The Chaser by John Collier
"The Chaser" by John Collier is a short story that explores themes of love, obsession, and the darker aspects of desire. The plot revolves around a young man named Alan Austen, who is infatuated with a woman who does not reciprocate his feelings. In his desperation, Alan visits a mysterious old man who sells magical potions, hoping to purchase a love potion that will compel the object of his affection to fall madly in love with him. While the love potion is inexpensive, the old man also highlights a more sinister product—an undetectable poison that can eliminate a spouse, suggesting a future where Alan may regret his initial desire for love.
As Alan becomes enamored with the idea of possessing his beloved, the old man hints at the suffocating nature of such love, foreshadowing the potential for jealousy and obsession to transform affection into hatred. The contrast between the affordable love potion and the exorbitantly priced poison raises questions about the nature of desire and the consequences of pursuing love at any cost. Ultimately, Alan's decision to buy the love potion sets in motion a cautionary tale about the complexities of human relationships and the potential pitfalls of unchecked passion. The story serves as a thought-provoking commentary on the fine line between love and obsession.
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The Chaser by John Collier
First published: 1951
Type of plot: Horror
Time of work: About 1940
Locale: New York City
Principal Characters:
Alan Austen , a young man who is very much in loveAn old man , a dealer in magical potions
The Story
Alan Austen, a young man who is passionately in love with a young woman who is indifferent to him, comes to the establishment of a mysterious old man who deals in magic potions. Austen has been told that he can buy a potion that will make the object of his affections fall madly in love with him. The old man shows little interest in the financial profit to be gained from selling Alan a love potion. Instead, he devotes most of his sales talk to recommending a potion that he calls a spot remover or a life cleaner, a powerful poison that is undetectable in an autopsy. Without ever saying so directly, the old man is suggesting that the time will inevitably come when Alan will want to murder the woman whom he now loves so desperately.
The potent poison costs five thousand dollars for a single teaspoonful, and the love potion costs just one dollar. Alan cannot believe his good fortune. He seeks the old man's assurance that the love potion will be effective. The old man ruefully assures him that it will make the woman fall so completely in love that she will cling to Alan and make him her sole interest in life.
After their marriage, the young woman will want to know everything that Alan is thinking, everything that he has done when he was away from her, and everything that he intends to do when he leaves again. She will demand all his attention. She will be insanely jealous. The reader gradually gets the picture of a suffocating relationship that would drive anyone to distraction, even to thoughts of murder. This is not the picture that Alan visualizes, however, because he is held so tightly in the grip of passion that he can think of no greater happiness than to be in the company of his loved one perpetually.
Alan finally purchases the vial of love potion for one dollar. The old man assures him that he only deals in such potions to establish customer relations. People who want love potions are invariably young and have little money. Later in life, when they are more affluent, they will come back to him to buy his real moneymaker, the tasteless, undetectable poison that will rid them of the hated, clinging, sexually unappealing, aging spouse.
Alan seizes the vial, thanks the old man enthusiastically, and says, "Good-bye." The old man replies, "Au revoir," a French phrase that might be translated into English as, "I'll be seeing you."