The Collector: Part 1 Summary & Analysis

Frederick Clegg, a young man who works in the city clerk’s office, describes stalking a young woman named Miranda. He recalls seeing her go out with young men, which he does not like. Whenever Clegg sees Miranda go somewhere, he makes a note of it in his journal. Clegg is an amateur entomologist (entomology is the study of insects) and the journal he uses to track Miranda is the same one he uses to record his entomological findings. Clegg’s obsession dates back to when they were both minors, as he recalls watching Miranda whenever she came home from boarding school.

For the most part, Clegg only sees Miranda from afar, though one time they took the same train together, and he could watch her for over a half hour. For some time, Clegg does not see Miranda because she moves to London to study art. Clegg often has dreams about Miranda where he imagines them living together happily. However, sometimes, on the occasions where he saw Miranda alone with other young men, he would dream about hitting her.

Clegg is born in 1935 and his father dies in a drunk driving accident when he is two. His mother—who may or may not be a sex worker—leaves him with his Aunt Annie and Uncle Dick, and they raise him. Aunt Annie and Uncle Dick also have a daughter, Mabel, who Clegg grows up with. Clegg is particularly fond of Uncle Dick because he shares Clegg’s interest in entomology. However, Uncle Dick dies from a stroke when Clegg is 15.

At age 21, Clegg, who works as a city clerk, starts gambling and eventually wins over 70,000 pounds. After winning the money, Clegg moves himself, Aunt Annie, and Mabel to London. In London, he occasionally spots Miranda, but he does not start stalking her again right away. Although Clegg has money now, he notices that other wealthy people do not treat him with respect. One night, in particular, Clegg goes out to a nice restaurant and cannot even enjoy the food because he feels everyone in the room looking down on him.

Shortly after Clegg’s experience at the restaurant, he decides to see a sex worker because he has never been with a woman before. Clegg despises the woman he meets, claiming she is “old” and “common,” but he has sex with her anyway. He thinks he was “no good” during the interaction, but also claims he barely tried. Throughout his life, Clegg feels like he has never been pushy with women like some men he knows. He is not an attractive man and envies men who find it easy to attract women.

While Aunt Annie and Mabel are away on a trip to Australia, Clegg decides to start stalking Miranda again. He has recently bought a van with a bed in the back and a new camera because he wants to travel around the country and photograph insects. Clegg takes the van to the Slade School of Art, where Miranda is studying, and waits outside for over a day until he sees her. When Clegg spots her, she is walking with a number of other young men.

Miranda and the young men walk into a coffee-bar and Clegg follows them inside. Clegg sits down and, as Miranda is waiting in line, she moves just inches away from Clegg, which excites him. As Clegg observes Miranda, he notices her classy behavior; she is polite and never talks down to people. Clegg imagines kidnapping Miranda and holding her captive until she falls in love with him. He is convinced that she would come to love him once she got to know him better.

One day, not long after he follows Miranda into the coffee shop, Clegg is reading a newspaper and sees an advertisement for a remote home for sale outside of London. Clegg calls the estate agent and then goes to look at the property. Although the property is old, it is fitted with modern technology and looks perfectly suitable to live in. Additionally, the house has an extensive cellar, which Clegg finds appealing, though it is unfinished. Clegg walks around the cellar and, upon coming back upstairs, he feels that the cellar and the rest of the home are like two different worlds. Clegg decides to buy the home on the spot, which surprises the real estate agent, who assumed Clegg could not afford it.

Clegg ends up paying more than the asking price for the home. The various tradesmen he hires to spruce the place up also fleece him. He writes to Aunt Annie to tell her about his new purchase but lies about what he paid for it. Clegg moves into the home in August and deliberately alienates himself from his neighbors, all of whom live miles away anyway. After moving in, Clegg begins remodeling the cellar, making it a comfortable place to live. Additionally, he makes sure it is soundproof, stocks it with art books, and installs a burglar alarm. Once the room is finished, he sits in it and thinks about all the possible ways someone might try to escape. Whenever he thinks of something, he makes the necessary adjustment.

Once the cellar is ready, Clegg begins stalking Miranda again. He finds out where she lives, how she gets home, and makes notes about her daily schedule. One night, Miranda is forced to go home later than normal because it is raining outside. Realizing this might be his chance, Clegg drives to an isolated spot he knows Miranda will have to walk by. When he sees her coming up the road, Clegg gets out of his car and waves her down. Then, he lies, claiming he accidentally ran over a dog, and asks for her help. When Miranda walks over to his van to look, Clegg chloroforms her and throws her in the back.

