Rebecca

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1938

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-13

Chapters 14-20

Chapters 21-27

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Themes

The Haunting: Rebecca’s Power

A central theme of Rebecca is the haunting of Maxim de Winter’s second wife by the powerful presence of Rebecca, Maxim’s deceased first wife. The narrator’s employer, Mrs. Van Hopper, initially plants the idea in her youthful mind that the widower Maxim cannot “get over his wife’s death” (11). Mrs. Van Hopper describes Rebecca as having been very lovely, “exquisitely turned out, and brilliant in every way,” a giver of “tremendous parties at Manderley” (42) and adored by Maxim. The imaginative, insecure narrator begins “following a phantom” of Rebecca in her mind, “whose shadowy form had taken shape at last” (43). When the narrator sees Rebecca’s signature on the title page of Maxim’s poetry book, she views the bold, slanting handwriting as the symbol of Rebecca’s assurance, in contrast to her own dull, shy personality. The envious Mrs. Van Hopper seeks to puncture the narrator’s marital hopes by suggesting that Maxim does not love her, but only wants to wed to avoid living in an empty house.

When the narrator arrives at Manderley, she is treated as an interloper by the staff. The servants still do their routines according to the way Rebecca had ordered them. Rebecca’s favorite flowers still fill the rooms and Rebecca’s clothes still hang in the wardrobes. The narrator is constantly reminded of her predecessor by sitting at her desk, writing with her pen, and walking her dog. The housekeeper resents the narrator as the replacement for Rebecca to whom she was devoted. Mrs. Danvers begins a process known today as “gaslighting,” seeking to gain control by sowing self-doubt in her victim. Mrs. Danvers implies that Maxim gave his second wife an inferior bedroom after reserving the most beautiful room in the house for his first wife. The narrator feels like a guest at Manderley, waiting for the real hostess to return.

The servants and the local residents all comment on how different the narrator is from Rebecca, unfavorably comparing her. In her jealous insecurity, the narrator dreams of her predecessor and compares her imperfect self to Rebecca as the embodiment of impossible female ideals. Mrs. Danvers encourages this comparison, preserving Rebecca’s west wing rooms as if the deceased first wife is about to return. Mrs. Danvers fills Rebecca’s bedroom with fresh flowers and sets out her dressing gown and slippers. Mrs. Danvers insists that the narrator touch Rebecca’s lovely possessions, informing her of Maxim’s expensive gifts to his first wife. Mrs. Danvers suggests Rebecca is everywhere in the house and that she watches the narrator with her husband. The impression is that Rebecca’s ghost does haunt Manderley as mysterious drafts of cold air or mist upon a window are described “as though someone had breathed upon it” (90). Mrs. Danvers attempts to persuade the narrator to die by suicide by jumping out of the west wing window, telling her that no one wants her at Manderley. However, when the narrator learns that her husband never loved Rebecca, Rebecca’s power dissolves in the air: “She would never haunt me again. She would never stand behind me on the stairs” or “watch me standing in the hall” (285). The narrator knows now that Maxim loves her unique self, not the phantom of her predecessor.

The Narrator’s Journey: Childhood Innocence to the Wisdom of Adulthood

The narrator’s journey is traced from youthful innocence to the painfully earned wisdom of adulthood. The inexperienced, 21-year-old narrator is referred to as “a capable child” (18) by her employer, Mrs. Van Hopper. When the 42-year-old Maxim de Winter offers to drive her around Monte Carlo, the narrator feels like “a person of importance, I was grown up at last” (28). However, the shy, young woman is “still child enough” to consider Mr. de Winters’ permission to use his first name as a “promotion to a new level of friendship” (41-42) in which she does not lag as far behind as she had thought. In her schoolgirlish love for Maxim, she does not imagine the possibility of marriage to him or even recognize his proposal, thinking he intends to hire her as his secretary. Maxim must explain, “No, I’m asking you to marry me, you little fool” (51). He appears to be only partially teasing when he states that the narrator will serve as a companion to him, with almost the same duties as when she worked as a subservient companion to Mrs. Van Hopper. An inequality of power exists in the narrator’s relationship with Maxim because of differences in gender, age, experience, wealth, and social class.

