Equality Of Love In John Collier's The Chaser

Women do not live only to please and serve men! The story, “The Chaser,” the author John Collier, builds this brief story between a young man, Alan Austen, who is deeply in love and wants to possess his sweetheart entirely. Alan Austen then meets an unnamed old man who produces a love potion. Alan has no concern for the consequences that the potion may have on his sweetheart. He really just wants his sweetheart, Diana, to be deeply in love with him. Austen, with selfish and unreal expectations about love, has come to this old man to buy a love potion so that his sweetheart, Diana, will love him with all her heart and give him all her attention. The author makes it clear that the old man has seen many young men, like Alan, who have had the same …show more content…
The story suggests that women will be attracted to men who can provide for them, that a woman should give up her social life in exchange for focusing on her husband and making his life her main concern, and that if a man is unfaithful, his wife should understand and still be faithful to her husband. These three statements compare to equality of ability, social equality, and equality of expectations. Alan Austen wanted Diana’s love so badly. He had no concern about her feelings or what was best for her. He wanted her to focus all of her attention on him. Alan was selfish and all that mattered was him and getting what he wanted from …show more content…
In “The Chaser,” the old man tells Alan, ”its flavour is imperceptible in orange juice, soup, or cocktails. and however gay and giddy she is, she will change altogether. She will want nothing but solitude and you. ”I can hardly believe it,” Alan says.”She is so fond parties.” Here, the story discusses social equality of women. Alan knows that Diana is very social and enjoys parties. But hearing that the potion will change that actually sounds good to him. He likes the idea of having all of her attention and being her only focus in life. Many may say, that a women shouldn’t give up her life to please a man. This reasoning is because they both should have the same love for each other with or without the love potion. Each should respect each other and have their own roles in life. If a man is unfaithful, his wife should understand and still be faithful to her husband. This seems to be what the potion maker believes. Here the story addresses equality of expectations: ”if by any chance you should, later on, slip a little, you need not worry. She will forgive you, in the end.” In other words men make mistakes but women are the ones who have to forgive them. From a woman’s perspective, they may say that Alan may be trying to take advantage of Diana’s love and concern. No woman should be treated as clothes; you can’t change them whenever you want