the maze as being about responsibility and consequence. If we view the maze scene (occurring at a point in the tale when he feels that his marriage is slipping from his controlling grasp) as an analogy for Ben’s view of the relationship between men and women, it could be argued that he views himself as the rat – being helped through a maze of emotional development by Catherine, until she inadvertently leads him to electrocution. While the reverse could be said for Catherine’s perspective, the film does unfolds from Ben’s point of view.

So, while the feminist perspective leads us to conclude that Ben faces no real consequences at the end of the Birthmarked, from the point of view of his entitled character, any time he does not get what he wants, or has to cede control of a situa...

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