In everyday life we ​​encounter people who can be kind, moderate or simply monsters. These monsters are corrupt, inconsiderate or ill-mannered people. In literature, this person is called the antagonist, someone who makes the main characters' lives more difficult than it needs to be. These characteristics can be seen as fitting Fred Waterford, the main commander of The Handmaids Tale. Fred Waterford, one of the main commanders who helped create this treacherous regime, is so self-centered and does not care about the prosperity of women, being the agent of Offred's misery. Mainly, the commander abuses his power within the regime so that the women are completely abhorrent to his control. Additionally, the Commander shows his corrupt ideology throughout the novel and does so by being completely arrogant. Additionally, he is oblivious to what women must go through and the discomfort present in Gilead, all due to his corrupted outlook. Finally, he helped create the regime but decides to break the strictly enforced rules. Due to his lack of understanding of women, his arrogance, his twisted ideology and his hypocrisy, Fred Waterford makes Offred's life completely unbearable. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Commander shows his power to women in different ways throughout the novel. His arrogance is presented to the reader in a way that the reader cannot ignore, such as the Commander showing Offred that he can get anything for her when he showed Offred the Vogue magazine. Offred describes the event as "looking at the magazine, as he dangled it in front of me like fish bait" (p. 156). The Commander shows Offred that he is the real deal here as these magazines are banned within Gilead and are considered extinct. In conclusion, the commander waiting before giving the magazine to Offred shows his abilities like a human would when giving a dog a treat, he shows complete dominance. Additionally, the commander does not follow pre-ceremony protocol. Usually, the Commander is supposed to ask permission to enter, because the waiting room is supposed to be Serena Joy's territory. It’s a small act that’s important to her. The commander, as usual, is arrogant because "before Serena Joy can speak (grant permission), he steps into the room anyway." (p. 86). Once again, the commander is disrespectful to his wife [Serena Joy] because the waiting room is her domain and he completely disrespects the little power she has. In conclusion, the Commander shows his power, disrespect and irritability towards the women of Gilead. To summarize, Fred Waterford shows his complete lack of respect and power over women by degrading Offred every chance he gets. Women face tough times and smartly take care of themselves with limited resources, using butter as lotion. Offred is open to Fred about this and he laughs at Offred's lack of respect. When Offred says this to the Commander, he responds with “Butter.” It's very clever. (He laughed)” (p. 159). Offred thinks she could have slapped him but doesn't because the Commander has so much power. This shows Fred's lack of sympathy, and Offred becomes furious with him due to his lack of understanding of what these women must go through. Overall, the Commander's relentless arrogance shows the reader that he is abusing his power and has a misunderstandingtotal of women in the regime, making their lives hell. to his depraved ideology. Atwood introduces us to Fred Waterford being high-ranking and instrumental in the creation of Gilead, which the reader knows is a corrupt, gender-dominated environment. For example, the Commander asks Offred for her views on the regime during one of his visits to his office. With no response, Fred said "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs...Better for some never means better for everyone." It always means worse for some. (p. 211). The reader here gets a clear impression of the commander's corrupt ideology as he says that they created this regime for the best of men and knew that women would have to suffer for them. This shows the reader the inconsideration that Fred shows, especially when in modern society, gender domination is strictly prohibited. These actions clearly symbolize those of a monster. Taking this into account, the Commander's corrupt ideology continues in Jezebels when Offred describes the Commander getting a room key and how she is supposed to have sex. More precisely, “The commander has a room key… He slyly shows it to me. I have to understand. (page 251). His ideology is that he dominates Offred, and he assumes that it doesn't matter if Offred likes him, he's the one in control. This continues in the bedroom when Offred clearly does not want to sleep with the Commander, when the moment comes where Offred “pretends” (p. 255). On several occasions, the Commander shows his ideology when Offred has to fake what is happening and doesn't have a say in whether she wants to. Decisively, the commander once again shows his neglect towards women and expresses his corrupt ideology. Third, the Commander knows what he wants to do with Offred in an intimate way. Concretely, he prowls around in front of his room as if he is examining the territory. Offred