Modern Men's Tragedy Of Maturation

John Fowles (1926-2005) is an outstanding fictionist in the field of contemporary English literature. He has such a great interest in Jung's theory of archetypes that he brings archetype to his creation of many works. Especially in The Collector, his first novel, Fowles makes his characters full of archetypal meanings. By analyzing these archetypal characters, the thesis attempts to explore the theme of modern men's tragic maturation in the novel.In light of Carl Jung's theories of archetypes and individuation, the thesis examines two protagonists' journey to self-discovery. Driven by the curiosity in his unconscious, Clegg worships Miranda as the projection of anima and mother archetype. However, his ego, the center of his consciousness, is under-developed, and Miranda denies her role of anima and mother, which impels Clegg to destroy the unqualified projection. Therefore, his recognition of the unconscious culminates in failure and his search for psychological wholeness is doomed to be defeated. Miranda is on her way to know her unconscious by transferring animus and father archetype onto GP. Unfortunately her tragic death terminates all her potentials for change, which forms an ironic allusion to William Shakespeare's drama, The Tempest. This intended allusion reinforces modern Miranda's tragedy.The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction, focusing on literature review and a brief introduction to the layout of the thesis. Chapter two elaborates on Jung's theories of individuation and archetypes, including anima/animus, mother/father figure. Chapter three investigates how Clegg's quest for a wholeness of personality fails. Chapter four probes into Miranda's tragic journey toward her maturation, and it's ironic allusion to The Tempest. Chapter five is the conclusion. The thesis concludes that Clegg and Miranda's quest for their spiritual growth is unfilled and tragic. Since their tragedy takes its root in a sick modern world, thus it represents the tragedy of the modern times in a deep sense.