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<title> MIRANDA as the BUTTERFLY vs FRED as CALIBAN </title>
John Fowles' book is the story of the butterflycollecting outsider Fred who collects Miranda, the girl next door. The story focuses on the relationship between these characters after she has gotten over the first fear of being instantly killed. Fred's kidnapping plan is in some ways ellaborately planned in every detail and at the same time never thought to become reality. He collects Miranda much to his own surprise. The entire collecting-plan is somewhat a fantasy that never should work in dealing with an actual human being. And as the story moves along he comes to regret not keeping it the fantasy it should have remained.

On November 7th Miranda has been kept in Fred's cellar for quite some time. Although she does not entirely understand his motif for this she is no longer fearing that he is going to violently rape and/or kill her. In her own mind she is so superior to him.

This certainty of her superiority is to a large extent what is keeping Miranda alive for so long. She is too good a person to die in that cellar kept by someone like him. Miranda wallows in her own intellectuality in contrasting her mind to Fred's. She makes him read The Catcher in the Rye knowing he will not like it, and she will get to despise him for it. Her attitude towards him is sarcastic, patronizing and sometimes even cruel. She is calling him by names he does not comprehend the meaning of and he continues crawling for her attention. No matter how badly she treats him he is consistent in his niceness and cockerspaniel-adoring looks at her. And no matter how pleasant she is at times he does not let her go.

Miranda knows very well that she is being mean and occasionally feels bad for Caliban but she does not stop teasing him still. The only way she can beat him is intellectually. Apart from exposing Fred as an idiot Mirandas only hobby is dwelling on G.P. Like Fred is obsessed by her she becomes more and more obsessed by G.P.or at least the thought of him. In the beginning of the chapter Miranda believes that his painting on her wall is "the only living, unique, created thing" around. It seems that just a work of G.P.'s hand is more alive to her than she herself is.

Miranda's attitude towards G.P. is not constant throughout the book. She admires him but thinks he is too old at first. Finally she wants him at almost any cost. She is even considering marrying and becoming "a Little Woman. One of the enemy." It does not necessarily mean marrying G.P. but it still marks a change in her way of thinking. G.P. is one of "the Few". Being one of them is in Miranda's mind being the best a person possibly can be, and the absolute opposite of everything Caliban represents to her. One can not become one of them it is something you just are, or not. Miranda herself wants very much to be one of them and at times believe that she is, but not quite as good as the almighty G.P.

Caliban being born workingclass but a nouvaeu-riche is by these "the Few"-standards of Miranda the lowest of the low. She remembers discussing her Labour-voting with G.P. and she does have a certain respect for the people of the honest workingclass. Caliban does not have the good manners of upperclass people nor the least of the interest in culture or literature that Miranda holds in such high asteem. Poor Caliban is not even liked by his own kind, respected on account of his big pile of money, -yes but not liked.

When Fred lures Miranda into his car he has never actually spoken to her before. For years he has been watching her and he knows a lot about her life but he does not know Miranda the person. The butterflies he collected up to this point have never argued or protested when he drove a needle through their bodies and kept them for their beauty alone. With Miranda it is different. She is not one to let him just pin her down and keep her. For weeks becoming months she tries in all ways to get away. When she finally dies it is his loss too, since sha was kept as one of his possessions. No one wins, since Miranda does not gain her freedom, but does not either continues to be owned by Fred.
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