THE PREDATORY VIEW OF MEN OVER THE IDEALISTIC PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN

A STUDY ON "THE COLLECTOR", BY JOHN FOWLES

Resumo

This paper explores the intersections of gendered power dynamics, idealization and subjugation by analyzing John Fowles’s 1963 novel The collector against the backdrop of contemporary traditionalist movements, such as the tradwife phenomenon. Operating at the crux of literary analysis and feminist critique, the study examines how the male predatory gaze conceptualizes women not as human equals, but as aesthetic, submissive objects of collection and control. Drawing upon the linguistic frameworks of zoosemy and zoometaphor (Rayevska, 1979; Skalauskaite, 2010), as well as ecofeminist theories linking the domination of women to the exploitation of nature (Gruen, 1994; Salmen & Dhont, 2020), the study dissects the narrative of the antagonist, Frederick Clegg. It argues that Clegg’s entomological reduction of the protagonist, Miranda Grey, into a “specimen” reflects broader societal structures that demand female purity and dependency. Crucially, the investigation goes into the violent rupture that occurs when the idealized fantasy is broken by the victim’s assertions of human autonomy and sexual agency, shifting her status from an exalted prize to a disposable entity. Ultimately, the discussion demonstrates how historical and modern iterations of regressive traditionalism weaponize idealization to strip women of their humanity, positioning female self-determination as a vital disruption to systemic patriarchal domination.