The Collector Obsession

For centuries obsession has been the main theme in literature, however it is clear that it has been over romanticised that makes it stand out so clearly. There are clear differences between healthy and obsessive love; a healthy love develops gradually over a long period of time, whereas the alternative feelings of infatuation become extreme and intensify creating an obsession. Obsession is closely similar to jealousy because both have out of control feelings that result in a negative attitude. When both combined at the same time it can become a delusion and therefore a symptom of mental health problems.

Jealousy is often portrayed through a strong overflow of emotions due to thoughts and feelings of insecurity. These thoughts and emotions

Class is the main leading factor for strong emotional urges to develop due to the lack of materials given throughout an individual’s life; and in The Collector class plays a major role. Give someone a finger and they take the whole hand – Fredrick Clegg is given the chance to turn his life around and of course he uses the money gained to his advantage but causes damage to his own surroundings. His fascination in butterflies consumes him which makes it difficult to differentiate his wildest dreams from reality. Capturing the protagonist being a part of this fantasy; “she was mine” dehumanises Miranda completely automatically emphasising the power and control he now had over her, and foreshadows the outcome of the novel as she won’t be coming out alive, just like his butterflies. Miranda was no longer a free individual, she was “one in a row of specimens” that is only hated when she attempts to flutter out of line. It isn’t made clear of what Fredrick wanted from Miranda, whether it be her love, company or just a way of passing time but he in fact never had any intentions of releasing her back into the wild in which case he only wanted her

From his previous encounter with women we are made to understand that he is a criminal, a dangerous one in fact. We are also allowed to enter the mind of Edgar; we see and almost feel the jealousy and rage build up in him as passer-by’s stare at his possession; of course he would be paranoid of his new toy leaving him because, she only a few weeks ago left her husband and that once again may happen “this is the nature of people, they unerringly select as their victim the one who most needs their warmth.” His hope and dreams are slowly crushed by the cruel reality of his mentality, and the abuse emerges from beyond his control as if to show he has a personality disorder that the psychiatrists hadn’t picked up on before. He not only crushes himself but he also crushes his “beloved” Stella by becoming overly possessive, obsessive and aggressive – something she has never had to deal with before and therefore leads her up to her sons traumatic