The collector - themes
The psycological thriller, "the collector", tells the story of a lonely young man who collects butterflies.After winning a substantial amount of money in the lottery, working class Frederick Clegg suddenly finds himself with the time and the money to pursue what he has wanted for some time. THis being in the form of an art student named Miranda Grey. But boring bland Clegg knows he doesnt have a chance with the pretty arts student due to social restrictions. After purchasing a quiet country villa he kidnaps Miranda and keeps her prisioner in the basement. But what precisely does he want with her? Sex? Love? Companionship? Or does he merely want to possess her, to collect her like a butterfly behind glass? These questions haunt Miranda -- and us as the reader -- as she struggles to find a way out of the situation. For London based author John Fowles, this was his first novel that sh
ows a compelling psychological study between two very dfferent characters. His father died when he was just two years old and his mother eloped with another man leaving him with his aunt mabel. This brings in the idea that a person although influenced by the factors of society it is not that which totally dictates their whole personality. It seems as though he blames this upbringing and lack of oppotunies on the way he is today. As Ferdinand progress thorugh the text we see that he identible with the character of caliban who is the subhuman creature in Shakespeare's The Tempest. She seems to be more human when juxtaposed agaisnt clegg. At the very end of the book , perhaps teh most controversial is the idea that clegg said he awoke to a new outlook, where in his mind he was not responsible for Miranda's death and he should not have chosen someone socially above him. when i read this to me it seemed so barbaric, that a character could be so driven by the concequences of their actions without thinking of the consequences of how its affecting another persons life. This is where he notices another girl, a more suitable girl in his mind, and ironically her name also begins with "m". There are only two main protagonists in this novel however there are others mentioned through Miranda's diary, which she maintains during her lonely days of imprisonment. Readers are unable to identify with him as he treats Miranda as one more butterfly in his collection, a live butterfly, although it is obvious that he himself is forever trapped by human stupidity and ignorance, trying to escape. The question asked is "how could anyone's conscience live with that feeling of guilt. As readers we seem to identify more with miranda because of these diary writings.
Common topics in this essay:
John Fowles,
Shakespeare's Tempest,
Miranda Grey,
Love Companionship,
,
Frederick Clegg,
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