The allegory of murderous love
The novel's protagonist is someone who is so passionate in his love that his suffering provokes him to absolute insanity. It's like saying, "If I can't have you, no one will." This isn't love; rather, it is a person who is not qualified for love, who therefore isn't prepared to deal with the sacrificial suffering that true love entails. The reader can tell that ironically, he has a shot with the girl of his dreams, but his need for control taints the prospect quite thoroughly.
Netta's symbolic villainy
Although George is an absolute psychopath, that doesn't mean Netta is an innocent dove. She is using him for his money, but ironically, he knows that. The novel is not attempting to victim shame her. Rather, this is a depiction of an anima delusion. Netta is symbolizing to George that he isn't worth true love. This makes him attached to her, because through their dysfunctional relationship, he gets to live out a complicated issue in his own psychology. She symbolizes his feelings of low self-esteem.
The fugue states
The novel starts with George coming out of a mental fog that has been clouding his consciousness to the point that he could not remember what his motivations in life even were. These fugue states are symbolic. They show the damage done to George's psyche by his perplexing approach to getting what he wants. He slides in and out of cognizance, sometimes becoming animalistic and impulsive, and sometimes becoming cold, detached, and hollow.
Maidenhead
Throughout the novel, George returns to a desire to start over in Maidenhead. This symbolizes a desire for escape, but in a painful and tragic way. He doesn't just want to leave and start over; he wants to commit murder and then escape the repercussions by leaving to start over. His impulse for escape is darkened by his desire to execute judgment while running away from the judgment of others. The escapism is a symbol for his hypocrisy in this case.
The suicide
George commits murder by drowning Netta and killing Peter with blunt force by a golf club, and then he admits his crimes in a note and kills himself. The three deaths are real evidence of the destructiveness that he harbored throughout the whole novel. His suicide represents an epiphany of self-scrutiny, because he could go to Maidenhead, but in the moment, he realizes that he is trapped in this murderous consciousness, and he executes himself.
