Aunt Vidala is a character in The Testaments. She, along with Aunts Lydia, Elizabeth, and Helena, is considered one of the four Founding Aunts of Gilead for establishing the Vidala Schools.
Appearance[]
Agnes describes Vidala as runny-nosed.
Story[]
Aunt Vidala was a founding member of the Sons of Jacob movement. After the Takeover, she was selected to be one of the four Founding Aunts, training the other three: Lydia, Helena, and Elizabeth.
Aunt Vidala was the childhood Religion teacher of Agnes MacKenzie. She taught young Daughters to dress modestly to "curb the urges of men."
She taught the girls that going into their fathers' studies was forbidden, as females had smaller brains incapable of thinking large thoughts. When Aunt Estée likened this to "teaching a cat to crochet," the girls laughed, responding that cats didn't have fingers. Vidala picked up on this, saying that men had something like fingers that girls did not have, which explained everything.
She taught the girls not to seek forbidden knowledge, likening this to Eve eating from the Fruit of Knowledge and causing the Fall.
There is a statue of Aunt Vidala in Ardua Hall. Lydia thinks to herself that Vidala's statue looks hyperthroid.