A handmaiden (or handmaid) is a female attendant, assistant, servant, or slave. A domestic worker, domestic, servingman, servingwoman, or servant is one who works and often also lives within the employer's household As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another
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Domestic work
Typically, royalty and nobility would have handmaidens. Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary (see Hereditary titles) or for a lifetime
Religion
Norse goddesses (such as Frigga) had handmaidens, as did Biblical characters such as Leah. Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Leah ( "Weary tired" is the first of the four concurrent wives of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob, and mother of six of the Twelve Tribes of Israel along [1] Handmaiden was also a common euphemism for a concubine; a man might use a handmaiden to bear his child if his wife was infertile - an example of this is the handmaiden (Bilhah) of the Biblical character Rachel, who gave birth to two of Jacob's children. A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener or in the case of doublespeak Concubinage is the state of a woman or youth in an ongoing quasi-matrimonial relationship with a man of higher social status Female infertility|Male infertility Infertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a Man or a Woman to contribute to conception. In the Book of Genesis, Bilhah ( בִּלְהָה "Faltering bashful" Standard Hebrew Bilha, Tiberian Hebrew Bilhāh Rachel (; meaning "ewe" is the second and favorite Wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin, first mentioned in the Jacob ( Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Standard Yaʿaqov Tiberian Yaʿăqōḇ;
Handmaidens also feature heavily in rites associated with the Wiccan religion. A rite is an established ceremonious usually Religious act or Process art.
In fiction
Handmaids also feature in fiction, particularly fantasy and science fiction, such as the The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Doctor Who. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting The Lord of the Rings is an epic Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The handmaids in Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale are a fictional example of handmaids used as concubines in an oppressive future society. Margaret Eleanor Atwood, CC (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian Writer. Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, first published by McClelland and Stewart in
See also
A lady-in-waiting (also called waiting maid) is a female personal assistant at a Noble court, attending to a queen, a Princess or other Background A Stereotype is a generalized belief applied to a group with a common characteristic and it often involves simplification or distortion The Handmaid's Tale is a 1990 film adaptation of the Margaret Atwood Novel The Handmaid's Tale.Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic