Ferdinand... they should have called you Caliban : En intertextuell karaktärsanalys av huvudpersonerna i John Fowles roman The Collector och William Shakespeares pjäs The Tempest

Sammanfattning: This essay analyses the two main characters in John Fowles’s novel The Collector and the three characters Miranda, Ferdinand and Caliban in William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, as well as the intertextual connection between them. The essay is based off the idea of intertextuality, which refers to a connection between texts. To study this connection, a comparative method is used. The character analysis is grounded upon Shlomith Rimmon- Kenan’s model for characterization. The essay concludes that the main characteristics of the characters in The Tempest are mirrored in the corresponding characters in The Collector. Miranda is kindhearted, empathic, brave, naïve, romanticizing, innocent and superior. Ferdinand and Caliban are both present in Clegg’s character, in which the former side is naïve, romanticizing, civilized, in control of his sexual urge and honorable; while the latter side is inhuman, a villain, violent, uncivilized, not in control of his sexual urge, incapable of change and does not show any remorse. The comparison of the two works also sheds light on the slave-motif that is present in The Collector, both in the inner struggle between Clegg’s two alter egon, as well as in his relationship with Miranda.