Offred is a very strange character. She follows the new rules of her society unlike her rebellious friend Moira. But you can also tell that Offred misses her family very much and she always goes back in her head to remember the past. “Our happiness is part memory. What I remember is Luke, with me in the hospital, standing beside my head, holding my hand…..” (Atwood pg.126) But Offred has replaced Luke in this new world with Nick who will be the next man standing beside her bedside.
There are also times when Offred acts as if she wants to forget who she really is or was. “But thats where I am, there’s no escaping it. time’s a trap, I’m caught in it. I must forget about my secret name and all ways back. My name is Offred now, and here is where I live…. I am thirty- three years old. I have brown hair. I stand five seven without shoes. I have trouble remembering what I use to look like. I viable ovaries. I have one more chance.” Here it seams as if all Offred values is her ovaries because thats what everyone else values and now she feels as if thats her only way to survive through this society. (Atwood pg.143)
Now that Offred has this relationship with the Commander and Nick at the same same time. She feels as if she has power in the sense that she’s the only one that knows whats going on with the Commander. She loves having something over Serena Joy. “The fact is that I’m his mistress. Men at the top have always had mistresses, why should things be any different now ?…. Sometimes I think she knows…. and is laughing at me as I laugh, from time to time and with irony, at myself.” She sees this as a joke to the whole center. But this gives her something to look forward to. She enjoys his company and she loves the fact that she has this secret which no one else knows about. “But even so, and stupidly enough, I’m happier than I was before.
The Metamorphosises of Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo
The Metamorphosises of Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo
In Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo the main character, Edmond Dantes, takes on various identities. Some people have even argued that his continuing metamorphosises verge on Multiple Personality Disorder. Those people are wrong. Though he does exhibit similiar symptoms, Dantes differs from MPD sufferers in that he is fully conscious of the new identities he takes on. In fact, he does changes intentionally. His purpose in taking on new identities is to seek vengeance on his enemies while maintaining the innocence of Edmond Dantes.
Edmond Dantes a successful, happy, young sailor was wrongfully imprisoned on September 15, 1815. He was sent there by four men, each of whom had a different reason to be hungry for his downfall. Caderousse was guilty because of his drunken stupidity, Fernand because of his lustful envy, Danglars because of his treacherous greed, and finally Villefort because of the terrible lengths he would go to in order to protect his name. When Dantes entered prison he was a nineteen-year-old boy with a kind and pure soul. After learning about the conspiracy to ruin his life, however, he became obsessed with gettting vengeance. Upon his escape from the Chateau d’If, he set out on a journey to reward those who had been good to him and to set right the wrongs that had been done to him.
Dantes was initially successful at his attempt. The first person from his past whom he encountered was Monsiuer Caderousse. He went to Caderousse’s inn dressed as Abbe Faria and was told what had become of the three men most responsible for his imprisonment. Caderousse had no idea that the man he was talking to was Edmond Dantes. There was one person, however, that recognized him immediately. Mercedes, his former fiance, had never forgotten Dantes or the young love that they once shared. One of the reasons that Mercedes had loved him so much was the great admiration she had for him. She considered Dantes a sweet, honest, fair, and forgiving man. Dantes wore disguises because he did not want her to know that he had turned into a vengeful, angry, and uncaring person.
Eventually, however, he gave up this aspiration because he had failed to fool her. No one else guessed Dantes’ true identity.