List the different ways power is exercised by Clegg and Miranda…

List the different ways power is exercised by Clegg and Miranda…

Power is exercised through… • Physical strength/actions • Psychological manipulation • Intelligence • Class • Gender • Seduction • Setting

Physical Power How does Clegg use his physical power to control Miranda?

Chloroform He uses chloroform to kidnap Miranda because he thinks he cannot have Miranda by using socially acceptable ways of meeting her, ‘I can’t ever get to know her in the ordinary way, but if she’s with me, she’ll see my good points.’(page 19) So Clegg uses chloroform to control Miranda and to prevent her from escaping.

The Setting Clegg controls Miranda by controlling her environment. Miranda is trapped in a soundproof room in the basement of an isolated cottage. Miranda is trapped behind a ‘two inch seasoned wood’ door with ‘sheet metal on the inside.’ (page 24) The door is sound proofed and Miranda is not given access to newspapers etc so she has not idea of what is going on in the outside world. Clegg creates his vision of domestic bliss with his prisoner. Clegg sets himself up as the benevolent gaoler, while Miranda acts the role of prisoner or ‘slave’

The Power in being aVoyeur Please complete the discussion questions provided

Voyeurism • A voyeur is someone who derives sexual pleasure by observing others in secret. Often the object of voyeurism is undressed or engaged in some kind of sexual activity. The key factor in voyeurism is that the voyeur does not interact personally with the person being observed. • Clegg is also a voyeur and uses this to disempower and humiliate Miranda • Clegg admits his voyeuristic tendencies early on in Part 1 (page 15). • Clegg begins to use the camera as a form of punishment whenever Miranda disempowers him. For example, Miranda attempts to seduce and have sex with Clegg in an attempt to escape. However, Clegg is unable to complete the act and feels ashamed, ‘She made me look like a proper fool…I felt she was despising me, I was a freak.’ (page 100) • Clegg punishes Miranda for making him feel inadequate, by taking photographs of her when she is drugged and feels powerful knowing that Miranda is not aware that he has the pictures of her. ‘The photographs (the day I gave her the pad), I used to look at them….I could take my time with them. They didn’t talk back to me.’ (page 103)

Voyeurism Clegg also uses the camera to punish Miranda when she attempts to escape. Miranda and Clegg have an argument and Miranda attacks him, he drugs her with chloroform again and takes pictures of her in only her underwear, ‘She looked a real picture lying there with only strips of nothing on…It was my chance I had been waiting for. I got the old camera and took some photos…they came out very nice…it was almost a point in my favour.’ (page 87)

‘…it was almost a point in my favour.’ Clegg feels disempowered when he cannot perform sexually. In order to shift the balance of power back in his favour, his photographs Miranda as punishment. Photographed Miranda cannot argue with him and he feels powerful looking at her image. Real life Miranda reminds him of his own lack of education, his lack of sexual success and his lack of class. Photographed Miranda cannot speak and so Clegg can project his own fantasy of Miranda and control the interaction.

Class and Power Please complete the discussion questions provided

For a short while after Clegg won the money, he decides he will stop stalking Miranda because, ‘I was rich, a good spec as a husband now...’ The money relieves Clegg’s anxieties about approaching beautiful women, because he now feels that beautiful women will be attracted to his money. Thus he now feels equal in power. The beautiful women are no longer more powerful than he is

‘When you don’t have money, you always think things will be very different after...of course they were all respectful on the surface....They still treated me behind the scenes for what I was - a clerk...you don’t get anywhere if you don’t have the manor born and the right la-di-da voice.’ (14) • A proletariat with money will not be accepted by the bourgeoisie. He has wealth, but no education. He is a proletariat, with money. (A cashed up bogan remains a bogan in spite of his wealth.) This is why Clegg is resentful of the bourgeoisie because even though he is as wealthy as they are, he knows he is still considered inferior. • A proletariat with money will face conflict with his fellow proletariats as they may accuse him of becoming bourgeoisie.

‘…Like a rich man telling a poor man to stop thinking about money.’ Miranda is privileged and has never known what it is to be poor or to be lacking in social class. It is hypocritical of her ask someone like Clegg, who has experienced class prejudice, because she has never been judged or treated differently because of her social class. A rich man does not know poverty and therefore never thinks of the value of money. A member of the upper class does not know what it is to be treated differently and therefore never thinks of class.

