Review on Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

As I mentioned before in one of my earlier posts, I have written a review on Rebecca, one of the greatest Gothic novels of all time. Written by Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca is one of the most popular books today and includes elements of horror, romance, mystery, and is one of the first major Gothic books ever written. It starts with its famous opening line ‘I dreamt I was in Manderley again.’

The heroine, who remains nameless throughout the whole book, marries Maxim de Winter and becomes his second wife. But as the story advances she finds out that Maxim’s first wife, Rebecca, drowned in an accident near the house, Manderley. The housekeeper, the sinister Mrs Danvers is devoted to Rebecca but shows nothing but repulsion and disgust towards the new wife. The heroine struggles with life in Manderley; she feels as though she will never compare to Rebecca, who was beautiful, generous, talented and feels jealous towards her and believes that Maxim still loves Rebecca. The heroine is later prompted by Mrs Danvers to commit suicide but stops herself at the last minute. A short time later a ship passing by is marooned, and when divers investigate they find something perplexing: Rebecca’s body inside a boat wreckage. This discovery encourages Maxim to tell the heroine the truth: Rebecca was a malicious woman who led many affairs including one with her own cousin, Jack Favell. Maxim determined a divorce, but she refused and told him she was pregnant with another man’s child. Enraged, he shot Rebecca and disposed of her body in a sunken boat. Knowing this, the heroine becomes much more comfortable in Manderley. However, the court holds a trial on Rebecca’s death but the verdict is suicide, so Maxim is deemed innocent. But soon Favell accuses Maxim of murdering Rebecca and it is revealed that Rebecca was dying from cancer, and could not be pregnant. Her illness provides a motive for her ‘suicide’ and Maxim is once again made innocent. On their way back to Manderley Maxim and the heroine can see flames and find out that the housekeeper, Mrs Danvers set fire to it.

As a reader I found Rebecca an extremely emotional but pleasurable book. I felt sympathy towards the heroine throughout the whole book as coming from a poor background the challenge of ordering the servants and giving opinions was extremely difficult for her. The heroine was very young and inexperienced which made her an effortless target of ridicule and shame. ‘Why don't you go? None of us want you. He doesn't want you, he never did. He can't forget her. He wants to be alone in the house again, with her. It's you that ought to be lying there in the church crypt, not her. It's you who ought to be dead, not Mrs De Winter.’ Mrs Danvers pg. 246 The heroine’s challenge of life in Manderley can relate to real life such as fitting in and fulfilling your expectations. I was also very horrified by many of the actions of Mrs Danvers and wanted to find out why she was acting so cruelly towards the heroine, or what the heroine had done to deserve this. I was also very curious Rebecca’s life and her death, as it was very strange and mystifying. I was also extremely eager to find out the ending as the book was so captivating, and it was by all means, superb. 

There are many key themes in this book, ones we deal with in everyday life, and ones that we can relate to. The heroine’s jealousy of Rebecca pervades the majority of the novel. Because she is in her youth and is insecure, the heroine does not understand why Maxim chose to marry her. As she learns more and more about Rebecca, she begins to compare herself to Maxim’s first wife, who seemed to be far more beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated than she could ever hope to be. Jealousy also appears with Maxim and Rebecca along with her many lovers. Maxim confronts Rebecca in the boathouse and ultimately kills her because she manipulates his jealousy into a tool for her own destruction. In both cases, jealousy is a destructive force that has the ability to destroy both Maxim and the narrator if they let it. Another key theme of Rebecca revolves around Maxim and his hard efforts to escape his past. He was distressed by the memory of Rebecca and his murder of her. The heroine is also haunted by her through Mrs Danvers and her thought provoking words. The final key theme I found in Rebecca, was finding who you are, your real identity and where you belong. From the beginning the heroine is unnamed and gives a sense of her being less than Rebecca, as she is not even significant enough to be named. As soon as she marries Maxim, the heroine is given a new identity as Mrs de Winter, but does not feel comfortable with this. Overtime she gets used to her new identity and being at Manderley especially when she finds about the truth of Rebecca.

Through the book Daphne du Maurier plays with the different ideas of good and evil in the way that she develops the character’s personalities. From a general perspective, it is clear that the heroine and Maxim are on the righteous side, while Rebecca and Mrs Danvers are on the evil side. However, Daphne du Maurier adds intricacy and elaboration to each character so that all sense of good and evil becomes purely opinionated. For example, Maxim is the heroine’s love and is shown as a protagonist of the novel, yet Maxim is a murderer who shot Rebecca in a fit of rage, an act that is inappropriate for a protagonist. Similarly, Mrs Danvers is shown as the antagonist of the novel who aims to undermine the heroine, she is also an individual who is overwhelmed with grief at the loss of her friend and mistress. By blending the concepts of righteousness and evil, Daphne du Maurier creates a set of characters that are truly ‘human’ in their complexity and motivations. Some of the predominant motivations for most of the characters are love and hate. In most cases, characters use their love or hate to justify their actions in the novel. For the majority of the book, Maxim is motivated by his love for the heroine and his home, as well as his hatred for Rebecca and her memory.

To conclude, I would recommend it to anyone who loves romance, mystery, horror or gothic fiction. The character personalities, the realistic features and themes, the excellent description and emotion, all the right ingredients for a marvellous book, and that is exactly what Rebecca is. 

Manga Queen