How Is Estelle Presented In Rape Fantasies

Anyway

Estelle is the only thoroughly developed character in Margaret

Atwood's "Rape Fantasies." Though she is the narrator and quite thoughtful of

the ideas and reactions of the story's supporting players, it is her almost

obsessive preoccupation with a singular topic that actually prompts her to

fully illustrate her own ideas and reactions, drawing a character far more

compelling than any of the men or women she will attempt to describe. Estelle

begins her story and ruminations swiftly. She considers rape, how rape has

recently been treated like a new scourge, and how essays and tips on rape

prevention have become something of an institution themselves. Estelle

recalls a conversation during a recent bridge game, where "rape fantasies"

was the
In this instance, Estelle shows that she is quite

capable of practicing her benevolent behavior in her rape fantasies, whether

she realizes it or not. "...how could a fellow do that to a person he's just

had a long conversation with...?" she asks, not thinking once about the

person to whom she's speaking. She gives this person the benefit of the

doubt, reveals many intimate details about herself, and gives this faceless

person more credit and more candidness than the women at the bridge game. It

is not only the rapists that do not get criticized by Estelle, but anyone who

hasn't had the chance to disappoint her in some way. In Estelle's world, only

strangers are capable of this status of perfection, and therefore worthy of

hearing things like gossip, criticism, and the particulars of her rape

fantasies: things she would never reveal to anyone else.

Estelle is, then, revealed best when the author simply allows her to

speak. To have told the story in the third person would have removed the tone

and wealth of information that hearing Estelle's voice provides.