the baby – all of her actions and concerns are geared toward ensuring the health of the child. At one point, when the midwife expresses concern, Ruth becomes scared that she will arrange for her baby to be taken away, and the midwife reassures her that this will not be the case – but her suspicion remains. The way in which the midwife talks to Ruth, though – with every focus being on the baby - reflects the social attitude that women are incubators once a pregnancy has been conceived.

The use of a climbing death as motivation for the pregnant main character serves multiple purposes. Firstly, on the most basic level, it flips the well-worn trope of ‘man motivated by loss of woman’. Historically, most male characters – heroes and villains – are spurred on by the need to...

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