Poor George. He really gets the short end of the stick in this one. And, seeing as he’s one of the few characters without staggering flaws, it seems he doesn’t really deserve it. From what we can tell, Wilson is hard-working and not cheating on his spouse. He’s in a marriage with a woman who not only seems to not love him, but also can’t respect him – in large part because of his poverty. Despite all of this, Wilson still blames himself for his wife’s death. The conversations between him and Michaelis (later revealed to us through Nick) are simply agonizing to hear; George is clearly in terrible emotional pain. Not only has his wife been killed, but he also found out just before her death that she’d been having an affair. George’s repeated cries of "Oh, my God" could have to do with the fact that his wife has died, but they could also be his astonishment at her infidelity. Then again, they could be guilty cries as well; if Wilson hadn’t called her out on the affair, she might not have run out into the street, and she might not have been killed. This "George feels guilty" theory gains some credibility when he commits suicide after shooting Gatsby.
The other thing to note about Wilson is that he’s the only character who talks about God. He tells Myrtle that she "can’t fool God," that "God sees everything." Again, he means for this to refer to her actions, but they implicitly comment on his own, and may speak once again to his reasons for committing suicide. His comments are also a reminder of notable absence of religion from the upper class, the class that "smash[es] up things and creatures" and is then able to retreat "back into […] money."
Myrtle Wilson
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