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Part 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Collector, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Control
Class and Snobbery
Painting vs. Photography
Gender Roles
Summary
Analysis
The perspective shifts back to Clegg, who checks up on Miranda and realizes she is far sicker than he thought. Miranda tells Clegg that she fears she will die if he does not seek medical attention. Clegg tries to calm her down but makes no promises about fetching a doctor. Eventually, Miranda’s fever hits 104 degrees, and she becomes delirious. In her delirium, she tells Clegg that she forgives him for everything he has done to her. Her forgiveness makes Clegg feel better about himself, and he starts to forgive her in return.
Here, Clegg faces a moral dilemma. He is forced to recognize that he was wrong, as Miranda is actually sick, and that her life is now in his hands. Throughout the novel, Clegg has prided himself on rarely resorting to violence when exerting control over Miranda. Here, she is dying slowly because of the situation he put her in. Even though the harm being done to Miranda is indirect, it is clear (to readers, if not to Clegg) who is to blame.
Themes
Wanting to help Miranda, Clegg goes to a doctor’s office, hoping to secure a prescription. However, while in the waiting room, he witnesses the doctor talking rudely to other patients and feels it is unlikely that the doctor would give him what Miranda needs. Next up, he tries a drug store where he lies in an attempt to get his hands on prescription medication. When the drug store employees turn him down, Clegg returns to Miranda with more over the counter medication instead. He gives Miranda the pills and then tells her he has sent for a doctor, which is a lie.
Clegg is willing to try to help Miranda as long as it does not mean sacrificing himself. However, because he is so paranoid, his efforts do not amount to much. Still, from Clegg’s twisted perspective, it is enough to claim that he tried, which, in his mind, would absolve him of guilt. The little medicine that he does procure seems unlikely to make a difference at this stage in Miranda’s illness.
Themes
Then, Clegg goes upstairs and takes a nap. When he wakes up, Miranda’s condition is even worse. Clegg picks her up and brings her to a spare room upstairs, though he is still paranoid she will try to run away. Miranda asks Clegg once again for a doctor. That night, Clegg travels to a doctor’s house, hoping he can convince the doctor that he needs medicine for an emergency. However, just as he is about to ring the doctor’s doorbell, a policeman shows up and asks him to state his business. Not wanting to have to deal with the law, Clegg makes up a lie and then returns home. There, he briefly considers taking Miranda to a hospital and then fleeing the country. However, he ultimately decides he will stay put and allow Miranda’s illness to run its course.
Clegg finally allows Miranda to come upstairs to the spare room she wanted, but only after she is too ill to recognize the change in condition. Although Clegg is too self-absorbed to admit it, the conditions he forced Miranda to live in—and perhaps his violent behavior—likely caused her to fall ill. However, he does not come anywhere close to acknowledging this fact because his narcissism will not accept any modicum of blame. Instead, he resigns himself to the possibility that Miranda may die.
Themes
The next day, Miranda dies. Once she is dead, Clegg returns her body to the cellar. There, he cuts off a lock of her hair, which he intends to keep. Then, Clegg wonders what to do next. He thinks about sending a letter to the police lying about his relationship with Miranda, claiming that they were truly in love. Then, he would kill himself to make it seem like he and Miranda had a suicide pact similar to Romeo and Juliet. Clegg looks at his butterfly collection, implying it might be for the final time, and then goes down into the cellar to lie next to Miranda’s body.
For much of the novel, Miranda has compared her relationship with Clegg to Miranda and Caliban from The Tempest. Miranda and Caliban are enemies in the play and, in the end, go their separate ways. Here, Clegg invokes a different Shakespeare play to suggest that he wants others to think his relationship with Miranda was deeply romantic, even though he knows this is not true. Ultimately, Clegg is more interested in what other people think about him than he does about doing the right thing.
Themes
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