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Rebecca is a 1938 Gothic novel by the English author Daphne du Maurier. The novel depicts an unnamed young woman who impetuously marries a wealthy widower, before discovering that both he and his household are haunted by the memory of his late first wife, the title character.
- Du Maurier, Daphne, Dame
- 1938
- Overview
- Summary
- Analysis and adaptations
Rebecca, Gothic suspense novel by Daphne du Maurier, published in 1938. Widely considered a classic, it is a psychological thriller about a young woman who becomes obsessed with her husband’s first wife.
The story is set evocatively in the wilds of Cornwall, in a large country house called Manderley. One of du Maurier’s intriguing devices is her refusal to name her heroine, the first-person narrator, known only as the second Mrs. de Winter. The novel opens with her famously saying, “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Much of the story is then told in flashback. A shy, awkward young woman, she is in Monte-Carlo, working for an elderly socialite, when she meets Maximilian (Maxim) de Winter. He is a wealthy widower whose wife, Rebecca, drowned in a sailboat accident. After a whirlwind courtship, the young woman and Maxim marry and later settle at Manderley. The narrator begins to feel progressively inferior to Rebecca, despite receiving compliments from various people. To the second Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca personifies glamour and gaiety, and she does not think that she can compete with this dead paragon to win Maxim’s love. Mrs. Danvers, the sinister housekeeper, especially wounds the narrator by constantly mentioning how much Maxim had loved, and would always love, Rebecca.
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Suspense builds as the narrator grows both increasingly obsessed with the beautiful first wife and insecure in her marriage. At the annual costume ball at Manderley, the second Mrs. de Winter wears a costume at the encouragement of Mrs. Danvers, not realizing it was similar to one worn by Rebecca shortly before her death. The outfit upsets Maxim, who orders her to change. The narrator later confronts Mrs. Danvers, who says that Maxim does not want her and encourages her to jump out the second-floor window. However, just then rockets are set off as a ship strikes a reef in the nearby bay, and the two women part. Divers soon discover a sunken sailing boat that contains Rebecca’s body. Maxim then reveals the truth to his second wife—he was not in love with Rebecca. She was cruel and manipulative, and soon after their wedding she began having numerous affairs. Fearful of scandal, Maxim agreed to her offer: she would outwardly appear as the perfect wife if he allowed her to live privately as she pleased. However, on the night of her death, she had informed her husband that she was pregnant and that the father was one of her lovers. In a fit of anger, Maxim shot Rebecca and put her body in a sailboat that he then sank. (A body had been found weeks after Rebecca’s disappearance, and Maxim had identified it as being hers.)
Among du Maurier’s favourite writers were the Brontë sisters (Emily Charlotte, and Anne), and the plot and pace of Rebecca are reminiscent of Jane Eyre. However, with Rebecca, many believed that du Maurier had found her own voice as an author. She infused the melodramatic tale with great psychological insight and presented a story of jealousy that ...
- Sohel Sarkar
- Rebecca was first published in 1938 and has never gone out of print. Since it was published in 1938, Rebecca has never gone out of print [PDF], selling 2.8 million copies between 1938 and 1965.
- The heroine of Rebecca, Mrs de Winter, remains unnamed throughout. Rebecca, after whom the novel is named, is dead when the story begins. She is brought to life via the impressions and memories other characters have of her and her lingering presence in Maxim de Winter's estate, Manderley, via her scent, her handwriting in books, and the carefully preserved clothes that remain in her wardrobe.
- Daphne du Maurier struggled with writer’s block while writing Rebecca. Du Maurier struggled with a serious case of writer’s block when she began writing Rebecca.
- Once she got past her writer’s block, Daphne du Maurier wrote Rebecca in four months. Once she got past her early writing challenges, du Maurier wrote quickly and completed the manuscript for Rebecca in four months.
Du Maurier wrote three plays. Her first was an adaptation of her novel Rebecca, which opened at the Queen's Theatre in London on 5 March 1940 in a production by George Devine, starring Celia Johnson and Owen Nares as the De Winters and Margaret Rutherford as Mrs. Danvers.
Apr 19, 2008 · Jump to navigation. How Daphne du Maurier wrote Rebecca. Matthew Dennison 19 April 2008 • 12:01am. Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson in the 1940 film Rebecca. Suspicion within Daphne du Maurier's...
Rebecca, first published in 1938, is a gothic novel by British author Daphne du Maurier. The novel tells the story of a young woman who marries a wealthy widower, only to find herself haunted by the memory of his first wife, Rebecca.
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Daphne du Maurier. Article written by Neesha Thunga K. B.A. in English Literature, and M.A. in English Language and Literature. In Daphne du Maurier’s classic novel “Rebecca,” a tale of mystery and psychological intrigue unfolds within the grand estate of Manderley.
