Rebecca Analysis

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Title In the novel Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier tells the uncommon, suspenseful love story using a small range of characters with many different personality traits. The reader begins to feel as though they truly know these characters only to discover the unseen truth as their masks fall off. As these personalities develop throughout the novel one can discover that the narrator, Mrs. de Winter, strives to please people and feels very insecure in her identity. She tries to stick up for herself, but her words have no effect on her cruel, manipulative, controlling husband, Mr. de Winter. Mr. de Winter appears as a gentleman in the very early chapters of the book; however, the reader soon discovers that Mr. de Winter seems not to care about other people’s feelings, and that he contains controlling characteristics. Besides being controlling, he also verbally abuses his wife. In simple and plain terms, Mr. de Winter is a jerk. Later in the book, another malevolent and controlling character becomes introduced, Mrs. Danvers. Mr. de Winter’s controlling, abusive ways and Mrs. Danvers malevolent tendencies collide together as the new Mrs. de Winter strives to please them. In the very beginning of the novel, the narrator and Mr. de Winter meet each other. The narrator becomes swept off her feet with Mr. de Winter’s charm and charisma; however, his charming ways wear off almost immediately. Even before the couple becomes engaged, the narrator refuses to see the warning signs during their courtship that Mr. de Winter is not the man that he appears to be. On one ride back to the hotel in Monte Carlo, Mr. de Winter berates the narrator and tells her to “stop biting [her] nails, they are ugly enough already,” (Du Maurier 38). One might overlo... ... middle of paper ... ...ever, never” (304). Even though Mr. de Winter verbally abuses his wife and tried to control her, she still faithfully stays by his side, just like his dog, Jasper. Mrs. de Winter strives to please people and wants people to like her. She has absolutely no confidence in herself. In fact, her confidence level is so low that when Mr. de Winter asks her to marry him she replies by telling him that she is “not the sort of person that men marry” (52). Once she marries Mr. de Winter, she is always on a quest to please him and becomes almost obsessed with it. When Mr. de Winter becomes mad at her, she pleads with him by telling him “I don’t want you to look like that. It hurts too much. Please, Maxim. Let’s forget all we said. A futile silly argument. I’m sorry, darling. I’m sorry. Please let everything be all right (118). Works Cited Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca.

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