John Fowles' 1963 novel The Collector is a deeply disturbing and intensely psychological book based on principles of beauty, power, control, and class. The story follows Fred Clegg, through his capture and abuse of Miranda Grey, an attractive young art student from London, reveals Clegg as a damaged man who cannot maintain a relationship with another human. Because of this damage to his psyche, Clegg blames Miranda for his problems. , and he is abusive and manipulative towards her in a way that perhaps reveals more about her personality than he intends.Say No to Plagiarism Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be prohibited”?Get the original essayOne. The crucial problem in Fred's thinking is his conception of blame. He never admits to being responsible for Miranda's capture, instead blaming the victim for his actions whenever he does something unsavory to her, e.g. both cases of '. camera rape. This mentality reflects an attitude common among men at the time this novel was written, and even today his method of shifting blame is illustrated by the line on page 124, where he blames Miranda for his own death, in saying: “I have acted. like I'm killing her, but she's dead after all. He claims her death was his fault, despite denying her a doctor when she was clearly dying of pneumonia. Clegg's ability to form a proper sexual relationship with someone is in an equally morbid state when Miranda attempts to appeal to Clegg's physical desire. , she is very surprised by what she encounters. She discovers that he is physically incapable of having sex, which he claims is purely physiological, despite the clear psychological notes of his condition and the way he views everything sexual as "dirty" and " "nasty." After Miranda finishes trying to break Fred (mentally) through sex, Fred loses all respect for her and goes on to say, "Everything I did later was because of that night." Clegg's conception of respect is curious, and he seems to believe that Miranda is different from other women, as he says early in the book: "She wasn't like a woman you don't respect , so you don’t care what do you do.” This statement illustrates a deeply flawed belief of Clegg's: the idea that if you don't respect a woman, you can do whatever you want with her. It is therefore this night that Miranda reveals herself to Clegg, allowing him to see her as a woman. everything, when he loses respect for her. He punishes her for her misunderstanding of basic social rules, reflecting her misunderstanding of class structure. For Clegg, the inaccessible is exasperating, like a butterfly he can't catch. Likewise, Miranda's educated and cultured nature. The background makes fun of his own social status, the distance between them is apparently his fault, because he is of a higher class than him. When the captor and captive speak face to face for the first time, on page 17, Clegg infers. One of the reasons he made this capture was that "you wouldn't be seen dead with me in London." This shows that he believes she will love him, in a weird Stockholm syndrome way, because there is no one to see her with him. Clegg's statement implies that it is Miranda's fault for being of "higher stock" than Clegg. and that as a result, she would have to suffer, so that he could be with her without the obstacle of class boundaries. It is clear from the beginning of the novel that Fred Clegg is disturbed, but the real proof comes when,.