The Ethical Choices In The Collector

John Fowles is a contemporary British novelist.His unique narration initiated the experiment of British postmodernism literature.The Collector is a thriller novel in his literary debut,which was published in 1963.At that time,Britain was in the period of post-war reconstruction,with rapid economic and technological development.In the novel,Fowles expresses not only his concern for the imprison from science to art,but also expresses his thoughts on human nature,freedom,choice and other ethical issues.This thesis will take The Collector as the research object from the perspective of ethical literary criticism.It will analyze the ethical choices of Clegg and Miranda,and excavate the ethical value of the novel.The whole thesis is divided into three parts: introduction,the principle part and conclusion.The introduction will introduce John Fowles and The Collector briefly,and then introduce literature review and thesis statement.The main body is divided into four chapters.The first chapter mainly introduces the development of ethical literary criticism theory,as well as the interpretation of its main concepts.The second chapter mainly expounds the ethical choices of the two protagonists under the influence of the Sphinx factor.Both of them have the struggle of virtue and vice.But under the influence of Sphinx factor,their choices are completely different.Clegg fell into the control of desire and continued to commit crime.However,Miranda was willing to choose kindness,even paid the price of her life.The third chapter analyzes the influences of ethical environment on the ethical choices of characters,mainly from two aspects of social ethical environment and family ethical environment.In the social ethical environment,money makes the desire expand;war makes people very indifferent;and the class gap makes people estranged.The lack of original family and uncle Dick’s wrong teaching makes Clegg eccentric,insecure and indifferent to life.Although the original family of Miranda is not perfect,it still gives her warmth and strength.The fourth chapter explores the ethical value of The Collector.In a materialistic society,we should restrain desire,use love and respect to communicate with others,care about social problems,and get along well with nature.The ethical choices of Clegg and Miranda are the reflection of Fowles on kindness and evil of human nature,and the setting of ethical environment is his reflection on the real society.In The Collector,Fowles uses a tragic story to warn modern people that they should make a choice carefully,abandon evil thoughts and promote deeds of kindness,and build a harmonious society.