Bruce Wayne Case

In DC Comic’s Batman, Bruce Wayne is the secret identity of Batman, a caped vigilante who, after witnessing his parents murdered when he was a child, swore revenge on criminals. Deception is rationalized when it is used to implement revenge in the name of justice. For example, in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Edmond Dantes assumes a fabricated role as the Count of Monte Cristo in order to seek revenge on the men who wronged him. Similarly, in The Oddysey by Homer, Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar and rightfully slays the throng of profligate suitors who seek to marry his faithful wife Penelope.

In The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes, after escaping fourteen years of wrongful imprisonment, invents a new identity to help him ruin the lives of Danglars, Fernand Mondego, and Villefort, three men who, out of jealousy and selfishness, hatched a plan to accuse Edmond of treason and sentence him to life in prison. After Edmond escapes, he amasses a trove of wealth and reappears in Rome under the title of the Count of Monte Cristo. As the Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond is powerful and influential; he easily insinuates himself into the upper-class and is reacquainted with the three men who sent him to rot in prison, unbeknownst to them that their new friend is actually the man they vowed to destroy. Edmond deceitfully exposes Villefort, Mondego, and Danglars for their respective part in the conspiracy and taints their reputations: Villefort goes insane, Mondego commits suicide, and Danglars is left penniless. Edmond’s deceit brings ruin to these three perfidious men and rectifies the injustice inflicted on him; therefore, his deceitful actions are justified.

Just as Edmond Dantes uses deception to assume the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo and seek vengeance on those who wronged him, Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar in his plan to punish the dissolute suitors who have taken residence in his home during his absence.