During their honeymoon abroad, Maxim is more “youthful and ardent” (68) than the narrator had ever dreamed he would be. However, when the newlyweds reside at Manderley, the narrator feels that Maxim treats her even more like a child and pats her absentmindedly, in the same way she pats Jasper, the dog. Distressed by his painful memories of Rebecca and concealing the dark secret of her murder, Maxim is not sympathetic to the narrator’s difficult transition to the role of new mistress of Manderley. The narrator is hindered by her upbringing in a different social class and her ignorance of Rebecca’s true personality, the real nature of Maxim’s first marriage, and the cause of Rebecca’s death. These disadvantages increase the narrator’s nervousness and tendency to act like a schoolgirl. She tells Maxim, “I wish you would not treat me as if I was six” (202), offended by his suggestion of an Alice-in-Wonderland costume for her. She does not realize that Maxim does not want to be reminded of the sophisticated, deceitful, older Rebecca. The narrator wonders if she and her husband will ever be together in a more equal relationship, “he a man and I a woman, standing shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, with no gulf between us?” (196). She wants to be his wife, not his child.

When Maxim finally confesses that he murdered the vile Rebecca and that he never loved her, there are no more shadows between Maxim and the narrator. They can share everything together now, including their love. When Maxim strokes her hair, “it was not like stroking Jasper any more” (287), and they passionately kiss. The narrator realizes: “I would never be a child again […] I was not young any more. I was not shy. I was not afraid” (285). Maxim regrets that he killed “that funny, young, lost look that I loved” (299) in the narrator when he told her about Rebecca. In 24 hours, the narrator grew much older through the painful experience of learning the truth about her husband and his first marriage. Their roles become reversed as Maxim now holds the narrator’s hands “very tightly like a child who would gain confidence” (270) and she must reassure her husband that she still loves him, following his confession. Maxim’s new dependence upon the narrator’s wisdom and love makes her “bold at last” (9).

The Paradise of Manderley

The beautiful estate of Manderley dominates Rebecca. The novel begins and ends with references to Manderley. The theme of the home is explored as an eternal refuge in contrast to transient human troubles: “Whoever lived within its walls, whatever trouble there was and strife, however much uneasiness and pain, no matter what tears were shed, what sorrows born, the peace of Manderley could not be broken or the loveliness destroyed” (357). Manderley is Maxim de Winter’s historic, ancestral home, but his love for the place primarily stems from the loveliness of its natural setting, including the intoxication of the flowers’ scents. Maxim de Winter’s social status is determined by his ownership of Manderley, the great house of the county. As a society leader, Maxim is expected to host parties at Manderley for the benefit of the locals and open several rooms of the splendid house to the public once a week. Manderley is famous as an enchanting “fairy-land” (15), the subject of photographs and paintings.

However, Maxim makes a “bargain with the devil” to preserve his beloved Manderley from scandal. After discovering the vile personality of Rebecca, he agrees to maintain the farce of their marriage in exchange for her agreement to “make it the most famous show-place in all the country” (273). Ironically, Rebecca’s taste and energy bring Manderley to its highest state of furnishings and plantings. According to Maxim: “Her blasted taste made Manderley the thing it is to-day” (274). This bargain will lead to Maxim’s expulsion from the paradise of Manderley. For Maxim’s priority of love for the estate does “not prosper” (274). Manderley becomes a house of dark secrets, and Maxim murders Rebecca. The shadows darkening Manderley silence Maxim, making “a barrier between him and others” (23).

For the young narrator, her childhood purchase of a postcard of Manderley, famed for its symmetrical beauty, was a premonition of her future happiness as the second wife of Maxim de Winter. However, she was not brought up to be the mistress of a vast estate. She is from a different social class and her insecurity is compounded by people’s comparison of her to Rebecca, Maxim’s first wife. Manderley is filled with Rebecca’s malevolent presence, with the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, trying to preserve her deceased mistress’ dominance. The narrator first discovers “the core of Manderley,” the Manderley she would love, in the Happy Valley, not in the house, where the servants treat her like “an interloper” (109). After the narrator learns that Maxim never loved Rebecca, she finally feels that she belongs to Manderley and Manderley belongs to her. Maxim’s initial, ill-founded bargain with Rebecca, however, leads to Rebecca’s allies destroying Manderley by fire. The narrator and Maxim experience a painful loss and exile from their Edenic bliss at Manderley. Even after Manderley’s destruction by human hands, the narrator yearningly returns to the residence in her dreams: “Time could not wreck the perfect symmetry of those walls, not the site itself, a jewel in the hollow of a hand” (2). Although Manderley was “ours no longer” (4), Manderley would always remain in its hollow, safe, secure, and enchanted, guarded by the woods.