The Mother
William's mother is so bad to him, because of him being hit with a belt by her. First she's abuses him, Then she is nice to him and then she becomes mean to him and locks him in to a cupboard.
shareI think she was mentally ill and (while I'm no expert) possibly suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, casuing her to have very odd, dangerous behaviour (being religiously dogmatic and shutting herself away from the world by papering over the windows) and eventually committing suicide.
share[deleted]