of survival, often acting as a grounding voice of reason when others lean into reckless vengeance. In her relationships, she is deeply protective of her chosen family, offering steady support and community-based care. She represents the enduring strength of those who fight hard, face burnout, and rebuild their lives.

Commander Fred Waterford

Commander Fred Waterford is a high-ranking official of Gilead who hides his craving for status and control behind a mask of paternalistic charm. As a key founder of the regime, he maintains a hypocritical double life, projecting the image of a righteous statesman while privately indulging in forbidden pleasures and exploiting the women under his authority. He rationalizes his cruelty as necessary for the greater good, yet he quickly plays the victim whenever he is held accountable. He uses small privileges to manipulate others into compliance, preferring quiet coercion over physical confrontation. He is driven by ego, sexual entitlement, and a deep desire for personal prestige.

Serena Joy Waterford

Serena Joy Waterford is a brittle, ambitious ideologue who helped design the very patriarchal regime that ultimately strips away her freedom. Once a powerful public speaker and author, she finds herself confined to the domestic sphere she championed, silenced and subordinated by the male elite. She is deeply resentful of her loss of status, yet she ruthlessly enforces the strict rules of Gilead on other women to maintain her remaining power. Driven by a desperate longing for motherhood and moral righteousness, she oscillates between cold, calculating strategy and explosive cruelty. She will readily break her own strict laws when it serves her personal goals.

Nick Blaine

Nick Blaine is a quiet, morally ambiguous driver and military officer who survives by blending into the background of a brutal regime. Originally joining the Sons of Jacob out of desperation, he quickly grows to despise the system he helped build. He manages his dangerous double life by maintaining a stoic, unreadable exterior, hiding his work as a secret agent and his deep devotion to the woman he loves. He avoids open confrontation, choosing instead to pass information and arrange quiet escapes. He constantly wrestles with his own complicity, balancing his survival instincts against his desire to protect his family from within a corrupt system.

Aunt Lydia Clements

Aunt Lydia Clements is a formidable enforcer who maintains order in Gilead by policing other women with a mixture of brutal discipline and twisted maternal affection. She trains and punishes Handmaids using physical pain and religious dogma, genuinely believing she is saving their souls and preparing them for a sacred duty. This belief creates a sharp contradiction between her sadistic methods and her weeping displays of grief and love for her charges. Driven by a desire to be indispensable and a fear of losing control, she demands absolute obedience. She shows that under tyranny, personal shame can easily harden into institutional cruelty.