Sartori !

1
Julia Sartori
Mr. Smith
Honors English 12 - E
02 September 2014
Mean Max
In Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca, Maxim de Winter is controlling and therefore always
unhappy with how his second wife, Mrs. de Winter, acts. For example, after Maxim proposes to
Mrs. de Winter she worries that she will not fit in. Maxim rudely replies, You are ignorant
and unintelligent. Im the person to judge that, whether you would belong there or
not (du Maurier 53). Maxim laughs Mrs. de Winters concerns off and insists on deciding how
she will be labeled at Manderley. He only cares about how she will reflect on him. Additionally,
Mr. de Winters face was white, and his eyes strained and wretched with [a] dark look when
Mrs. de Winter returned from the beach (118). Due to the fact that Maxims first wifes cottage is
on the beach, Mr. de Winter is appalled that Mrs. de Winter would enter the beach house after he
explicitly told her not to go down there. Lastly, after Mrs. de Winter exposes herself dressed in
the same costume that Rebecca wore, Mr. de Winters eyes were the only living things in the
white mask of his face" (217). When Mrs. de Winter later joins Maxim at the ball, dressed in a
regular frock, Maxims face was a mask, his smile was not his own and his eyes looked to
some place of pain and torture (229). In this final example, Maxim believes that Mrs. de Winter
deliberately dressed in Rebeccas costume to mock Maxim. Little does he know that Mrs.
Danvers recommended the costume to Mrs. de Winter. Throughout Rebecca Maxim de Winter is
domineering towards his wife, always believing that she is trying to ruin their marriage.

Sartori !2
A Ghost From the Past
Mrs. Danvers is consumed with the past through her obsession with the late Mrs. Rebecca
de Winter in Daphne du Mauriers novel Rebecca. For example, Mrs. de Winter leaves all
household arrangements to [Mrs. Danvers] so she runs things as they have always been run
by Mrs. Rebecca de Winter (74). In order to keep Rebeccas presence alive, Mrs. Danvers runs
Manderley according to Rebeccas habits, keeping the Morning Room as Rebecca kept it and
preserving Rebeccas room just as Rebecca preferred. Often Mrs. Danvers white face and her
small, beady eyes are deathly, but when speaking of Rebecca she smiles, and her manner
instead of being still and unbending as it usually was became warm and relatable (93, 170).
Similarly to the previous example, memories of Rebecca make Mrs. Danvers alive inside. In the
last scene, the sky was shot with crimson, like a splash of blood, and the ashes blew with the
salt wind from the sea because Mrs. Danvers set Manderley ablaze (386). In her last desperate
attempt to make sure no one takes Rebeccas place, Mrs. Danvers destroys Manderley so that
Mrs. de Winter and Maxim can not enjoy it. Mrs. Danvers is constantly manipulating Mrs. de
Winter in order to make Rebeccas dominant presence known.

Sartori !3
Work Cited
Maurier, Daphne Du. Rebecca. Harper Paperbacks: New York, 2001. Print.