In everyday life we ​​meet people who can be kind, moderate or simply monsters. Those monsters are people who are corrupt, reckless, or misbehaving. In literature this person is called the antagonist, someone who makes the main characters' lives more difficult than they should be. These characteristics can be seen as fitting for Fred Waterford, the main commander of The Handmaids Tale. Fred Waterford, being 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 women are totally hateful for his control. Furthermore, the Commander displays his corrupt ideology throughout the novel and does so in a totally arrogant manner. Furthermore, he is oblivious to what women face and the hardship present in Gilead, all because of his corrupted intuition. Ultimately, he helped create the regime but decides to break the strictly enforced rules. Because of his lack of understanding of women, his arrogance, twisted ideology and hypocrisy, Fred Waterford makes Offred's life completely unbearable. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Commander shows his power to women in many different ways throughout the novel. His arrogance is presented to the reader in ways that the reader cannot overlook, such as the Commander showing Offred that he can get anything for her when he showed Offred the Vogue magazine. Offred describes what happened as “Staring at the magazine, as she dangled it in front of me like fish bait” (p.156). The Commander is showing Offred that he is the real deal here because these magazines are banned within Gilead and are thought to be extinct. In conclusion, the commander who waits before giving the magazine to Offred is showing his skills like a human would when giving a treat to a dog, he shows complete dominance. Furthermore, the Commander does not follow the pre-ceremony protocol. Usually, the Commander should ask permission to enter, as the waiting room is supposed to be Serena Joy's territory. It's a small gesture that is big for her. The commander, as usual, is arrogant because “before Serena Joy can speak (grant permission), she still steps forward into the room.” (page 86). Once again the commander is inconsiderate towards his wife [Serena Joy] because the waiting room is his area and he totally disrespects the small amount of power she gets. In conclusion, the Commander shows his power, disrespect, and irritability towards women within Gilead. To summarize, Fred Waterford shows his complete lack of respect and power over women by degrading Offred every chance he gets. Women are going through hard times and are smart to take care of themselves with limited resources, using butter as lotion. Offred is open to Fred about this and he laughs at Offred showing disrespect. When Offred tells the Commander, he responds with “Butter. He's very intelligent. (Rise)” (page 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 angry at him due to his lack of understanding of what these women face. All in all, the Commander's relentless arrogance shows the reader that he abuses his power and has a complete lack of understandingof women in the regime, making their lives hell. Furthermore, the Commander makes the lives of women within the regime completely unbearable due to his depraved ideology. Atwood introduces us that Fred Waterford is of high rank and contributed to the creation of Gilead, which the reader knows is a corrupt and gender-dominant environment. For example, the Commander asks Offred her views on the regime during one of his visits to his office. In response, Fred says “You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs… Better for some never means better for all. For some it always means worse." (page 211). The reader here gets a clear impression of the Commander's corrupt ideology because he is saying that they created this regime for the better of men and they knew that women would have to suffer for them. This demonstrates to the reader Fred's recklessness especially when gender dominance is strongly prohibited in modern society. These acts clearly symbolize those of a monster. Taking this into consideration, the Commander's corrupt ideology continues in Jezebels when Offred describes the Commander receiving the key to the room and how he is expected to have sex. Specifically, “The Commander has the key to the room…. He shows it to me, subtly. I have to understand. (page 251). His ideology is that he dominates Offred, and he has the assumption that it doesn't matter if Offred likes him, he's in control. This continues in the bedroom when Offred clearly doesn't want to sleep with the Commander, when the time comes for Offred to "pretend" (p.255). Recurrently the Commander shows his ideology when Offred has to fake what was happening and has no say in whether she wanted to. The commander decisively once again shows his negligence towards women and expresses his corrupt ideology. Third, the Commander knows what he wants to do with Offred in an intimate way. Specifically, he wanders outside his room as if surveying the territory. Offred describes this moment as “I was shown something, but what is it? Like the flag of an unknown country... It could mean attack, it could mean conversation, it could mean the border of something, a territory." (p.49). In this case, Atwood uses words commonly used when talking about war such as “flag,” “attack,” “territory,” “parley,” and “country.” Despite the mixed signal from the Commander, the control is clear and Offred understands its potential threat so corrupt, even though he knows what he is doing, being arrogant and reckless, making Offred's life worse in a further way. Furthermore, Fred increases his cruelty when he thinks only of himself and puts Offred at risk for her life own advantage, making Offred's life a risky mess. First, the Commander showed his unawareness by trying to touch her face during the ceremony when Serena Joy is right there the 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 behaving recklessly, perhaps compromising Offred's secrets for his own benefit. Offred knows that her life is potentially at stake here, if Serena Joy saw this then there is a possibility of Offred being transferred to the colonies. As a result of this careless act on the Commander's part, Offred is at high risk. Nonetheless, the Commander uses Offred once again to the Jezebels as if he is showing her off. Fred wants to take Offred to Jezebels but only to have sex with her and have control over her. Offred is highrisk here as it is extremely illegal for a handmaid to be there and the Commander smuggles Offred in. The Commander says “Now I'm going to have to ask you to get down to the floor of the car... We have to get through the door” (p. 232). When the Commander says this, both Offred and the reader know that the Commander understands the risk here just so he can do sex with Offred freely. That being said, the Commander is selfish by putting himself before others by endangering Offred's life with the possibility of being sent to the colonies or being part of the next women to be saved. Finally, the Commander is reckless when he organizes a meeting with Offred for his entertainment, because he can't do it with Serena Joy. Offred describes it as “Now it's forbidden, for us. Now it's something he can't do with his Wife.” . 138-139).That being said the Commander knows that he cannot have fun with Serena Joy, so he uses Offred as entertainment knowing that Offred is exposed to great danger Offred, endangering her life in many cases. Being self-centered and only concerned with himself, the Commander is completely unaware of what is happening in the regime. As one of the founding commanders, Fred puts himself first. With this in mind, the Commander uses Gilead for individual gain, putting women beneath him. To begin with the Commander imposes these strict rules that can get people killed, but he decides to break them when he kisses Offred. The Commander himself says: “I want you to kiss me” (page 139). The Commander is not asking Offred to kiss him, rather he is telling her to. This is another example of Fred controlling Offred and the Commander being naive to use Offred as an object for his personal gain. It is also ironic that he helped create the regime, but does as he pleases within the regime, demonstrating recklessness to what others in Gilead must endure. Furthermore, we see the hypocrisy that brings Offred to Jezebels, an illegal prostitution hub, she is even willing to break the rules of Jezebels, which is a contradiction to even just the rules. “The Commander has the key to the room….he shows it to me…I have to understand.” (page 251). This suggests to Offred that they will have sex in a room. Fred looks like he's done this before, where he takes his handmaiden to a prostitute setup and has sex with them. Once again this desire for companionship on Fred's part shows how naive he is, especially in creating the regime and breaking the rules. Finally, the Commander shows his recklessness and carelessness for the lack of attention he gives to his wife, Serena Joy, by showing her to the temporary Offred instead. 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." (page 158). This shows the reader that the Commander is once again inconsiderate because he does not show much attention to Serena Joy who is permanently his wife, while treating the temporary handmaid Offred, which is prohibited by the rules of his government. That said, the Commander comes across as an oblivious, self-centered monster who makes Offred and Serena Joy's lives so much worse. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Personalize essay Ultimately, the women's lives are completely unbearable due to the monstrous characteristics of the commander, Fred Waterford. He does this by showing his capable power to Offred, suggesting that she can get what she wants, ignoring the creativity the handmaids had in using butter as lotion due to the lack of decency for women within the regime, and,.