Reading Journal: Rebecca

Daphne Du Maurier

Title: Rebecca
Author: Daphne Du Maurier
Publication Date: 1938
Genre: Crime Fiction/ Gothic Mystery

Context

Without any actual historical events detailed in this novel the main features of contextual analysis are Du Maurier herself and early 20th century society. There is a big focus  on gender, particularly the position of women, with females expected to be obedient and dominated by men.This is reflected in the position of the narrator and the extreme vilification of Rebecca who did not fit into this mould. The role of class in society is also important to consider. The English aristocracy at this time enjoyed a degree of protection from journalism and even the law but this was beginning to diminish and in the novel we see newspapers and journalism posing a real threat to Maxim where they wouldn't have just a few years earlier. The final point, relating to the author, is the exploration of sexuality in the novel. Du Maurier is believed to have been bisexual and this is projected in Rebecca through Mrs Danvers's love for her mistress and the various hints that Rebecca herself was bisexual.

Plot Outline

A young woman, companion to a wealthy but overbearing and obnoxious lady, meets and falls in love with the mysterious Mr de Winter in Monte Carlo whos wife Rebecca had drowned the previous year. They marry and she returns with him to Manderly- his estate in England on the cornish coast. She is isolated and haunted by the memory of the previous Mrs de Winter whos presence is everywhere, encouraged by the housekeeper Mrs Danvers who was clearly infatuated by her mistress. The heroine becomes convinced that Maxim still loves Rebecca and so can never love her, becoming fixated with jealousy. But there is a storm and a ship runs aground in Manderly's bay, leading to the discovery of Rebecca's body (believed to have already been identified and buried) in her boat. It becomes apparent that she was killed- the boat purposely sank- and Maxim tells his wife that he had hated Rebecca and he had been the one to shoot and kill her before sinking her body to make it look like she had drowned. There is an inquest but Maxim's status means that the death is ruled as a suicide. The de Winters return to Manderly but it is on fire. It is not known who started the blaze but it is incinuated that it was Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper, who had learned the truth and acted out of anger towards Maxim and the estate he loved. Maxim and his wife are forced to leave, living in hotels, sheltered and stifled, as is glimpsed in the opening chapter.

Narration

Rebecca is narrated in the first person with the events seemingly recalled from the memory of the novel's nameless heroine: the second Mrs de Winter. The narration is therefore clearly biased with Maxim always being portrayed as the victim and Rebecca as the villain. There is also a big focus on imagination with large parts based purely off of what the narrator thinks things were like or thinks people will say or think, rather than reality. As a result the reader is never really sure about what actually happened between Maxim and Rebecca and what Rebecca was actually like which is interesting because the narrator's biased answers to these points are what a lot of the novel is based around.

Characters

Rebecca + The Second Mrs de Winter

The relationship between the two Mrs de Winter's is fundamental to the novel. Ironically, Rebecca is the one who is dead throughout yet her character holds the most power over both all of the other characters and the reader. You are forced to hate her, to hope that the truth is not uncovered, yet at the same time you admire and are consumed by her indivuality and overt female power. The second Mrs de Winter, in comparison, has very little identity. Symbolically, she is nameless- only referred to by her husband's name and the name Rebecca so powerfully owned before her. She becomes a mere companion to her husband (a fate shown at the very start of the novel), her life revolving around him as she clings desperately to the notion that his need for her is love. This echoes her realtionship with Mrs Van Hopper whom she believed she had escaped when she married Maxim.

Mrs Danvers + The Second Mrs de Winter

Mrs Danvers is the housemaid at Manderly who was clearly in love with Rebecca. Her obsession is then gradually transferred to the second Mrs de Winter throughout the novel who, like Mrs Danvers, begins to feel and describe Rebecca's presence everywhere. She becomes fixated by the notion that she was the perfect woman, the perfect wife and constantly dreams of emulating her. Even when, towards the end, it is revealed that Maxim hated and killed her, Rebecca's presence and hold over Mrs de Winter remains. In the very last scene the heroine has a vivid dream that she and Rebeca have become one and together strangle Mr de Winter. It is arguable that Rebecca, even stronger in death, has manipulated Mrs de Winter through Mrs Danvers whos ghost-like appearnce links her strongly to her dead mistress.