‘...the *New People are too mean to give and too small to admit it. Like the horrid man in Hampstead who said, ‘I’ll give you half a dollar if you can prove it doesn’t go into someone else’s pocket.’ (210) The ‘New People’ are not being ‘mean’, they are behaving according to their class circumstances: • The ‘New People’ are most likely reluctant to give money away because the memory of being poor is still fresh. They grew up learning not to waste money, so do not want to give their hard earned money away. • Secondly, the ‘New People’ may reason that nobody ever gave them money for free, so why should they give their money to others? • Thirdly, the proletariat is used to being a wage earner, whereby his labour helped profit the his bourgeoisie employer. So the ‘New People’ are conscious of not giving away their money in case someone else profits from it.

Miranda is not prejudiced, just ignorant • Miranda is not consciously behaving in ways that are prejudiced. She collects money for charity and is aware that class distinctions exist and feels this is unfair. • However, her status as a daughter from a bourgeoisie family and a privileged member of the upper class means that her actions would be perceived by the proletariats as being condescending and hypocritical. What would a wealthy young woman who holidays in France and socialises with the beautiful and rich, know about being poor, ugly and lacking in education? • She is also impatient with Clegg’s apparent inability to understand academic concepts etc, but forgets that Clegg did not have access to higher education nor was he exposed to sophisticated ideas. It isn’t his fault that he is a ‘Caliban’. • Her actions are offensive to the proletariat.

Why is it significant that Clegg (a proletariat/New Person) chooses to kidnap a girl from the bourgeoisie class? On one hand, perhaps Clegg unconsciously chose to kidnap a girl from the bourgeoisie class as a way of seeking revenge for the way the bourgeoisie have ignored him. Clegg feels inferior to the bourgeoisie, so kidnapping a girl from that class is almost a way of seeking revenge or trying to assert some power over them. On the other hand, perhaps Clegg hopes that in earning Miranda’s love he can marry her and thereby gain access to bourgeoisie society.

‘I ought to have got someone who would respect me more. Someone I could teach.’ (282) • At the resolution of the novel, Clegg has begun stalking his next victim. A girl who is a proletariat. Clegg describes her as ‘…a common shop-girl.’ Clegg goes onto to explain his choice, ‘…that was my mistake before, aiming too high, I ought to have seen that I could never get what I wanted from someone like Miranda, with all her la-di-da ideas and clever tricks. I ought to have got someone who would respect me more. Someone I could teach.’ • Clegg realises that Miranda’s social status (and education) meant that he did not have as much power over her as he expected. Now he wants someone who is lower in class than him so he can feel more powerful.

Power by Seduction Please complete the discussion questions

‘The power of women!’ Miranda uses seduction to disempower Clegg. Clegg is incapable of a physical sexual encounter and when Miranda exposes his weakness he feels disempowered and Miranda feels powerful. She notes that, ‘He can’t do it. There’s no man in him.’ (page 242)She goes on to exalt in her newfound power, ‘The power of women! I’ve never felt so full of mysterious power. Men are a joke.’ (page 248) This gives Miranda a newfound confidence that she is capable of outsmarting Clegg and escaping. Miranda’s discovery about Clegg highlights a greater social issue in society. Men who are incapable of performing sexually are considered to be ‘unmanned’ (i.e. not masculine). And face great shame as a result.

Power through Intellect

Miranda uses intellect against Clegg Miranda uses her intellect to torment and antagonise Clegg: • She refers to Clegg as ‘Caliban’ (referencing The Tempest) implying he is a grotesque animal/monster lacking in the same intellect as a human man. • She tries to ‘teach’ him thereby putting Clegg in the inferior role of ‘pupil’, ‘I am making him cook better…’ (147). ‘I tried to teach him what to look for in abstract art…it’s hopeless. (229)

GP uses his intellect to intimidate and control Miranda • GP teaches Miranda a number of new ideas and behaviours which Miranda lists in her diary, some of these ideas/behaviours are: ‘…you have to be Left politically’, ‘…You cut off all the old that’s gets in the way’ (meaning you cut ties with your family), ‘…you don’t go to silly films; even if you want to; you don’t read cheap newspapers; you don’t listen to trash on the wireless…’ (143-144) • Essentially GP is moulding Miranda into his ideal. • Miranda believes GP is her superior and follows his directives, putting GP in the position of the omnipotent teacher.

Clegg realises the power of intellect • Clegg realises the power Miranda’s intellect gives her. However, instead of educating himself, Clegg decides to look for a new victim who has less intelligence than himself so that he may play the role of teacher this time, ‘I ought to have got someone who would respect me more. Someone ordinary I could teach.’ (282)

List the different ways power is exercised by Clegg and Miranda…