Psychopathic Behaviour in The Collector and The Wasp Factory Essay

Explore the presentation of psychopathic behaviour in John Fowles "The Collector" and Iain Banks "The Wasp Factory."

Both John Fowles "The Collector" and Iain Banks "The Wasp Factory" present characters whose behaviour can be described as "psychopathic." Psychopathy can be described as "chronic immoral and antisocial behaviour. In "The Collector" Frederick Frederick behaves in an obsessive, evil and psychopathic way when he imprisons Miranda, eventually leading to her gruesome death. In "The Wasp Factory" Frank Cauldhame and his brother Eric, behave in an erratic and dangerous manner; harming animals, and committing acts of murder. Both John Fowles and Iain Banks use the concept of the implied reader, in which the two principal protagonists of each novel "speak to" a specific reader in mind in an attempt to have the story interpreted in a particular way. This essay will explore the representation of such behaviour, as well as the idea of misogyny, misanthropy and witchcraft; which all can be described as "psychopathic."

Both principal male protagonists Frank in "The Wasp Factory" and Frederick in "The Collector" present a disturbing initial impression in the opening to the novels. At the beginning of "The Collector" little is known of the male protagonist, if anything Frederick appears quite normal, if a bit bland. Only once before she came to be my guest here, did I have the privilege to see her with it loose. He seems like a decent sort of person, that is of course until we read further; Nothing nasty that was never until what Ill explain later. Its is then as a reader we begin to suspect that all is not well and begin to reject Fredericks views ever so slightly. His obsessive manner when discussing Miranda, "she sat three seats down...I could watch her for thirty-five minutes," along with his attempt to rationalise what he is saying, "of course I am not mad" helps convince the reader early on of the denial associated with his "psychopathic behaviour." To truly understand Frederick one must know his past and Fowles has cleverly gifted us with a small insight into Fredericks childhood and early life through conversations with Miranda, and through the use of the implied reader technique. What we learn of Frederick's childhood is that he was orphaned, and subsequently raised by his "Aunt Annie." This disrupted and disfunctional childhood provides some early reasoning for his "psychopathic behaviour."

"The Wasp Factory" however begins with Frank "making the rounds" of the "Sacrifice Poles." He describes the fixing of the "rat heads...mouse heads" and the initial impression is that of a barbaric and primitive character who hints at a belief in witchcraft "the factory told me...it hadn't been specific" suggests Frank believes in some ominous force. These traits are deviated from social norms, and therefore suggest a character of certainly unusual background. Further developing on the theme of witchcraft Frank is extremely "pagan" - "I left the jar on the small altar under the window" and "ritualistic" in his ways. In the 8th chapter Frank describes the process of preparing and using his infamous "Wasp Factory" this strong belief in the occult, "the skull of the snake that killed Blyth" as previously mentioned is emphasised by the delicate, yet dramatic description of the ritual, "I closed my eyes and repeated my secret catechisms." Like a ritual Frank bestows a high element of trust and belief in the "factory." "I have to tread very lightly when the factory is doing its slow and deadly work."

Banks presents the Character of Eric as "psychopathic" in his behaviour through his conversations on the phone with his brother Frank. Towards the end of the first chapter of "The Wasp Factory" the reader is introduced to Eric, Franks' older brother. Eric is first mentioned early on in the novel when Frank and his Father mention that he "has escaped from hospital." This already suggests to the reader that there is something wrong with Eric, due to the apparent concern with his "escape." Later on Eric makes his first entrance on the phone to Frank, "Skraw-aak! Screamed a voice at the other end." Eric randomly calls Franks with erratic and often meaningless messages, which give the impression, he is indeed mad/psychopathic. Eric is known to become aggressive on the phone towards his brother, "Bastard! Bastard! You little shit! I'll kill you!" this violent and offensive language towards his brother could be described as psychopathic and suggests an element of insanity with him. This is an example of Banks brutal and bold representation of psychopathic behaviour. Eric continues with his erratic telephone conversations throughout the novel, "I'm doing fine. I eat dogs!" his brother Frank describes him as a "loony." Eric's language is more than enough to suggest his insanity, however his actions described towards the end of the novel,"Eric turned around and swung the axe at me" this is an extreme action for a brother to do to his sibling, representing bold psychopathic behaviour.

