Rebecca

The narrator discovers that life at Manderley is very orderly and planned. Maxim tells her that running Manderley is a full-time job. After being away from the estate for so long, Maxim must confer with Crawley, his agent. The narrator is surprised by the magnificence and wastefulness of the breakfast dishes on the sideboard, which seem to be enough for a dozen people, but she is too timid to ask what happens to the leftovers. She is disappointed that Maxim does not walk with her on the first morning at Manderley and shocked that Maxim’s sister has invited herself over to lunch. Maxim informs her that if his straightforward sister does not like her, she will say it to her face, which is not a comforting thought to the narrator.

She feels guilty for sitting alone so late at breakfast and apologizes to Frith, the butler. He looks surprised and she wonders if she has said the wrong thing: “Perhaps it lowered me in his estimation. I wished I knew what to say, what to do” (80). She stumbles and drops her handkerchief as she leaves the room. Robert, the footman, turns away to hide his smile. When she tries to return to the privacy of her bedroom, the housemaids are cleaning it. They look at her in surprise, so she exits, thinking: “It could not be right then, for me to go to my room at that hour in the morning […] It broke the household routine” (80). She tries to go to the library, but the fire is unlit. She tries to find a box of matches in the dining-room, but Frith assumes she wants cigarettes as well and she does not smoke. He tells her that the library fire is not lit until the afternoon, because Mrs. de Winter always used the morning room, where the fire is lit. Although he offers to change the routine, the narrator humbly goes to the morning room. After getting lost, pretending to know her way, the humiliated narrator receives directions from Frith.

She guesses the morning room overlooks the blood-red rhododendrons outside, but she is surprised to discover the room is also filled with the plants. Rebecca had selected the furniture for this room and “the result was perfection in a strange and startling way […] vividly alive, having something of the same glow and brilliance that the rhododendrons had” (83). The narrator is shocked to see Rebecca’s distinctive handwriting on the writing desk’s labelled pigeon-holes. She feels guilty opening drawers as if she is staying at somebody else’s home. When the telephone rings, she jumps with terror. She tells the caller asking for Mrs. de Winter that the woman has been dead for over a year. When she realizes that Mrs. Danvers is calling her on the house phone, she feels she has made an unforgivable faux pas. The housekeeper asks if she approves of the menus today and she says she has no preference. Mrs. Danvers tells her that the footman will come for any letters she has to send. The narrator cannot think of anyone to write except the unpleasant Mrs. Van Hopper. She imagines Rebecca’s bold signature and she self-critically notices that her own handwriting is cramped and unformed, lacking style and individuality.

When the young narrator hears a car arriving at Manderley, she panics. Maxim’s sister and brother-in-law have arrived much earlier than expected for lunch and Maxim has not yet returned to the house. Despising herself for her sudden attack of nerves, the narrator is not ready to face the guests alone. She tries to quickly hide and runs through a long stone passage, surprising an inquisitive scullery-maid. She climbs stairs and loses her way, finding a corridor with shuttered, unused rooms. Spying the sea from a window, she realizes that she is standing in the west wing. The sea is closer than she expected: The window-glass is misted as if someone has breathed on it. The sea suddenly looks black, pitiless, and cruel. She is glad now that her east wing suite overlooks the rose-garden.

A door opens and Mrs. Danvers’s dark eyes watch her. The housekeeper persistently offers to show her all over the west wing, but the narrator feels guilty and ashamed, as if she has been caught trespassing. She declines the housekeeper’s offer. Mrs. Danvers then walks next to the narrator, “as though she were a warden, and I in custody” (90). The narrator can no longer hide when Mrs. Danvers tells her that Mrs. Beatrice Lacy and Major Giles Lacy have arrived. She returns to the morning-room as Mrs. Danvers stands at the head of the stairs “like a black sentinel” (92).

