Brown and company ferdinand clegg
In John Fowles' novel The Collector (New York: Little, Brown and Company: 1963) Ferdinand Clegg, an amateur entomologist, kidnaps Miranda, a beautiful artist, and holds her in an underground room. Tho ugh his actions alone condemn him as evil and immoral, the motive, his upbringing, strong sense of v alues and his undying adoration of Miranda, causes the reader to overlook the actions of Clegg and r elate to him. The vicious way Miranda treats Clegg, who is of a lower social status, makes the reade r sympathize with Clegg, dulling the evil nature of his crime. Ferdinand Clegg, raised by his Aunt Annie, holds a very high set of standards for women. His mother, "was a woman of the streets who wen t off with a foreigner"(5). Clegg here began his hatred of loose or immoral women. His morality in i tself makes him seem less villainous and certainly not evil. He says he "always hated vulgar women, especially girls"(5). He never for a moment thinks of raping Miranda. He is in love with her and ref uses to hurt her or make her unhappy. Ferdinand feels that he would do anything to know Miranda, to please her and be her friend, to be able to watch her openly and love her (14). The reader cannot h elp but sympathize with Ferdinand because of the tragic nature of Clegg's treatment by others. Clegg won a large sum of money (73,000 British pounds) in a lottery. Although money is sometimes said to be the road to happiness, Clegg's newfound money leads only to more hardship. He explains: When you don't have money, you always think things will be very different after. [But] they really despised us for having all that money and not knowing what to do with it. They still treated me behind the sc enes for what I was- a clerk. It was no good throwing money around. As soon as we spoke or did somet hing, we gave the game away. You could see them saying, don't kid us, we know what you are, why don' t you go back where you came from. (8) This treatment is not uncommon, but the unfair treatment of Clegg by those who think themselves better because they were born into money is disgusting. It makes the reader admire Clegg for his strong will. Another factor relating to class that makes the reade r sympathize with Clegg, not making him seem so evil, is the way Miranda treats him. She constantly calls him "Caliban," an allusion to Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Caliban is an unruly, monstrous villain of the island where the princess is shipwrecked on. Clegg, who does not read novels or plays , does not understand the implications and is thus not bothered by the derogatory name. This disgust ing show of Miranda abusing Clegg's ignorance makes the reader despise her and sympathize more with Clegg. How could he fall in love with such a monstrous woman? Clegg, the narrator, explains further: She often went on about how she hated class distinction, but she never took me in© She wasn't la-di-da, like many, but it was there all the time. You could see it when she got sarcastic and impatie nt with me because I couldn't explain myself or I did things wrong© When she was angry she could get right up on her high horse and come it over me with the best of them. There was always class betwee n us. (39) She constantly uses Clegg's lack of knowledge when it comes to the arts to make him feel inferior. There is one incident in the novel where she drew ten pictures of a bowl of fruit and ask
ed Clegg to pick the best one. When he finally picked one she told him that it was the worst one. Sh e tells him the best was the one that looked half-finished and the fruit looked hardly there and lop
sided. She tells him that she is "on the threshold of saying something about the fruit."(61) When he says he still did not understand, she gives him a disdainful look and called him "Caliban" again. The way Miranda treats Clegg makes the reader believe Clegg is the protagonist and that his act of k idnapping isn't very grave. She attempts to seduce Clegg in order to allow him to let her leave. She also uses his trust and adoration of her to attempt to slip a message to a friend that she he has h er trapped. Miranda goes on in a haughty dialog one day after smashing some of the lovely plates Cle gg had pinned on the wall. "You despise the real bourgeois classes for all their snobbishness and t heir snobbish voices and ways© Yet all you put in their place is a horrid little refusal to have nas ty thoughts or do nasty things or be nasty in any way. Do you know that every great thing in the his tory of art and everything beautiful in life is actually what you call nasty or has been caused by f eelings that you would call nasty?" (78) Miranda is the kind of woman who would sacrifice her princ iples for anything. Ferdinand said, "She, like all women, had a one track mind. I never respected he r again. It left me angry for days"(109). Although Ferdinand Clegg's initial act of kidnapping a wo man and forcing her to stay against her will would leave most people aghast, his strength of moral c haracter helps the reader appreciate him and not condemn him for his crime. His lack of respect for prostitutes and other loose women is commendable, as many men would not think twice about sleeping w ith a woman who offers herself. His strong moral fiber makes the reader appreciate Clegg. Furthermor e, Miranda's horrible treatment of Clegg by demeaning him using his lower social status and her own lack of morality makes the reader appreciate Clegg's strength in resisting this 'scarlet woman'. In
the end, the reader almost feels relieved that Clegg does not marry Miranda and instead finds anothe r woman to imprison. Although Clegg's acts alone can condemn him as evil and immoral, his wonderful sense of morality and strong character, along with the hateful displays by the woman he loves Mirand a, cause the reader to feel compassion for Ferdinand, rendering the reader unable to condemn him for his actions. john fowles novel collector york little brown company ferdinand clegg amateur entomolo gist kidnaps miranda beautiful artist holds underground room though actions alone condemn evil immor al motive upbringing strong sense values undying adoration miranda causes reader overlook actions cl egg relate vicious miranda treats clegg lower social status makes reader sympathize with dulling evi l nature crime ferdinand raised aunt annie holds very high standards women mother woman streets went with foreigner here began hatred loose immoral women morality itself makes seem less villainous cer tainly evil says always hated vulgar women especially girls never moment thinks raping love with ref uses hurt make unhappy ferdinand feels that would anything know please friend able watch openly love reader cannot help sympathize because tragic nature treatment others large money british pounds lot tery although money sometimes said road happiness newfound money leads only more hardship explains w hen have always think things will very different after they really despised having that knowing what they still treated behind scenes what clerk good throwing around soon spoke something gave game awa