William could have survived
Maybe this is common knowledge, but I just noticed this.
I always wondered why Pamela was there. What was her purpose? Then I remembered that William had negleted her because of work. Look at the angle of the spikes. If William had stood by Pamela, he would have lived. The spikes would have avoided him. If he had spent his last moments with his only family whom he negleted, those moments wouldn't have been his last. But he didn't learn what was truly important. So he died.