The Collector by John Fowles
"The Collector" is a novel by John Fowles, published in 1963, that delves into the complex and disturbing dynamics of power, obsession, and alienation. The story follows Frederick Clegg, a middle-class government clerk who, after winning a substantial amount of money, acts on his long-held fantasy of collecting a living subject. He kidnaps Miranda Grey, a young art student, and brings her to his home in the Sussex countryside, where he has prepared a confined space for her. Clegg's obsession reveals deep psychological issues, as he oscillates between treating Miranda with a veneer of care and asserting his control over her.
As the narrative unfolds, the stark contrast between Clegg’s repressed working-class background and Miranda's privileged upbringing complicates their interactions. Despite his initial attempts to be deferential, Clegg's mental instability and possessiveness ultimately lead to increasingly violent and dehumanizing behavior toward Miranda. The novel explores themes of class consciousness, the nature of freedom and captivity, and the psychological ramifications of isolation. As Miranda's health deteriorates, Clegg’s inability to empathize culminates in a tragic conclusion that questions the ethics of obsession and the human capacity for cruelty. The story serves as a chilling examination of the darker sides of desire and control.
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The Collector by John Fowles
First published: 1963
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of plot: c. 1960
Locale: London and Sussex, England
Principal characters
Frederick Clegg , a butterfly collectorMiranda Grey , an art student
The Story:
Frederick Clegg, a government clerk in his middle twenties, wins seventy-three thousand pounds in the football pools, which enables him to act out his secret fantasy. Just as he collected butterflies in the past, he stalks and kidnaps Miranda Grey, an art student in her early twenties who is studying at the Slade School in London. Clegg recently purchased an expensive home in the Sussex countryside, with an underground room that he secured and prepared for his kidnapped guest, as he calls her.
When Miranda is chloroformed and taken to Clegg’s house, she discovers that he made extensive preparations for her, including the purchase of clothing and other items. In the beginning he treats her deferentially, serving her the food she wishes, and brings her anything she desires. It quickly becomes clear to Miranda that, although Clegg apparently is not interested in sex or violence, he does not plan to allow her to leave. The two, of approximately the same age but from very different worlds, become acquainted with each other.
Clegg, of working-class origin, resents his lower social position and did not have access to the privileged, artistic world that Miranda inhabited. In addition, his mental problems become more pronounced as his conversations with Miranda continue, just as her idealism and naïveté are revealed. Her naïveté is particularly evident when she believes he will make good on his promise to release her at the end of four weeks, for Clegg has no intention of doing this.
During the four weeks, more differences between the two emerge, particularly between her artistic, politically liberal worldview and Clegg’s disturbed, repressed mind. In his spare time, Clegg is a butterfly collector who kills and photographs his collections, activities that Miranda abhors. She makes clear her disgust with his narrowness and lack of culture and usually criticizes him sharply. Clegg accepts her verbal abuse and continues to defer to her wishes, telling her he abducted her because he is in love with her.
Shortly before the four weeks are to end, Clegg purchases an expensive dress and diamond necklace for Miranda. They pretend to have a party, and he permits her to come upstairs into the house. She refuses his proposal of marriage, one that he specifies will be in name only, and afterward he makes it clear he will not release her as promised. She attempts to escape, but he catches her and again gives her chloroform to subdue her. While she is unconscious, Clegg removes all her clothing except for her underclothes and takes photographs, the first time he violates her physically since her arrival.
Several days later Miranda, after being taken upstairs by Clegg to bathe, strikes him in the shoulder and head with an ax he left lying around. The blow only slightly injures him, and he is able to bind, gag, and lock her up once again in the underground room. Miranda, desperate to be released, again asks to be taken upstairs for a bath. She then attempts to seduce Clegg. When he proves to be impotent, he lies and says that an army psychiatrist told him that he would never be able to perform the sexual act.
Clegg’s response to his sexual failure is humiliation and rage, and he blames all his subsequent actions on Miranda’s attempted seduction. He claims he no longer respects her, and when she asks to live in an upstairs bedroom he pretends to prepare it for her. He then asks permission to photograph her nude, which she angrily refuses. It is at this point that Clegg’s anger and the depths of his perversion begin to surface as his earlier ostensible fondness for Miranda disappears. When she taunts him that he is “not a man,” he binds and gags her, removes her clothing, and photographs her tied to her bed.
The next day, the cold she catches from Clegg worsens, and she tells him she has pneumonia. Although her temperature is 102 degrees and she is unable to eat, he refuses to take her symptoms seriously. As her condition worsens, Clegg begins to understand that she is very ill, but he cannot bring himself to get her medical attention. When he finally goes to a doctor’s office to ask advice, he is overwhelmed by fear and paranoia, and right after this incident he is terrified when a policeman begins asking him questions.
After he returns to Miranda, it is clear that she is dying, but Clegg still refuses to get her any help. After her death he considers suicide but instead he buries her body, which he refers to as “the deceased,” under the apple trees. Clegg then begins to follow another young woman and to dry out the underground room in preparation for another guest. The next experience, he promises himself, will be different because Marian, his next victim, will be someone he can teach, someone who will not place herself above him.
Bibliography
Acheson, James. John Fowles. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. An excellent introduction to Fowles’s life and works, in which Acheson traces the development of his novels. Chapter 2 focuses on The Collector.
Foster, Thomas C. Understanding John Fowles. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994. An accessible critical introduction to Fowles’s principal works, featuring analysis of The Collector and other novels. Includes an annotated bibliography.
Lenz, Brooke. John Fowles: Visionary and Voyeur. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. A feminist analysis, in which Lenz demonstrates how Fowles progressively creates female characters who subvert male voyeurism and create alternative narratives. Chapter 1 focuses on The Collector.
Olshen, Barry N. John Fowles. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1978. Discusses the narrative structure of The Collector and focuses on issues of social class and opportunity. Olsen maintains that the most significant distinction in the novel is between life- and freedom-loving individuals and those who can only attempt to possess and destroy.
Reynolds, Margaret, and Jonathan Noakes. John Fowles: The Essential Guide. London: Vintage, 2003. A guide designed for students, teachers, and general readers, this volume contains an interview with Fowles and reading guides, reading activities, and information about contexts and comparisons. Includes complementary readings for three novels: The Collector, The Magus, and The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Also includes a glossary and select bibliography.
Warburton, Eileen. John Fowles: A Life in Two Worlds. New York: Viking, 2004. A thorough, entertaining, and well-reviewed biography. Warburton was given full access to Fowles’s journals and personal papers, and she presents many previously untold details of his life, most notably his thirty-seven-year love affair with his wife.
Wilson, Thomas M. The Recurrent Green Universe of John Fowles. New York: Rodopi, 2006. Described as a work of “ecocriticism,” this book focuses on how Fowles’s novels and other writings reflect his feelings and thoughts about the natural world. Includes a bibliography and index.
Wolfe, Peter. John Fowles, Magus and Moralist. Cranbury, N.J.: Bucknell University Press, 1976. Excellent introduction to Fowles’s philosophical and aesthetic ideas. Discusses The Collector specifically in the light of Fowles’s attitudes about “collecting,” the dichotomy between The Many and The Few, and the social and cultural milieu that produces a Frederick Clegg.
Woodcock, Bruce. Male Mythologies: John Fowles and Masculinity. Brighton, England: Harvester Press, 1984. Suggests that Clegg is “the prototype of masculinity,” both perpetrator and victim of male power, and also the representative for the novelist himself, who can collect his characters and subject them to his own male fantasies.