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Mary Lovell

Mary Lovell appears in Christopher Martin’s flashbacks of memory throughout Pincher Martin. Martin, a repugnant misanthropist, is obsessed with the idea of possessing her, but is quick to point out that he probably does not love her.

‘I can’t even kill her because that would be her final victory over me. Yet as long as she lives the acid will eat. She’s there. In the flesh. In the not even lovely flesh. In the cheap mind. Obsession. Not love. Or if love, insanely compounded of this jealousy of her very being.’

Mary rejects Christopher’s sexual advances, explaining that she doesn’t think of him ‘in that way’. Angered by Mary’s refusal, Christopher drives them both recklessly home, leaving Mary to fear for her life and once again having to fight off his unwanted attention. Mary eventually begins a relationship with Christopher’s best friend, Nathaniel, which sends him into a murderous rage.