Clegg drives Miranda out into the country and then gets into the back of the van to check on her. He offers to take the gag off but warns her there is no use screaming because they are miles away from civilization. Miranda nods her head in understanding. As soon as Clegg takes the gag off, Miranda immediately vomits. Surprised and concerned, Clegg puts the gag back in Miranda’s mouth and then takes her to his new home.

They do not arrive until 10 p.m. Clegg carries Miranda into the cellar. She struggles a bit but is too small for Clegg to worry. Clegg promises to come check on her the following morning and then unties her hands, allowing her to take the gag out of her mouth. As he leaves, he hears her yelling for him to come back, though her voice is faint because he has soundproofed the room.

When Clegg checks on Miranda the following morning, she demands to know what is going on. Clegg lies and says he kidnapped her on behalf of Mr. Singleton, the manager of the bank Miranda’s father uses. He claims to owe Mr. Singleton a lot of money, which is why he is working on Mr. Singleton’s behalf. Miranda knows Mr. Singleton’s daughter and does not understand why he would have her kidnapped. Clegg claims he does not know any further details and insists that he was not even supposed to say as much as he has already.

To Clegg’s dismay, Miranda recognizes him because she saw his picture in the newspaper after he won his fortune. This is something Clegg did not plan on. Miranda also tells Clegg that she knows he is lying about Mr. Singleton because Clegg already has a lot of money and would not owe Mr. Singleton a debt. Clegg tries to alter his story, but it is already too late. Miranda asks Clegg if he brought her to Mr. Singleton’s home in Suffolk. Clegg says that he has. In response, Miranda says that Mr. Singleton does not have a home in Suffolk, making Clegg realize he has been caught.

For the rest of the day, Clegg tries to be polite to Miranda, and he brings her food. However, she does not speak to him again until the evening. After Miranda eats dinner, she tells Clegg that she knows Mr. Singleton did not order Clegg to kidnap her and then asks him again what he wants with her. When Clegg does not answer right away, Miranda asks him if his reasons for kidnapping her are sexually perverse. Clegg assures her they are not and then tells her what he sees as the truth: he wants her to be “his guest.” He also tells Miranda that he loves her and that his love for her has driven him mad. Miranda warns Clegg that she cannot love him as long as she is his prisoner. Afterwards, Clegg regrets admitting his love so quickly; he acted impulsively because Miranda’s questioning left him frazzled.

The following day at breakfast, Miranda demands that Clegg release her. Clegg says he cannot but promises he will not hold her for too long. Miranda asks Clegg for his first name. Clegg lies and says “Ferdinand.” Then, Miranda spends more time trying to convince Clegg to let her go, but to no avail. During their conversation, Clegg suggests that Miranda does not like him because he is from a lower class than her. Miranda assures Clegg this is not the case, but Clegg still feels like Miranda looks down on him for this reason whenever they speak.

Later the same day, Clegg drives to a local store and looks at the newspapers. There, he sees two articles describing Miranda’s disappearance. He thinks about how the papers have only picked up on the story because Miranda is a beautiful woman. He suspects if she were ugly, people would pay far less attention to the fact that she has gone missing.

After dinner that night, Miranda asks Clegg to tell her about himself. Clegg explains his interest in entomology. Miranda suggests that Clegg has captured and pinned her, just as he would with one of his insects. She also expresses her general disapproval of entomology as a practice because she considers it unnecessarily violent and cruel. Clegg offers to give up entomology if it would make Miranda happy. Then, Miranda changes the subject, asking Clegg when he will let her go. When Clegg does not give a straightforward answer, Miranda tells him to go away and think about it.

The following morning, Miranda tricks Clegg into bending over and looking at something. When his back is turned, Miranda pushes him and then bolts upstairs. Clegg chases her down, puts his hand around her mouth so she cannot scream, and then drags her back to the cellar. Once she is back in the cellar, Clegg lets her go. In response, Miranda slaps him in the face and gives him a look of intense hatred. For the next few days, Miranda stops talking to Clegg and goes on a hunger strike.

To get Miranda to speak to him again, Clegg offers her a deal: if she will speak, eat, and promise not to escape, he will tell her when he plans to let her go. Miranda says she cannot promise she will not try to escape but agrees to the other two conditions. Then, Clegg promises to let her go one month from when he initially captured her. Miranda tells Clegg that she will behave, but she wants to be able to go upstairs for baths and to be let outside on occasion.

