Chandelier

The chandelier that once hung from the center of the ceiling in Offred's room is never seen in the present of the narrative; it exists only as an absence, a memory, and a warning. When Offred first describes her room, she notes the "relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the center of it a blank space, plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out." She immediately understands the reason: "There must have been a chandelier, once. They've removed anything you could tie a rope to." This plastered-over hole is the first clue that the room has a violent history, and that the chandelier was not merely a decorative object but a tool of self-destruction.

The Chandelier's History and the Previous Handmaid

The chandelier's true significance is revealed when the Commander tells Offred what happened to the woman who lived in the room before her. When Offred asks about the Latin phrase scratched in the closet, the Commander explains that the previous Handmaid "hanged herself" and adds, "That's why we had the light fixture removed. In your room." The chandelier was the instrument of her death. Offred later imagines the scene: "From the center was the chandelier, and from the chandelier a twisted strip of sheet was hanging down. That's where she was swinging, just lightly, like a pendulum; the way you could swing as a child, hanging by your hands from a tree branch." The chandelier, now gone, becomes a ghostly presence in the room, a silent companion to Offred's own despair.

Offred's Contemplation of Suicide

The absent chandelier haunts Offred's thoughts, especially during moments of crisis. After the Salvaging and the Particicution, when she feels the full weight of the regime's power, she looks up at the ceiling and thinks of the chandelier: "Draw a circle, step into it, it will protect you. From the center was the chandelier, and from the chandelier a twisted strip of sheet was hanging down." She feels the presence of the previous Handmaid, her "ancestress, my double, turning in midair under the chandelier, in her costume of stars and feathers, a bird stopped in flight, a woman made into an angel, waiting to be found." The chandelier, though physically absent, remains a focal point for Offred's consideration of suicide as a way out. She thinks of using a hook in the closet instead, but the chandelier's legacy is the same: "All you'd have to do, after attaching yourself, would be to lean your weight forward and not fight."

Symbolic Resonance and Thematic Significance

The chandelier functions as a powerful symbol of the regime's control over life and death, and of the limited agency available to the Handmaids. Its removal is an act of erasure, an attempt to eliminate the possibility of escape, yet its absence only makes it more present in Offred's mind. The chandelier also connects Offred to the previous Handmaid, creating a lineage of suffering and resistance. The previous Handmaid's suicide, while a tragic end, is also a form of defiance—a choice made in a world that denies choice. Offred's repeated return to the image of the chandelier reflects her own struggle between the desire to survive and the temptation to end her pain. The chandelier, in its absence, becomes a measure of her will to live.