Maxim + Others

Mr de Winter is a very guarded, distant character whos power in no way matches that of Rebecca, ironically subverting the deeply held gender power balance of the era in which the novel was written. This part of his character represents many of the other men in the novel who are also either very quiet (Frank Crawley), suppressed by their wife (Giles), unintelligent (Ben), suppressed by society (Robert and Frith) or portrayed as immoral (Jack). Rebecca is very much a novel dominated by women, partiularly Rebecca herself.

Manderly

Manderly, the de Winter estate, is arguably as much of a character as the people who inhabit it. Vivid imagery brings the flowers, the sea, the forest, the house alive and overhangs the entire novel creating the sense of foreboding that is maintained until the end. The final image of the estate burning particularly sticks in your mind. It parrallels Rebecca herself, acting as a final blazon that, like Rebecca's death, only makes it stronger.

Themes

Jealousy

- The idea of not living up to those who have gone before.

- Mrs de Winter's jealousy of Rebecca consumes her and is a key feature of the novel.

Marriage and Sexuality

- Rebecca, like Du Maurier, is supposed bisexual.

- Maxim knows that Rebecca has many relationships and hates her yet wishes to maintain their marriage for the sake of his public image. The guaranteed appearance of happiness was valued more than the risk of real happiness.

Imprisonment

- The narrator is imprisoned by both:

• Her gender role in society, being initially realiant nd subordinate to Mrs Van Hopper and then to her husband.
• Manderly. Linking to Gothic literature, Manderly presents both imprisonment and liberation as the narrator is freed from her life with Mrs Van Hopper but is then imprisoned by the pressures of her new position.

- Manderly also imprisons other characters such as Maxim and Mrs Danvers whose lives are inextricably linked to the estate.

Memory

- The narrator is writing about her memory of Manderly but this then focuses on the memory of Rebecca.

- The clash between the past and the present creates an uneasy tone as what was meant to be a 'new start' becomes consumed by the past. (Even the burning of Manderly cannot end the momories as is shown by the first chapter).

- There is the suggestion that to escape a memory it must be passed on to another: Maxim shares the truth with the narrator who is then perhaps trying to escape it herself by passing it on to the reader.

Feminism

- Rebecca, as a female, is the most pwoerful character with a hold over all of the others.

- Although Rebecca does appear to be negative, evil, sadonic, it must be acknowledged that this presentation comes from Maxim. Others, such as Mrs Danvers and Jack Favell, speak much more positively of her.

- It is possible to interpret the novel in a way that indicates that Maxim is in fact the villain who hated Rebecca for her independance, killing her because he couldn't control her, and then made her out to be evil to mask his true character. 

- In any case, the novel does, at the very least, offer a most likley critical presentation of gender inbalance and can therefore be viewed as a feminist text.

Opinions and Connections

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book and found it very haunting and memorable. In particular this was due to the characterisation as the characters represented very extreme emotional responses to grief, to panic, to jealousy which I found really interesting. I also loved the use of setting, especially the vivid imagery used to describe Manderly, and the pathetic fallacy which created a very tangible atmosphere throughout the novel and hinted to the dark twists and turns that continued to occur. 

Once I had finished, the ambiguity of both the ending and the narration was quite frustrating. However I did like the fact that Rebecca's character can be interpreted in many different ways, rather than just being powerful yet incredibly evil and dark as she initially seems.

When thinking about connections, I made a link with Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This is because the heroine in Rebecca mirrors Pip in many ways as they both set out on what they believe is a fresh, positive start (for Pip when he goes to London and for the nameless heroine of Rebecca when she marries Maxim and moves to Manderly) but actually turns out to be a difficult transition that, for both characters, is quite negative. There is also a gothic undertone in both novels presented through Miss Havisham in Great Expectations and Mrs Danvers and the presence of Rebecca in Du Maurier's novel, which both also link to the presentation of extreme emotion and how this can warp people into exreme, and often shocking, characters.