Miranda recognises the "psychopathic" behaviour in Frederick when she refers to him as "Caliban" throughout the novel. This is a reference to Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in which "Caliban" is described as the only human inhabitant of an island that is otherwise "not honour'd with a human shape." Miranda is also a character in "The Tempest," who for further comparison among characters, is described as a "nave girl," who "also displays moments of great strength." In some productions of "The Tempest" "Caliban" is depicted as a wild man, or a beast man. Caliban is the son of the witch Sycorax, who died shortly after giving birth to him, (similar to the desertion of Frederick.) In the plot of "The Tempest" Caliban attempted to rape Miranda the beautiful daughter of the old Duke "Prospero." Caliban confirms this gleefully, saying that if he hadn't been stopped he would have peopled the island with a race of Calibans, this mad, and "psychopathic" character's actions and social class bear a strong resemblence to that of Frederick. Frederick told Miranda his name was "Ferdinand"- "I've always liked Ferdinand." In "The Tempest" Prospero sends Ariel, his spirit servant, to fetch Ferdinand while Miranda is asleep, and arranges things so that the two will come to love one another. This is yet another reference to the the play, however Frederick perceives his actions differently to Miranda who believes his behaviour to be "psychopathic" similar to that of "Caliban."

Perhaps one action most representative of true psychopathy is murder. Both Frederick and Frank are characters who have committed acts of murder. When Frank describes the murder of his cousin "Blythe Cauldhame" he describes it in such a calm and casual manner, "that was the first time I killed" this suggests he has little moral high ground on the matter, and this is of little bother to him that this was a young cousin he murdered. His reasoning for killing "Blythe" is somewhat humorous "because of what my cousin had done to our rabbits." This is fairly hypocritical for Frank who is described as having "Throttled a rabbit." However, showing no remorse for his actions Frank describes the build up and his master plan for killing his cousin "only I knew better." Frank comes across quite casual, and almost sarcastic about the whole matter "tearful farewell of Blyth's parents." This event presents the character of Frank as psychopathic due to his lack of remorse, and ability to casually suppress, what would normally be a distressing occurrence for a "young" boy.

Unlike Frank, Frederick- upon discovering Miranda is dead, is quite shocked "truly and really in despair." This reinsures some belief of a human-like side to him. However after a grim, guilty end to part 3 of the book, "I still couldn't understand it was true" a contrast forms with part 4 where he seems to drop all blame, and shame, "it was a nice day...I was acting as if I killed her." He displays an even more horrific side, showing he hasn't "learnt his lesson with Miranda" when he "spots" a "young girl working at Woolworths." the novel ends with him considering "having another guest." This shows that Frederick has learnt little/nothing from his cruel actions, and feels no guilt or remorse due to his ability to consider performing this act again. "Its just an idea."

Eccentric behaviour such as misogyny (a hatred of women) and misanthropy (a hatred of human kind) both fit the profile as socially outcast behaviour that could be described as mildly psychopathic. Both novels have elements of these in them. For example Frank makes it quite obvious of his hatred for womenkind "my greatest enemies are women and the sea," he hates "women because they are weak and stupid and live in the shadow of men" yet "are nothing compared to them." This is an extremely old fashioned, and traditional opinion, that would nowadays be outlined in any normal social setting. This therefore shows Frank is excluded from an ordinary social existence, and therefore has developed differently to an average seventeen year old. As Frank was brought up by his father he displaces much of his hatred onto his mother. "I can't remember her, but if I could, I'd hate her." Although Frank never freely admits it, it is clear upon reading between the lines, thats Franks "invisible" existence, and infrequent public appearances suggests a dislike for the general population (misanthropy.)

Frederick on the other hand portrays a shy and quiet individual, who captures Miranda due to his lack of social skills, and subsequent inability to "woo" her. Initially, although no mentioning of other women he describes supposed genuine feelings towards her, "took my breath away...so beautiful." "Sometimes I'd see her...I marked it in my observations diary" this is perverted "I could watch her for 35 minutes" as well as extremely odd, although this concept doesn't register with Frederick, who Fredericks attention to detail, when describing her hair "It was very pale, silky, like burnet cocoons" whilst painting a pleasant image, shows the satisfaction he is receiving in looking upon her. This gives the impression that his beliefs are far from misogyny. However after the incident with Miranda "in the lounge" Fredericks opinion changes drastically; "I never respected her again" "she was like all women, she had a one track mind." Therefore both Frederick and Frank display feelings of misogyny. Perhaps this stems from a broken relationship with the mother figure during their early years, although this had lead to a prejudice that, in a socially accepted person, would have been non existent.

In conclusion it is clear that both novels present psychopathic behaviour in different ways, Banks favoring a more literal, gothic and graphic approach to it, whereas Fowles principal protagonist Frederick represents "psychopathic" behaviour in a more subtle, yet effective way.