On the gender of Death:
Intertwined with humanity’s fear over the unknown, the long misogynic
tradition in literature often leads to the female personification of death,
such as Persephone for the Greeks, and Hel in Norse mythology. It is ironic
that women, while despised and considered “less than shallow” (Nietzsche),
are bestowed with, under fatalism, this invincibility due to men’s
incapability to comprehend them. Maugham’s characterization is therefore
effective, for the words from a female Death immediately fails to be trusted,
and the readers start to interpret.
Moreover, Women, who are by nature dependant on men, along with their
tendency to be manipulated by emotion, are regarded as the dragging force of
male heroic achievement and thus pose a threat to civilization. The concept
of female monstrosity prevails among the fundamental works in the West: Eve
causes the Fall, and Pandora unleashes evil into the world. This also
resonates with the essence of Death, which declares the end of all heroism.
(B95B01074)