The Chaser Essay

Often times when we read a piece of literature little pieces of information are overlooked, not capturing the true meaning of the story. Feminist Criticism is the focus on the relationship between men and women. In the story "The Chaser" by John Collier, feminist criticism was well hidden. When I first read the story, I didn't see anything that lead to feminist criticism but as I reread the story I started to see a few examples. In "The Chaser", Alan, a young man was seeking for love in all the wrong places. He went to an old man who was said to have a love potion. He wanted his partner, Diana, to be completely in love with him. He had a perfect image of what love should be and how she should treat him and that is what he wanted, he wanted

her to be "quite extra ordinary" (Collier 1). The potion was only a dollar compared to the five thousand dollar poison but what he didn’t realize was that there was a catch. “The Chaser” through the view of feminist criticism shows that women are worthless, only good for fulfilling a man’s needs and in the end, better off dead.
Through this story Collier implies that women are worthless. When Alan questioned the old man about the the low cost of the love potion in comparison to the deadly poison, he tells him "It would be no good charging that sort of price for a love potion" (Collier 2). This quote shows that the old man thinks very little of love. Love Is not something you can purchase, it is earned. By him selling the love potion for such a low price it also shows that women are worth close to nothing.
Collier also uses feminist criticism to imply that women are only good for fulfilling a man's needs. The man tells Alan all the things that will happen when he gives Diana the potion. He says, "You will be her sole interest in life." (Collier 2). When Alan heard of all the things that Diana will cater to him, he replies "That is love!" (Collier 2). These quotes show that Collier is trying to portray that women are only good for these things; to live for their husbands and in complete "solitude". And even after giving themselves completely to their husband, men are still left unsatisfied.
I can assume that Collier implies through this story that women are sometimes better off dead.

Before buying the love potion, Alan was warned to “consider the spiritual side” (Collier 2), implying that he should consider the consequences of someone being completely and crazily in love with him.. the reality. He also tells why the love potion is so inexpensive compared to the other things he sells. He said that if a customer is pleased with their first purchase they will come back for something more expensive. I believe that the old man knew the consequences of the love potion. He knew that you will only get sick of the person who is crazily in love with you after time. The old man also sells a poison that is colorless, flavorless, and completely untraceable. He says that “one might call it a life-cleaner” (Collier 1). By calling it a life cleaner, it implies that having a woman will only contaminate your life. Which is probably why the poison is five thousand dollars. Another line in the story that I found interesting was “One has to be older than you are, to indulge in that sort of thing[the poison]”. From this line I can infer that he meant the death of a women is something to indulge in, almost as if it were like saving up for a reward. He also mentioned that it would be for someone older and I believe it’s because he will get sick of his woman after years of her on the love

potion.
The story “The Chaser” by John Collier presents many examples of feminist criticism. Through this story, the author portrays that women are useless, good for nothing and after a while men will only get sick of them no matter how unconditional their love is.
This story truly shows how a lot of men think. I believe this type of love was most common back in the day when women would stay home and be housewives. Men feel like women have no power. Like all women are good for is to stay home and watch the kids, clean the house, make dinner, and tend to them.
Women are treated like slaves, or even robots, programmed to cater to men. In the story the old man was telling Alan, “How carefully she will look after you! She will never allow you to be tired, to sit in draught, neglect your food….If by chance you should...slip you need not worry. She will forgive you, in the end.”, this quote shows that men think women should do everything for them and love them unconditionally, forgiving them no matter what.