A handmaiden (nowadays less commonly handmaid or maidservant) is a personal
maid
A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...
or female
servant
A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...
.
[ The term is also used metaphorically for something whose primary role is to serve or assist.] Depending on culture or historical period, a handmaiden may be of enslaved status or may be simply an employee. The terms ''handmaiden'' and ''handmaid'' are synonyms.[
]
Depictions in Abrahamic texts
In the King James translation of the Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
. '' Hagar
According to the Book of Genesis, Hagar is an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to her own husband Abram (later renamed Abraham) as a wife to bear him a child. Abraham's firstborn son, through Haga ...
being described as Sarah
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch, prophet, and major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious woma ...
's handmaid, Zilpah
In the Book of Genesis, Zilpah ( ''Zīlpā'', meaning uncertain) was Leah's handmaidIn Context whom Leah gave to Jacob like a wife to bear him children (). Zilpah gave birth to two sons, whom Leah claimed as her own and named Gad and Asher ().
...
being Leah
Leah () appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son Reuben. She has thr ...
's handmaid and Bilhah
Bilhah ( "unworried", Standard Hebrew: ''Bilha'', Tiberian Hebrew: ''Bīlhā'') is a woman mentioned in the Book of Genesis. describes her as Laban's handmaiden (), who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marriage to Jacob. When ...
as Rachel
Rachel () was a Bible, Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph (Genesis), Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban (Bible), Laban. Her older siste ...
's handmaid. In each of these cases, the mistress "gave" their handmaid to their husbands "to wife", to bear his "seed" (children). The use in the Torah of the prefix "to", as in "gave ''to'' wife", may indicate that the wife is a concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...
or inferior wife. The text repeats that these people remain handmaids of their mistress though they are also the concubine of the mistress's husband. They are referred to interchangeably by the Hebrew terms () and (). Other modern English bible translations use the word slave, slave-girl or servant.
Mary
In Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
, Mary, the mother of Jesus
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
is referred to as the "handmaid of the Lord" or "servant of the Lord", both of which are titles of honour for the mother of Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
. The Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...
describes Mary as the "handmaid of the Lord" (Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, ) when she gives her consent to the message of the Angel (see ), and when she proclaims the greatness of the Lord because of "the great things" he has worked in her (see )."
In popular culture
* ''The Handmaid's Tale
''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has ...
'', а dystopian novel
Utopian and dystopian fiction are subgenres of speculative fiction that explore extreme forms of social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality ...
by Canadian author Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...
.
** ''The Handmaid's Tale'' (1990 film adaptation of the novel)
** ''The Handmaid's Tale'' (2000 operatic adaptation of the novel)
** ''The Handmaid's Tale'' (2017 TV adaptation of the novel)
* ''The Handmaiden
''The Handmaiden'' () is a 2016 South Korean erotic historical psychological thriller film directed, co-written and co-produced by Park Chan-Wook and starring Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong. It is inspired by the 2002 ...
'', a 2016 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook (; born 23 August 1963) is a Koreans, South Korean film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer, and former film critic. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Cinema of South Korea, South Korean cinema a ...
.
* In the book series ''A Song of Ice and Fire
''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of high fantasy novels by the American author George R. R. Martin. Martin began writing the first volume, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and published it in 1996. Martin, who originally envisioned the ser ...
'' by George R.R. Martin, which falls into the genres of both epic fantasy and dark fantasy, the female servants of a queen or a lady are referred to as "handmaidens" and the term is used to refer to many characters, most notably Queen Margaery Tyrell's cousins, Elinor Tyrell and Megga Tyrell, who serve as Margaery's handmaidens upon her arrival in King's Landing.
* In the sci-fi ''Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' franchise, the term refers to the female assistants of a reigning queen, most notably the Royal Naboo Handmaidens on the planet Naboo.
*In '' Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure'', the penultimate episode is "Once a Handmaiden..."
See also
* Domestic worker
A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...
* Henchman
A henchman is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organisation: minions whose value lies primarily in their unquestioning ...
* Lady's maid
A lady's maid is a female personal attendant who waits on her female employer. The role of a lady's maid is similar to that of a gentleman's valet.
Description
Traditionally, the lady's maid was not as high-ranking as a lady's companion, who wa ...
* Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...
* Nurse stereotypes
A stereotype is a widely held and fixed notion of a specific type of person and is often oversimplified and can be offensive. Stereotypes of people and groups are harmful, especially when they lack factual information. Nursing as a profession has ...
References
{{reflist
Domestic work
Female stock characters
Gendered occupations
Slavery by type
Women by occupation