Clegg is worried that Miranda will try to escape but promises to think on it and let her know. He is eager to be able to show Miranda the rest of the house because he is proud of how nicely it is furnished. Miranda also makes Clegg a list of things she would like, including art supplies, music, and food. Clegg happily purchases these items for her, though he is careful not to frequent the same shops too many times, as he does not want people recognizing him and asking questions.

The next day, Clegg boards up the bathroom window, which is on the backside of the house, and makes sure he has removed everything from the upstairs Miranda could use as a possible weapon. Then, in the evening, he ties Miranda’s wrists, gags her, and brings her to the bath. There, he unties her hands, but asks that she keep the gag in her mouth. He tells her that he will sit outside the bathroom door and promises to respect her privacy. During her bath, Miranda takes the gag out of her mouth and doesn’t put it back in. When she sees Clegg, she tells him that she took the gag out because it was uncomfortable. Because Clegg looks concerned, Miranda says she would have already started screaming if that was her intention.

Then, Miranda asks if she can look around the house, which Clegg reluctantly allows her to do. Immediately, Miranda begins insulting the décor, though she does compliment two pictures of butterflies, which Clegg says he picked out himself. Miranda particularly does not like some china she sees sitting on the fireplace mantel, so she picks them up and smashes them. She explains to Clegg that he is destroying the “soul” of his house by furnishing it so poorly.

Then, Miranda asks Clegg to show her his entomology collection, which she refers to as her “fellow-victims.” Eagerly, Clegg shows her a collection of butterflies. Miranda acknowledges that the collection is beautiful, but it makes her sad. Clegg also shows her some photographs he has taken, photography being another one of his hobbies. The photographs do not impress Miranda, who dislikes photography in general. She tells Clegg, “When you draw something it lives and when you photograph it it dies.” After a brief pause, Clegg asks Miranda if he can photograph her. Miranda says she will let him the following day.

As promised, Clegg takes several pictures of Miranda while she is reading. For her part, Miranda attempts to draw Clegg, though she rips up her work instead of letting him see it because she is dissatisfied. She tells Clegg that he is hard to capture in a drawing because she thinks of him more as an object than a person. During the drawing session, Clegg and Miranda have intimate conversations about philosophy and family. These conversations reveal that Miranda believes in God, but Clegg does not. Additionally, Miranda hates her mother, who she calls “a nasty ambitious middle-class bitch.” Then, Miranda changes the subject and asks Clegg if he is gay. Clegg blushes and says he is not. In response, Miranda tries out a different theory, suggesting that Clegg has an Oedipal complex. Again, Clegg shuts her down, saying he does not believe in Freud’s theories. 

During a different drawing session a few days later, Miranda draws several pictures of fruit and asks Clegg which one is the best. Clegg points at one. Miranda shakes her head and says the one he pointed at is the worst. Miranda shows him the correct answer, and Clegg thinks it looks sloppy and incomplete. Seeing that Clegg is not understanding, Miranda shows him some paintings by Cézanne in an art book and tries to get him to understand what she is getting at with her drawing. In response, Clegg simply nods his head and says he likes everything she draws. Miranda looks at Clegg for a moment and then tells him his name should have been Caliban instead of Ferdinand.

A night or two later, Clegg agrees to let Miranda walk around outside at night with his supervision because she begs him for fresh air. Clegg gags Miranda before letting her go outside. He revels in the moment of placing the gag in her mouth because he lightly touches her hair as he does so. As they walk together, Clegg thinks about taking Miranda in his arms and kissing her. Clegg tells her that he is very happy. Miranda, who is gagged, cannot respond.

When they are back inside and Miranda can speak again, she asks Clegg if he wanted to kiss her while they were outside. Clegg, ashamed, promises her that he will not get that way again. Miranda tells Clegg that if those feelings do arise again, she wants him to promise her that he will never drug her to get what he wants. Clegg makes the promise and shakes Miranda’s hand.

The next few days are largely uneventful, though Miranda is always looking for new ways to escape. One day, Miranda fakes appendicitis and asks Clegg to call a doctor. Clegg rushes out of the room and deliberately leaves the door open. Then, he sits and waits. As expected, Miranda quickly comes up the stairs, trying to make her escape. Clegg can tell by the way she is moving that she is not really sick. Realizing she is caught, Miranda walks back downstairs without saying a word.

