Ramona answers “Does anyone else have a negative...”

Ellen Killian asked this question about Rebecca:

Does anyone else have a negative impression of Maxim? I would like to discuss the idea that Maxim is as much of a psychopath as is Rebecca and that we only have his version of events and characters. Rebecca cannot defend herself

Ramona Maxim is not a psychopath but he is a murderer. I read an article by somebody who interviewed institutionalized psychopaths. The author disclosed that…moreMaxim is not a psychopath but he is a murderer. I read an article by somebody who interviewed institutionalized psychopaths. The author disclosed that diagnosed psychopaths did not experience anxiety. I seem to recall reading in the "popular psychology" press about expert speculation that it is this pathological lack of anxiety that comprises what we perceive as psychopathy. Maxim's outspoken alarm at the dining table when he sees an unfamiliar look on the narrator's face as she imagines herself charming her husband in the way she thought Rebecca might reveals, in my opinion, a susceptibility to anxiety. Maxim is an ordinary criminal and the narrator is an accessory after the fact. But, now as well as then, a spouse cannot be made to testify against a spouse so his confession to the narrator is safe. I think the novel is about human perfidy and how widespread and insidious it is. (less)

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