The Handmaid’s Tale: Serena Joy Lesson
GCSE / A-Level English Literature | Margaret Atwood | Character Analysis | Feminism | Dystopian Fiction

In this lesson, students explore how Atwood presents Serena Joy and uses her character to examine gender, ideology and power in The Handmaid’s Tale.

This zero-prep, print-and-go lesson is designed to save you time, money and stress while helping students engage in thoughtful, analytical study of one of the novel’s most complex characters. Ideal for GCSE and A-Level English Literature, this resource supports students in exploring Serena Joy’s background, beliefs, contradictions and position within Gilead’s hierarchy.

This updated lesson now includes far more than just the teaching slides. It comes with a full 50+ page teacher guide to support confident, flexible delivery, including:

trauma-informed teaching tips

lesson structure ideas

extension and stretch activities

a full scheme of work for a 6-week unit

Students also receive a range of helpful scaffolds, including:

a student response self-assessment

a vocabulary bank

a double-sided text cheat sheet

The lesson presentation and accompanying resources have also been updated to include additional materials, such as:

student handouts

pulled quotes from the relevant section

extra activities to deepen analysis and discussion

In this lesson, students will:

understand Serena Joy’s background and beliefs

evaluate how Atwood uses her character to critique conservative feminism

analyse Serena’s role and power within Gilead

compare her experiences with those of other women in the novel, including Handmaids, Wives and Marthas