How Does Du Maurier Present Rebecca In The Novel

990 Words2 Pages

How does du Maurier present Rebecca in the novel?

In 1938, ‘Rebecca’ was written by Daphne du Maurier as a ‘study in jealousy’ as opposed to a love story which was how it was perceived when it was published. Throughout the novel themes of femininity, gender roles and relationships feature predominantly along with the exploration of the boundaries between life and death and how the titular character crosses them freely without being present. Du Maurier’s presentation of Rebecca varies from the conflicting aspects of her personality in terms of femininity and how the sheer memory of her lives on in people and objects.

In the novel, Rebecca is presented as the main antagonist because of her hyper-femininity in comparison to the narrator. For …show more content…

This is evidenced early in the novel when Mrs Danvers refers to Rebecca as ‘Mrs de Winter’ when the narrator is picking what to eat. The narrator also ends up telling Mrs Danvers to pick ‘whatever [Mrs Danvers thinks] Mrs de Winter would have ordered’ – in this case, ‘Mrs de Winter’ meaning Rebecca. The second Mrs de Winter referring to Rebecca as ‘Mrs de Winter’ shows that she is devaluing her status in comparison to Rebecca’s and succumbs to her suspicion that Mrs Danvers doesn’t acknowledge her as the true ‘Mrs de Winter’. This is triggered by the use of Rebecca’s memory from a source of power within the hierarchy at Manderley. Another example when we can see the memory of Rebecca imbedding itself in other people is when Maxim reveals the truth about Rebecca’s death. He states that ‘[Rebecca’s] shadow between [him and the narrator] all the time. [Rebecca’s] damned shadow keeping us from one another.’ In this quote, it is clear that the ‘shadow’ is a metaphor for the lack of closeness and comfort with each other in their relationship as shadows tend to carry negative connotations due to their state being the absence of light. This shows that even though the second Mrs de Winter was unaware that her husband murdered his late wife, the thought of Rebecca’s death in Maxim’s mind was still enough to drive a wedge between them. That memory of Rebecca infests itself in Maxim to the point where Maxim starts to give it human features and subconsciously gives it power to invade his

Show More
Related

  • Feminism in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    In total, the female characters are always victimized because of their qualities and gender. In conclusion, by destroying the female characters, Mary Shelly alludes to the idea that women are always in victimized positions in society. In conclusion, most of the female characters are often isolated, victimized and ultimately killed by the male characters. Furthermore, it is rather ironic how Mary Shelly, the daughter Mary Wollestonecraft who wrote the Vindication of the Right of Women chooses to portray women. In this novel, the female characters are the exact opposite of the male characters; they are passive, weak and extremely limited.

    Read More

  • Right Of The Bat By Hannah Dustan Character Analysis

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    Whittier begins his story by writing, “Woman’s attributes are generally considered of a milder and purer character than those of man. ”(348) Right of the bat, the reader has a stereotypical idea in his or her mind about how a woman should act and what characteristics she should hold. Whittier does this to show how different and unique his main character, Hannah Dustan, will be seen throughout his piece of work. Whittier then goes on to say, “Yet, there have been astonishing manifestations of female fortitude and power in the ruder and sterner trials of humanity; manifestations of courage rising almost to sublimity; the revelation of all those dark and terrible passions, which madden and distract the heart of manhood.

    Read More

  • Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca Rebecca has been described as the first major gothic romance of the 20th century; Mrs. Danvers’ character is one of the few Gothic interests within the novel. Her unnatural appearance and multi-faceted relationship with Rebecca provides scope for manifold interpretations and critical views. Furthermore, Mrs. Danvers connection with Rebecca and Manderlay is a sub-plot in itself, making Mrs. Danvers the most subtly exciting character in the novel.

    Read More

  • Muted Women in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh

    2772 Words  | 6 Pages

    Muted Women in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh. In the predominantly male worlds of Virginia Woolf’s

    Read More

  • Passing

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nella Larsen’s novel presents us with a good view of women’s issues of the early 20th century. We see in the two characters seemingly different interpretations of what race, sexuality, and class can and should be used for. For Clare, passing takes her into a whole new world of advantages that she would not have had if she had remained a part of the African-American community. She gains social status and can be seen as an object of sexual desire for many people, not only the black community. Irene leads herself to think that passing is unnecessary, and that she can live a totally happy life remaining who she is. What she fails to realize is that she is jealous of Clare’s status and sometimes passes herself subconsciously. Larsen presents to us the main point of the book – that the root of the love, hate, desire, and rejection that Irene holds for Clare is a result of social standing, not only passing and sexuality.

    Read More

  • The Role of Female Characters in American Literature: The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    For readers who observe literature through a feminist lens, they will notice the depiction of female characters, and this makes a large statement on the author’s perception of feminism. Through portraying these women as specific female archetypes, the author creates sense of what roles women play in both their families and in society. In books such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the roles that the main female characters play are, in different instances, both comparable and dissimilar.