For the next several days, Miranda undergoes a rapid series of mood changes, which startle Clegg. Some days she is sweet and tries to teach him about art. Other days, she berates him, telling him that he mutilates the English language every time he speaks. Clegg decides that these rapid changes in mood are simply the result of Miranda being a woman and does not put any more thought into them.

One day, Miranda asks Clegg if she can send a letter to her parents to let them know she is alive and safe. Clegg lets her write the letter and promises to send it. However, when he checks the envelope Miranda put the letter in, he finds another small note hidden there. The note reveals the truth about what has happened to Miranda, and, in it, she calls Clegg a “madman.” Miranda expects Clegg will hurt her after discovering the note, but he just acts dejected instead. Clegg tells Miranda that he is not a madman because a madman would not treat her as well as he does. Miranda warns Clegg that the reason he scares her is because of something he does not realize is inside of him.

The following day, Miranda gives Clegg a list of rare and expensive items that she wants him to purchase, which will require him to travel to London. Clegg buys everything Miranda asks for and when he returns to the house, he sees that she has pried a few stones from the cellar wall. At this point, Clegg realizes that Miranda used the list to give herself time to escape. Clegg looks around in an attempt to figure out how Miranda got the stone out of the wall. Eventually, Miranda throws a small nail at Clegg without saying a word. Clegg wonders how she obtained it.

One night, after Miranda takes a bath, Clegg allows her to stay upstairs with him and read by the fire. After a while, Miranda asks Clegg to entertain her. When Clegg doesn’t do anything, Miranda stands up and begins smashing more of the china around the room. Clegg grabs her so she will stop. Then, Miranda offers to clean up the mess and asks Clegg to fetch a broom. Clegg insists that he will clean it up himself the following day. In response, Miranda tells Clegg that, despite his hatred of upper class snobbery, he is “the most perfect specimen of petite bourgeois squareness.” When Clegg says he does not know what she means, Miranda tells him that he is so worried about tradition and propriety that he never truly lives. She also claims that she hates herself for constantly talking down to Clegg but thinks his behavior warrants it.

Leading up to the day Clegg told Miranda he would let her go, Miranda repeatedly talks about the fact that she will soon be free. Clegg knows he is not actually going to let Miranda go but does not want to tell her the truth. The night before Miranda is set to go free, she asks Clegg if they can have a party upstairs—just the two of them. Clegg agrees to a small celebration and offers to buy Miranda a nice dress to suit the occasion. Clegg travels to Brighton where he buys Miranda a dress, an expensive necklace, and a ring. He intends to use the ring to propose to Miranda, knowing she will say no. He plans to use her rejection as his excuse for not letting her go free.

Clegg returns home, gives Miranda her dress, and then prepares himself for the evening. When Clegg sees Miranda in her new dress, her beauty makes him feel lightheaded. Then, he lets her go upstairs without being gagged or tied up, though he intends to watch her like a hawk. At dinner, Miranda is in the best mood Clegg has seen since she arrived at his home. She even laughs at some of his jokes. When Clegg gives Miranda the expensive necklace, she says she will wear it for the night, but she does not intend to keep it because it is far too expensive. Miranda asks Clegg to put the necklace on her and then kisses his cheek afterwards.

After dinner, Miranda asks Clegg if he will want to continue seeing her after he lets her go. Still playing along, Clegg says that he would. Miranda offers to spend time with him in London, though Clegg doubts she would actually want to. Abruptly, Clegg produces the ring he bought in Brighton and asks Miranda to marry him. Miranda tells Clegg that she cannot marry him, insisting that they are not compatible and saying that she does not love him. Miranda’s rejection sends Clegg into a rage. He tells her that she treats him like he is some sort of strange specimen rather than a human being. Additionally, he implies that he will not be setting her free.

Outside, Clegg and Miranda hear a car somewhere nearby. When Clegg turns to look, Miranda kicks a log from the fire at him and tries to run away. She also screams loudly for help. Clegg grabs Miranda, forces his hand over her mouth, and chloroforms her. Then, he takes her back down to the cellar and looks outside to make sure no one saw anything. When he sees that the coast is clear, he returns to the cellar, strips Miranda out of her dress and takes pictures of her in her underwear. He feels that the pictures turn out nicely, describing them as “not artistic, but interesting.”

Knowing Miranda will be angry with him, Clegg writes her a letter that he brings in with her breakfast. The letter is an apology for his use of force. In it, he lies and says he took her dress off because he did not want her to vomit on it. As Clegg expected, Miranda does not talk to him when he gives her the breakfast and the note. Miranda stops talking for several days and, when she does decide to speak again, she tells Clegg that she intends to kill him.