The narrator experiences the same sick uncertainty she felt as a child before greeting visitors. However, the guests are kind. Beatrice resembles her brother Maxim but is not as fashionable as expected. Comfortable with dogs and horses, Beatrice is direct, but friendly. Her husband Giles is fat and genial. The agent, Frank Crawley, is thin and colorless. The narrator wonders why Crawley looks at her with relief. Beatrice thinks Maxim looks much healthier due to his new relationship. Maxim becomes almost angry when his sister mentions that he looked as if he were headed for a breakdown six months ago. Beatrice invites the narrator to visit and encourages her to take up riding again now that she resides in the countryside. The narrator inadvertently stops the conversation when she asks if it is safe to swim in the bay, forgetting about the first wife’s tragic drowning. Beatrice assumes that Maxim has told her all the details of the incident, but he never talks about it, and she never asks.

Beatrice bickers with her brother, but she is devoted to him. She tells the narrator that Maxim is reserved and rarely loses his temper, but when he does—he gets very angry. Beatrice advises the narrator to get her hair waved and go to her London dressmaker. Beatrice is surprised that Maxim does not seem particular about the narrator’s appearance. Beatrice warns the narrator to have little to do with Mrs. Danvers who resents the second wife’s presence at Manderley because she adored Rebecca. Maxim told Beatrice that the narrator was very young and pretty, but she assumed the narrator would be a social butterfly. Beatrice is shocked by how very different Maxim’s second wife is from Rebecca.

The narrator enjoys a peaceful moment with Maxim and the Lacys, seated on the lawn, “this is how I hoped it would be, living at Manderley” (102). However, when she leans against Maxim’s arm, and he absently strokes her hand, she thinks that her husband likes her the way she likes Jasper the dog.

As soon as the Lacys depart, Maxim wants to go for a walk in the rain. His face looks white and strained; the narrator wonders why entertaining his sister and brother-in-law tired him so much. Although he loves his sister, he feels irritated by her blundering, when the narrator tells him that Beatrice expected someone very different from her. Impatient to start the walk, Maxim tells the servant to fetch a raincoat from the flower room for the narrator to wear. The raincoat is too long for her, but there is no time to change.

When they come to two paths heading in opposite directions, Jasper takes the right-hand path out of habit. Maxim calls the dog back. He explains that the right-hand path leads to a cove where they used to keep a boat. They turn onto the left-hand path that takes them to the Happy Valley. Maxim relaxes as they see white azaleas and delicate salmon and gold rhododendrons, “not blood-coloured like the giants in the drive” (108). Maxim gives a fallen white azalea petal to her; she smells the sweet scent. The Happy Valley seems like an enchanted, beautiful place. The narrator feels at peace: “This at last was the core of Manderley,” not “the glaring rhododendrons, luscious and over-proud” (109) on the drive. Under the spell of the Happy Valley, she forgets “the uneasy stillness of the west wing” (109) in the vast house where she feels like an interloper, sitting at someone else’s desk.

They laughingly play at the beach. Then Jasper disappears. The narrator worries that the dog has fallen and will be cut off by the rising tide. Ignoring Maxim’s directions to not pursue Jasper over the rocks because the dog knows his way back, she finds another cove where there is a half-cottage, half boathouse. Jasper barks at a man on the beach. The man has small, slit eyes and toothless gums. He smiles at her without much comprehension. Jasper will not follow the narrator, so she tries to find a string to make a leash for him. She opens the cottage door and finds a bed-sofa, bookshelves, table, and chairs, as well as cups and plates. Everything is mildewed. She fearfully opens another door at the end of the room and finds string for Jasper and hurriedly leaves. The man on the beach refers to a female who has gone in the sea and will not come back. He insists that he never said anything.

Maxim tells her that the harmless, poor man is Ben, who can speak more intelligently if he wants. Maxim walks very fast up the hill, irritated that she went to the other cove for Jasper. She accuses him of not wanting to cross to the other beach. Maxim retorts that if she had his memories, she would not want to go near that cottage either. He looks wretched, with the lost look he had when she first met him. She apologizes. Maxim says that they never should have come back to Manderley. At the house, he goes to the library while she tries to conceal her tears from the butler. Frith takes her raincoat and picks up a handkerchief that fell to the floor. She puts it in her pocket. In the library, she tells Maxim that she loves him, and his eyes question her like a child in pain. After tea, Maxim tells her it was only the lunch with the guests that bothered him. He smiles at her as if he is patting the head of Jasper. She feels very tired. When she tries to wipe her buttery fingers on the handkerchief in her pocket, she discovers it is not hers. The laced-edge handkerchief is monogrammed with “R de W.” It was in the borrowed raincoat. She recognizes the handkerchief scent: the crushed azalea petals from the Happy Valley.