    Read More

  • Critical Review of Rebecca

    1695 Words  | 4 Pages

    The gothic romance and mystery of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca show the style in which a deep, dark secret is held at the beautiful Manderley, and a young love is influenced by the haunting of Manderley’s former mistress. Using the harrowing style of suspense, Daphne tells a tale of a young woman trying to live a life in the home of someone who has not quite left yet. With extraordinary scenery, strong symbolism, and plenty of hidden irony, Daphne du Maurier has made an everlasting psychological thriller.

    Read More

  • Feminism in The Things They Carried by Tim O´brien

    1301 Words  | 3 Pages

    To understand feminism in the novel, one must first understand the feminist lens itself. OWL Purdue describes the lens as “the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women” (Purdue). Feminism acts as both a commitment and a political movement that wants to end sexism in all forms. Most feminists generally disagree on many topics of the subject, however all have one common goal. These aspects affect The Things They Carry in a plethora of ways, mostly due to the fact that gender roles is a main theme. There are negative and positive aspects of the feminist lens. Positive contains the empowering of women and equality, whereas negative pertains to oppression and unequal rights. Both are covered in The Things They Carried from sex symbols to battle tor...

    Read More

  • Class Differences in the Novel "Rebecca"

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, there exist a big emphasis on social class and position during the time of this story. When we are introduced to the main character of the story, the narrator, we are right away exposed to a society in which different privileges are bestowed upon various groups. Social place, along with the ever present factor of power and money are evident throughout the story to show how lower to middle class groups were treated and mislead by people on a higher level in society. When we are introduced to the narrator, we are told that she is traveling with an old American woman; vulgar, gossipy, and wealthy, Mrs. Van Hopper travels across Europe, but her travels are lonely and require an employee that gives her warm company. This simple companion (the narrator) is shy and self-conscious, and comes from a lower-middle class background which sets up perfect for a rich man to sweep her off her feet. The narrator faced difficulties adapting to first, the Monte Carlo aristocratic environment, and second, to her new found position as Mrs. De Winter, the new found mistress of Manderley.

    Read More

  • Robert Frost's Home Burial

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his narrative poem, Frost starts a tense conversation between the man and the wife whose first child had died recently. Not only is there dissonance between the couple,but also a major communication conflict between the husband and the wife. As the poem opens, the wife is standing at the top of a staircase looking at her child’s grave through the window. Her husband is at the bottom of the stairs (“He saw her from the bottom of the stairs” l.1), and he does not understand what she is looking at or why she has suddenly become so distressed. The wife resents her husband’s obliviousness and attempts to leave the house. The husband begs her to stay and talk to him about what she feels. Husband does not understand why the wife is angry with him for manifesting his grief in a different way. Inconsolable, the wife lashes out at him, convinced of his indifference toward their dead child. The husband accepts her anger, but the separation between them remains. The wife leaves the house as husband angrily threatens to drag her back by force.

    Read More

  • Existential Crisis In Mrs Dalloway

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    The extensive descriptions of Mrs. Dalloway’s inner thoughts and observations reveals Woolf’s “stream of consciousness” writing style, which emphasizes the complexity of Clarissa’s existential crisis. She also alludes to Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, further revealing her preoccupation with death as she quotes lines from a funeral song. She reads these lines while shopping in the commotion and joy of the streets of London, which juxtaposes with her internal conflicts regarding death. Shakespeare, a motif in the book, represents hope and solace for Mrs. Dalloway, as his lines form Cymbeline talk about the comforts found in death. From the beginning of the book, Mrs. Dalloway has shown a fear for death and experiences multiple existential crises, so her connection with Shakespeare is her way of dealing with the horrors of death. The multiple layers to this passage, including the irony, juxtaposition, and allusion, reveal Woolf’s complex writing style, which demonstrates that death is constantly present in people’s minds, affecting their everyday

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in The Scarlet Letter

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore, it is my belief that the religious setting of this novel in the Puritan society allowed further emphasis of the profound differences between the character’s gender roles, thereby creating deeper contrast and revealing the flaws of the Puritan’s preconceived notions of patriarchal societal norms.

    Read More

  • Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway - A Modern Tragedy

    3726 Words  | 8 Pages

    Howard, Maureen. Foreward. Mrs. Dalloway. By Virginal Woolf. New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1981, vii-xiv.

    Read More

  • Female Relationships in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clarissa's relationships with other females in Mrs. Dalloway offer great insight into her personality. Additionally, Woolf's decision to focus at length on Sally Seton, Millicent Bruton, Ellie Henderson, and Doris Kilman allows the reader to see how women relate to one another in extremely different ways: sometimes drawing upon one another for things they cannot get from men; other times, turning on one another out of jealousy and insecurity. Although Mrs. Dalloway is far from the most healthy or positive literary portrayal of women, Woolf presents an excellent exploration of female relationships.

    Read More

  • Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own: Women and Fiction

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and fiction, what they think of; Woolf tried to answer this question through the discovery of the female within literature in her writing. Virginia Woolf Throughout her life Virginia Woolf became increasingly interested in the topic of women and fiction, which is highly reflected in her writing. To understand her piece, A Room of One’s Own Room, her reader must understand her.

    Read More

More about How Does Du Maurier Present Rebecca In The Novel

Open Document