describes this moment as follows: “Something has been shown to me, but what is it? Like the flag of an unknown country… It could mean an attack, it could mean talks, it could mean the boundary of something, of a territory. (page 49). In this case, Atwood uses words commonly used to talk about war, such as "flag", "attack", "territory", "talks" and "country". Despite the Commander's mixed signal, control is clear and Offred receives her potential threat. To conclude, the Commander's ideology is so corrupt, even though he knows what he is doing, being arrogant and inconsiderate, which makes Offred's life even worse. Additionally, Fred advances his cruelty when he only thinks of himself and puts Offred in danger for his own benefit, making Offred's life a risky mess. First, the Commander showed his unconsciousness by trying to touch her face during the ceremony while Serena Joy was there. Specifically, Offred describes the event as follows: “He raised his hand as if to touch my face; I moved my head to the side to warn him, hoping Serena Joy hadn't noticed” (p. 162). The Commander is once again reckless, perhaps compromising Offred's secrets for his own benefit. Offred knows her life is potentially at stake here. If Serena Joy had seen this, Offred might be transferred to the colonies. Due to this reckless act of the commander, Offred is at high risk. Nevertheless, the Commander uses Offred again among the Jezebels as if he were showing her off. Fred wants to bring Offred to Jezebel but only to have sex with her and control her. Offred is at high risk here as it is extremely illegal for a handmaid to be there and the Commander casually brings Offred in. The commander said: “Now I will have toask you to get down on the floor of the car… We have to do it. cross the footbridge” (p. 232). When the Commander says this, Offred and the reader know that the Commander understands the risk here just to be able to have sex freely with Offred. That being said, the Commander is selfish and puts himself ahead of others by endangering Offred's life with the possibility of being sent to the colonies or being one of the next women saved. Finally, the Commander is inconsiderate when he arranges a meeting with Offred. for his entertainment, because he can't do it with Serena Joy. Offred describes it this way: “Now it’s forbidden for us. Now it's dangerous. Now it's indecent. Now that’s something he can’t do with his wife” (pp. 138-139). That being said, the Commander knows he can't have fun with Serena Joy, so he uses Offred as entertainment knowing that Offred is in great danger. As can be seen, the Commander is self-centered and does not care about Offred's well-being, putting her life in danger in many cases. Being self-centered and only caring about himself, the Commander is completely oblivious to what is happening within the regime. As one of the founding commanders, Fred puts himself first. With this in mind, the Commander uses Gilead for individual purposes, placing women beneath him. To begin with, the Commander imposes these strict rules that can lead to people's deaths, but decides to break them when he kisses Offred. Specifically, the commander says: “I want you to kiss me” (p. 139). The Commander does not ask Offred to kiss him, but rather tells her to. This is another example of Fred controlling Offred and the Commander being naive using Offred as an object for personal gain. It is also ironic that he helped create the regime but does whatever he wants within the regime, without regard for what others have to put up with in Gilead. Additionally, we see the hypocrisy that brings Offred to Jezebels, a center of illegal prostitution, he is even willing to break the rules of Jezebels, which is a contradiction to the rules alone. “The Commander has a room key… He’s showing it to me… I need to understand.” (p. 251). This suggests to Offred that they are going to have sex in a room. Fred seems to have done this before, where he takes his servant to a prostitutes' facility and sleeps with them. Once again, this desire for companionship by Fred shows how naive he is, including creating the regime and breaking the rules. Finally, the commander shows his inconsideration and unconsciousness regarding the lack of attention he gives to his wife, Serena Joy, showing it instead to the interim Offred. When Offred asks the Commander why he didn't give it to his wife, he replies, "We don't seem to have much in common these days." » (p. 158). This shows the reader that the Commander is once again inconsiderate as he does not show much attention to Serena Joy who is his permanent wife, while he treats the temporary servant Offred, which is forbidden by the rules of his government. That being said, the Commander comes off as an oblivious, self-centered monster who makes Offred and Serena Joy's lives even worse. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Paper Ultimately, the women's lives are completely unbearable due to the monstrous characteristics of Commander Fred Waterford. He does this by showing his power to Offred, implying that he can get anything he wants, ignoring the creativity the handmaids had in using butter as a,.