Disturbed by the unhappy memory of the cottage and Ben’s sly smile, the narrator prefers not to hear the sea at night to keep her thoughts peaceful. She realizes that “a frightened furtive seed of curiosity” (120) is growing in her mind about these things. She feels like an anxious child who has been told not to discuss forbidden subjects. She cannot forget the lost look in Maxim’s eyes, and she feels at fault for resurrecting the past by walking to that cove. A barrier now exists between Maxim and her because of it. She becomes extremely fearful that any careless mention of the sea, boats, or accidents will disturb Maxim again. When visitors call at Manderley, the narrator is even more constrained. In her anxiety, she utters schoolgirl phrases that she never ordinarily uses.

Maxim insists that the shy narrator return these social calls, often without him. At the other residences, she guiltily picks up pieces of information about the first Mrs. de Winter, whom everyone describes as clever and beautiful. The bishop’s wife asks if the famous Manderley fancy dress ball will be held again. The narrator knows nothing about this ball but pretends she does. She imagines that Rebecca was never awkward. She does not want to pay social calls anymore because they criticize her behind her back as very different from Rebecca.

On the drive home, the narrator sees Maxim’s agent, Frank Crawley, walking. She asks the chauffeur to stop the car so she can join Frank. She asks about the ball. Frank looks troubled and tells her it was an annual affair. She notices his sudden reserve and wonders if he had been in love with Rebecca. She first uttered Rebecca’s name to the bishop’s wife and then again to Frank; this action gives her a feeling like a stimulant. She tells Frank about Ben and the cottage in disrepair. He informs her that Ben would never hurt anyone. Frank does not explain why Maxim does not maintain the cottage, which contains Rebecca’s possessions. He tells her that Rebecca converted the boathouse and used it for moonlight picnics and other things. The narrator continues her probing questions despite Frank’s discomfort. She is surprised to learn that nobody witnessed Rebecca’s boating accident at night. She had assumed it had happened in a sailing race. After she finds out Rebecca’s body was not discovered until two months later, she asks how anyone could identify her. The narrator feels ashamed of her morbid questions and wonders if she has destroyed her friendship with Frank, whom she considered an ally.

She explains that she feels at a disadvantage at Manderley, not having been raised for this style of life. She worries that she cannot make Maxim happy. Concerned, Frank reassures her that she will make a success of the marriage. He says that her qualities of kindliness, sincerity, and modesty are worth more to a man than wit and beauty. He tells her that Maxim would be very distressed if he thought she was worrying about the past. Maxim had been on the verge of a breakdown last year and she is good for him. She should lead them all away from the past. The narrator feels happier to have Frank for a friend. She notices the rhododendrons in the drive now look a little faded. She asks a final question. Frank reluctantly answers that Rebecca was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Mrs. Danvers hires a maid, Clarice, for the narrator. An estate worker’s daughter, Clarice had never been in service before and “had no alarming standards” (135). The narrator feels at ease with the nice, quiet girl who is the only person in the house in awe of her. The previous maid, Alice, had such a superior attitude that the narrator secretly did her own mending, rather than see Alice’s disdain at the lack of real lace on her underclothes.

The narrator almost feels pity for Mrs. Danvers since Maxim’s sister explained her resentment towards anyone who would take Rebecca’s place. Sometimes the narrator feels Rebecca is as real to her as she was to Mrs. Danvers. The narrator wants to forget the past, but she must sit in Rebecca’s chair daily. She feels like a guest at Manderley “waiting for the return of the hostess” (137). When she tries to place lilacs in a vase, Frith tells her that Rebecca always used the alabaster vase and placed it on a certain table. When she receives a wedding present from Maxim’s sister, a set of heavy volumes on art, she tries to place them on Rebecca’s writing desk, but they slide off, breaking a little china cupid. The narrator feels “like a guilty child” (139) and hides the cupid fragments in an envelope in the drawer. She takes her volumes to the library instead.

