What is the analysis of "The Chaser" by John Collier?

A lot of younger people do not seem to understand why the
story is called "The Chaser." The meaning of the title "The Chaser" is very simple,
although the term "chaser" may not be as commonly used as it was when John Collier wrote
his story. A chaser is a drink that is taken to follow the first alcoholic drink. The
chaser may be alcoholic or non-alcoholic. For example, a person might drink a straight
shot of whiskey and follow it immediately with a small glass of water to dilute the
whiskey already in his stomach. One common combination at bars is a shot of straight
whiskey followed by a small glass of beer.

The chaser in
Collier's story is a poisoned drink intended to kill the woman who is suffocating the
hero with too much love and possessiveness. The original drink was the love potion he
bought to make her fall in love with him. The word "chaser" in this story has nothing to
do with chasing anybody or being chased; it is another euphemism for the deadly poison
the hero will probably be using to kill his wife.

Collier
is telling a tongue-in-cheek story about love and marriage. He had a cynical attitude
towards the subjects, probably because of his personal experience. A more serious
assessment of marriage is to be found in Leo Tolstoy's classic story "The Kreutzer
Sonata." Both writers thought that people think love will last forever and that most of
them find that marriage is disillusining. Here is a pertinent passage from Tolstoy's
story:

“We
were like two convicts fastened to one chain, hating each other, each poisoning the life
of the other and striving not to recognize the fact. I did not then realize that
ninety-nine per cent of the married people live in the same hell as mine, and that it
must be so. Nor did I then realize that it was so of others or true of
myself."

In both Collier's
and Tolstoy's stories men end up murdering their wives.