Carmen Sandiego's Sublime and Beautiful Qualities
                            
                                 by Kevin Farley


	
	Carmen Sandiego- a fictional world-renowned thief.  Her mixture of
the sublime and the beautiful is an intricate thing- one which defies
reason.  For, although she is the greatest thief the world has ever known,
she also lives the peaceful existence of a law-abiding citizen.  Thus she
has sublime (dark, mysterious) qualities as well as the beautiful (her
normal, legal existence).

	The sublime is Carmen's most notable quality- it is what she is
known for.  Her actions are veiled in darkness, as is her face, which is
hardly seen.  The wide-brimmed red hat which she wears is always tilted at
the correct angle so that only an eye and part of her cheek are visible.
Not only is her hat red, but most of her costume is red: the calf-length
overcoat and her shoes.  Also, to add to her noted costume is a yellow
scarf that flows wildly about in the air.  This costume is her trademark,
but even though it is easily recognized, it adds much to her mystery.  Her
appearance is not the only sublime quality she has though.  Her entire
profession is know and yet unknown; everyone knows that she is a thief, but
she has never been caught and nobody knows where her resources are hidden.
Even when on the verge of being caught, Carmen has a "sublime" knack for
escapes.  Her public life, then, is comparable to that of Batman- a larger-
than-life character about whom no one seems to know anything, although
Batman does fight for a different cause.  Since there are few glimpses of
her, each appearance becomes a sneak-peak into the darkness that surrounds
her.

	Carmen also embodies qualities of the beautiful.  Despite her dark
career, despite her notoriety, and despite her many crimes over the years,
she has established for herself a perfectly legal existence in the upper
region of New York.  She is quite wealthy, but her wealth was obtained
through legitimate business dealings, not thievery.  That is the redeeming
(beautiful) quality of her dark career- she steals only for the challenge
and fun of it, but never for economic profit.  That enables her to more
easily lead her legal existence.  "Beautiful" also represents the light of 
knowledge and wisdom- Carmen is brilliant, and is quite a philosopher.
Devoting her spare time to the pursuit of knowledge, she has made herself
a sort of sage.  It is these things which add the "beautiful" to her nature.

	With both a light and dark existence, Carmen is certainly a unique
and complex character.  It is her alternate existences which make her
interesting to me.