Frith tells Maxim that Mrs. Danvers has upset Robert, the footman, by accusing him of stealing the valuable, little china cupid. When Frith exits the room, the embarrassed narrator confesses to Maxim that she accidentally broke the cupid. Maxim does not understand why she did not tell Mrs. Danvers to have it mended and why she seems afraid of the servants. Mrs. Danvers and Maxim ask what she did with the pieces; the narrator feels “it was like being a prisoner, giving evidence” (141).

Maxim irritably states that the narrator acts like a between-maid and not like the mistress of a house. She agrees that she has more in common with Clarice, that she was not brought up to it as he had been. Maxim argues that she does not try to conquer her shyness. She replies that she hates being looked up and down by the people she must call upon. She accuses Maxim of marrying her because she was dull and inexperienced, knowing that there would be no gossip about her. Maxim’s face gets dark, and he asks her what she means. He wonders if he was selfish to marry her. She should have married a boy her age, not someone with half his life behind him. She says they are companions, and the marriage is a success. He does not answer. She says if he does not think they are happy, she does not want him to pretend, and she would rather not live with him anymore. He does not know himself and agrees to take her word that they are happy. He does not really care about the little china cupid. She wonders why all the most valuable pieces were put in the morning room after Rebecca married him. He tells her that the china cupid was a wedding present. The narrator imagines Maxim is recalling Rebecca when he looks serious and far away.

Maxim goes to London for two days to attend a county-related men’s dinner. The narrator dreads Maxim’s departure, imagining that he will have a fatal accident and she will never see him again. When the telephone rings, she is relieved to get a message that he arrived safely. She suddenly feels hungry and takes biscuits, eating them in the woods to prevent the servants from seeing her and telling the cook she had not enjoyed lunch. The narrator experiences a sense of freedom from responsibilities: “It was rather like a Saturday when one was a child. No lessons and no prep. One could do as one liked” (150). She is shocked at her happiness—she realizes it must be because her husband is away. She walks with the dog Jasper through Happy Valley and lays down in the grass. It is peaceful to be alone. If Maxim had been there, she would have been watching his expression and wondering if he was bored. She can relax now. Then she feels disloyal to Maxim, who is her world.

Jasper disobeys her, scrambling across the rocks to the cove where the cottage is located. She follows him, pretending that she does not want to go to this other beach. She had not previously noticed that the buoy has the French phrase, “Je Reviens,” meaning “I come back,” written on it. She thinks this was the name of Rebecca’s boat. She notices the cottage door is not closed. Jasper growls at the door. She finds Ben hiding inside with a fishing line in his hand. Ben is terrified that she will put him in a psychiatric hospital. She reassures Ben. He gives her a shell and tells her that she has angel’s eyes, not like the other one. He recalls a tall, dark woman who gave him the feeling of a snake. That woman would come by night to the cottage and told him to say nothing about her being there. She told Ben if she ever caught him looking again, she would put him in the psychiatric hospital. Ben anxiously asks if that woman is gone now. The narrator says she does not know who he means.

She tells herself that Ben likely did not know what he was talking about. She has a sudden desire to run up the path away from the cottage. She feels as if someone is waiting there in the overgrown cottage garden, watching and listening. She understands now why Maxim dislikes this path and cove. It is too dark with roots stretching across the path ready to trip a person. She sees a “naked eucalyptus tree” that looks like “the white bleached limb of a skeleton” (155).

When she returns to the house, she notices a car concealed by the shrubs, a man standing by a window in the west wing who draws back when he sees her, and Mrs. Danvers closing that window’s shutters. She hears Mrs. Danvers try to sneak the man out of the house, but Jasper happily greets the man. The man discovers the narrator hiding behind the morning-room door. The big, flashy man has blue eyes and reddish skin associated with heavy drinking. He is offensively familiar to the narrator, saying he was visiting Mrs. Danvers (“old Danny”), an old friend of his. Mrs. Danvers reluctantly introduces him as Mr. Jack Favell. Mrs. Danvers looks at her with hatred. He asks the narrator to come and look at his sports car. He requests that she not mention his visit to her husband, “Max,” who does not approve of him. The narrator only knows of one person who had used the name “Max”—Rebecca. She wonders if the man is a thief and Mrs. Danvers his accomplice in stealing valuable things from the west wing. It is Frith’s day off and Robert, the footman, was sent on an errand. She impulsively decides to explore the west wing rooms and see for herself.