After a few more days of tense interactions between Miranda and Clegg, Clegg agrees to let Miranda walk outside with him at night again. While outside, Miranda distracts Clegg and then hits him in the head with an axe that he left lying on the ground. However, she hits him with the blunt side of the axe and not enough to stun him for long. Clegg quickly manages to wrestle the weapon away from her and, once again, takes her back down to the cellar.

Clegg leaves Miranda bound and gagged in the cellar to teach her a lesson. Then, he goes upstairs to treat his wound. When Clegg checks on Miranda the following morning, she is kind to him. She asks to look at his wound and apologizes for hitting him. She also thanks him for not retaliating. Clegg accepts her apology and almost feels like the head wound was worth it if it means she will speak to him again.

A few days later, Miranda asks Clegg what she needs to do for him to set her free. However, he does not give her a straight answer. Then, Miranda offers to sleep with him in exchange for her freedom. Clegg insists that sex is not what he is after, even though he admits to finding her exceptionally attractive. Privately, he thinks he is a gentleman for how he is behaving with Miranda, thinking most men would have treated her far worse than he has.

A few nights later, Clegg lets Miranda have another bath. After the bath, she and Clegg share a bottle of sherry and Miranda kisses Clegg. Surprised, Clegg steps away from her for a moment to calm himself down. Miranda asks Clegg to come back and when he turns around, he sees she is naked. Then, Miranda does something that Clegg describes as “really shocking,” which leaves him feeling sick. Clegg implies that Miranda is performing some kind of sex act, though he is too proper to say exactly what she is doing. After some time, Miranda stops because Clegg cannot get an erection. 

Miranda tells Clegg that many men have similar problems and insists that he should not worry about it. Clegg lies and says that a psychiatrist told him that he is unable to have sex. Upset, Clegg implies that Miranda performed the sex act simply so she could try to escape again after. Miranda insists that, although she is always thinking of escape, she was also trying to show Clegg that sex is not as improper as he seems to think. She claims to have sacrificed all of her principles to teach him this lesson. For his part, Clegg is left feeling that Miranda is like every other woman he has ever met. Whatever attracted him to her initially is gone now.

The following day, Miranda tells Clegg that she plans to starve herself again unless he will renovate a room upstairs for her to live in. Clegg tells Miranda he will create a new space for her but warns her it will take time. However, he does not intend to actually do so. Instead, he begins to think about what he will do when Miranda realizes he is bluffing. In the meantime, he places some carpentry materials in one of the upstairs room to make Miranda think he is working there.

After some time, Clegg tells Miranda that the new room is ready. However, he says he will not let her move up there until she allows him to take nude pictures of her. He implies that he plans to use the pictures as blackmail should Miranda ever escape him. He says the pictures do not need to be obscene. Instead, he wants “art-photographs” that Miranda would not want published. Miranda immediately grows furious and screams at Clegg to leave her alone. Clegg does as she asks and finds himself feeling happy. He thinks he is getting revenge for all of the terrible things he feels Miranda has done to him.

The next morning, Clegg visits Miranda in the cellar and sees that she has a nasty cough. He gives her breakfast and cold medicine and then leaves because she will not speak to him. At lunch, Miranda, who is still sick, tells Clegg that she wishes she was strong enough to kill him. In response, Clegg says that he is the boss and threatens to stop attending to Miranda altogether, effectively leaving her to die.

By dinner, Miranda thinks she has the flu, though Clegg assures her it is just a cold. When Miranda protests, Clegg states that he thinks she is simply acting again so he will let his guard down. Miranda says that she wishes Clegg were a real man so he would take care of her. Her words incense Clegg, who stands up and says he is going to teach Miranda a lesson. Then, he binds her wrists and gags her before stripping her naked and taking photographs.

The next day, when Clegg goes to check on Miranda, it seems that she genuinely is quite sick. Her temperature is at 102 degrees, and she says she is having trouble breathing. She asks that Clegg take her out of the cellar so she can get some fresh air. Even though Clegg thinks she is probably telling the truth, he refuses to let her out of the cellar. Desperate, Miranda asks Clegg to sit with her and leave the door to the cellar open for fresh air. Clegg does as she asks but shuts the door and leaves as soon as she falls asleep. Despite Miranda’s condition, Clegg feels justified in everything that he has done up to this point.