The Handmaid’s Tale: Why do Wives wear blue? The color-coded power structure, explained

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is among the most powerful dystopian novels of the late 20th century. It's infamous for its unsettling depiction of a totalitarian state that terminates women's rights and imposes a strict religious rule. The novel was first released in 1985 and soon became a milestone of feminist literature.

It delves deep into problems like autonomy, power, and resistance in a structurally subordinated world of women. Atwood didn't invent this world—her story draws on real history and current fears. The novel got a second lease on life in 2017 when Hulu made The Handmaid's Tale a hit television series.

Starring Elisabeth Moss as Offred, the show attracted huge audiences and received accolades. It also reignited huge debates about gender, power, and totalitarian rule. But the most lasting thing about The Handmaid's Tale is its palette. The burning red of the Handmaids. The icy blue of the Wives. The muted green of the Marthas. These hues aren't used simply for their looks; they reflect Gilead's oppressive social order.

At the center of the novel is Offred, a Handmaid who is compelled into childbearing on behalf of the ruling men. We observe as she struggles with the daily horror of living in Gilead. We witness how the regime uses fear, control, and ritual to maintain citizens in subjection through her. And we witness the little acts of resistance that never quite disappear.

The story rotates between her bleak reality and recollections of her past existence. This imposes a strong emotional gravity and a profound sense of loss upon the story.

In The Handmaid's Tale, each color signals who a person is and what their position is. Among the most important colors is blue, which the Commanders' Wives wear. But why blue? Let's break down why the Wives are dressed in blue, what the color signifies, and how the color-coded regime of Gilead allows it to dominate.

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The story of The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is set in a near-future America, now transformed into the Republic of Gilead. It's a patriarchal, theocratic system where women have all autonomy stripped from them. They're defined only by their capacity for reproduction. The government blames the environmental disaster and the declining birth rates. In turn, it compels women to strict roles.

Offred, being the protagonist, is a Handmaid. She is commanded to a Commander's house. All she has to do is bear children for the ruling class.

The Handmaid's Tale is narrated by Offred. Her story shifts between the present and recollections of life prior to Gilead. At the time, she was a wife, a mother, and a librarian. The world looked a lot like ours. But following a brutal coup, the rights of women are taken from them. A strict new order prevails.

Offred's day-to-day life is strictly regulated. She's under surveillance at all times. Reading is prohibited. She has to go through the "Ceremony" every month—a ritual where the Commander has intercourse with her while his Wife observes. It's all in the name of having babies.

Hulu brought Atwood's world to life on screen with fearless visuals and rich performances. The Handmaid's Tale added depth to supporting characters and revealed more of Gilead's world.

The series was a huge hit. It won numerous Emmys and generated significant cultural conversation. Its color scheme became iconic. The clothing did not merely appear dramatic—it conveyed the way the regime put everyone in their place.

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Color as a tool of power in The Handmaid's Tale

In both the series and the book, color isn't merely aesthetic. It's central to how Gilead manipulates individuals. Each category of women has a certain color. That color determines their purpose and position in society.

This is the rundown:

Handmaids: Red

Wives: Blue

Marthas: Green

Aunts: Brown

Econowives: Striped (multiple colors)

Men (Commanders and Guardians): Black

This system is strictly enforced. Your clothes don’t just cover you; they remind you, and everyone else, of your place. The colors are symbolic. They’re also practical: they make it easy to sort and separate people.

In Gilead, your identity doesn’t matter. Your color—and your assigned function—does.

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Symbolism of colors in The Handmaid's Tale

Each color is loaded with meaning. These meanings come from Gilead’s world and from older cultural and religious symbols.

Red (Handmaids): Red signifies fertility. It also implies sex, sexuality, sin, and sacrifice. It's associated with blood and childbirth. It makes Handmaids both holy and scandalous.

Green (Marthas): Green represents household work. It implies nature, service, and nurturing. Marthas cook and clean. Their uniforms acknowledge their caretaker role.

Brown (Aunts): Brown signifies order, discipline, and authority. Aunts discipline Handmaids and keep Gilead in line. They're the regime's enforcers.

Blue (Wives): Blue represents serenity, purity, and elite status. Blue directly connects with religious visions of the Virgin Mary, the unattainable ideality of femininity.

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The color blue: Symbolism and significance for the Wives

Historical and cultural associations

Blue has always been associated with nobility and serenity. Spiritual purity is also what blue symbolizes. In Christian iconography, the Virgin Mary is always dressed in blue. She's the mother of Christ and the epitome of virtuous womanhood.

Gilead does not select this color randomly. The regime relies heavily on religious symbolism. It legitimizes its laws by invoking tradition. For the Wives, blue connects them to this ideal: serene, virginal, and spiritually elevated.

Blue as a marker of status

Wives are the formal wives of the Commanders—the ruling elite. In their blue dresses, their status is immediately apparent. Whereas Handmaids are prized for fertility, Wives are designed to embody loyalty, elegance, and moral order.

Blue distinguishes them. It indicates they're privileged—yet also charged with maintaining Gilead's values.

Compare and contrast with other colors

The opposition of blue and red is not an accident. Red is loud, powerful, and associated with fertility and danger. Blue is quiet and restrained. Blue signifies authority, not anarchy.

This visual conflict tells us a lot. It divides women into two groups: those who bear children (Handmaids) and those who oversee them (Wives). One color indicates passion. The other indicates control.

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Why Blue? Theological and psychological dimensions

Religious justification

Gilead's leaders explain the color palette using selective scripture and religious tradition. The Wives' blue robes are explicitly tied back to the Virgin Mary. This association strengthens the notion that Wives ought to be regarded as pure, untouchable, and above reproach.

The religious symbolism serves Gilead's gender roles. It makes the subordination of women seem divinely appointed, not man-made.

Psychological impact

Using color to control isn't innovative. Authoritarian powers have long employed it. In The Handmaid's Tale, blue does more than indicate status. Blue structures the way Wives—and those around them—feel and think.

Blue induces tranquility and order and assists in establishing an atmosphere of control and quiet. That deters rebellion and encourages obedience.

But blue also isolates. Wives can be elevated, but they're also isolated emotionally. The color keeps them apart, but also lonely.

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The Wives' experience: Privilege and constraint

Serena Joy, the Commander's Wife in Offred's home, demonstrates the contradictions of her position. She was once a dominant televangelist. She openly advocated for "traditional values." Now, she exists under the same rules she helped create.

Her blue dress signifies her standing. But it also signifies her enclosure.

Serena and Offred have a strained relationship. There is jealousy, bitterness, and intense personal sadness. She is infertile. But she must take in a Handmaid into her home for that very reason.

That blue dress, intended to demonstrate virtue and mastery, turns out to be something else. It is a daily reminder of what she has lost—and what she can never get back.

On the outside, Wives are living well. They're comfortable. They're treated with deference. But their power is limited and weak.

They remain subject to the rule of their husbands. They respond to the regime. The blue robes that distinguish them from Handmaids and Marthas do not free them from the same system.

The blue is the crown and cage. A symbol of privilege and everything they are not free to change.