Rebecca, 

Gothic suspense novel by Daphne du Maurier, published in 1938.

Widely considered a classic, it is a psychological thriller about a young woman

This has to be one of the best and most complete books I have ever read.
Each element - plot, characters, twists, suspense, climax - all of it, perfect!
The plot - I have to be honest, I judged a book by its cover and title. I
thought, okay, "Rebecca", an elegant woman, a curly font, probably another
cheesy classic romance. I'll read it because it is one you are supposed to
read, but I doubt I will think it is great. I have never been so wrong.
Mystery, intrigue, deception, subterfuge, twists, turns, misunderstandings,
accusations, threats, etc. etc. etc. So much is happening in this story, and it
is great!

Rebecca Summary

Rebecca begins with, well, not Rebecca. Actually, the opposite of Rebecca (if a
person can have an opposite) – you'll see why in a minute. This woman, our
narrator, is dreaming of returning to a place called Manderley, but she and the
man she's with can never go back; it holds too many bad memories for them.
Also, it's suggested that Manderley has been physically destroyed.

The narrator remembers when she first met Mr. de Winter (the guy she's with
now). She was working as a paid companion to a snobby American woman named
Mrs. Van Hopper in Monte Carlo, France. After meeting Maxim (that's his first
name), she hears that his wife Rebecca drowned about nine months before, and
that he is mourning her loss. Eventually, though, they fall for each other and get
married. And so she becomes Mrs. de Winter.

After honeymooning in Italy, the new Mrs. de Winter and her husband arrive at
Manderley, Maxim's palatial estate. Mrs. de Winter meets Mrs. Danvers, head
housekeeper at Manderley, who looks like a corpse and is just about as friendly.
Mrs. de Winter can tell Mrs. Danvers is comparing her to Rebecca. It kind of
haunts her.

Our narrator has a hard time adjusting to Manderley: she feels forced to do things
the way everybody tells her Rebecca used to do them. Even after meetings
Maxim's estate agent, Frank Crawley, Maxim's sister, Beatrice, and Beatrice's
husband, Giles, she's not super comfortable.

Near Manderley, Mrs. de Winter comes across what she thinks is a boathouse,
but is also a furnished apartment that once belonged to Rebecca. Her discover
upsets Maxim, and from then on, she is petrified that she will say something to
make Maxim think about Rebecca's accident.

One day when Maxim is in London, Mrs. de Winter peers through the window of
Rebecca's room and sees Mrs. Danvers and a strange man inside. She goes into
the house and tries to hide, but the strange man sees her. She learns his name is
Jack Favell. He's Rebecca's cousin – and to be honest, he's kind of a sketch ball.
That night, Mrs. de Winter overhears Maxim yelling at Mrs. Danvers. He's heard
that Favell was around and bans Rebecca's cousin from the house.

Not long after, it's agreed that a costume ball, a tradition at Manderley, will be
held in Mrs. de Winter's honor. Mrs. Danvers suggests that she dress as Caroline
de Winter, Maxim's ancestor, whose portrait hangs in the house. Mrs. de Winter
takes the suggestion and keeps her costume secret until the night of the ball.
When she arrives at the party, she finds out (too late) that the costume she's
wearing is just like the one worn by Rebecca at the last Manderley ball. Oops.
Should have seen that one coming.

Mrs. de Winter fears that her marriage is over and she resigns to live with Maxim
to keep up appearances, without his love. She decides to confront Mrs. Danvers
about the costume and finds her in Rebecca's bedroom. Mrs. Danvers convinces
Mrs. de Winter that Maxim doesn't love her – that he only loves Rebecca – and
that she'd be better off dead. Yikes.

After a near-suicide incident, Mrs. de Winter learns that divers inspecting a

wrecked ship have found Rebecca's boat with a body inside it. This is pretty
curious, considering that Maxim already identified another body that washed up
on the beach as Rebecca's. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Maxim
admits to Mrs. de Winter that he shot Rebecca and sank her boat with her body
inside.

Yep.

Apparently, he had his reasons: Rebecca, he claims, cheated on him constantly,

and he hated her. He killed her when she told him she was pregnant with another
man's child. Mrs. de Winter is actually relieved by this news. Anyway, this means
that Maxim loves her, not Rebecca. She promises to stand by him and help him
cover up his crime.
After a brief investigation, Favell reveals that he and Rebecca were lovers
(cousins, too, in case you'd forgotten). He has a note from Rebecca, written the
day of her death that proves Rebecca didn't kill herself – Maxim killed her. Now
Favell is trying to blackmail Maxim for money.

The investigating colonel and Mrs. Danvers are summoned. Mrs. Danvers has
Rebecca's appointment book, and it's revealed that Rebecca had an appointment
with a doctor on the date of her death. The next day, Colonel Julyan, Maxim, Mrs.
de Winter, and Favell all visit this doctor, and they learn that Rebecca had a
cancerous growth and was terminally ill. This satisfies Colonel Julyan and even
Favell as a credible reason for her to kill herself. Case closed. (Closed incorrectly,
but closed.)

Maxim and Mrs. de Winter plan to dine, drive leisurely, and then stay somewhere
overnight, returning to Manderley in the morning. But, when he calls Frank to
give him the good news, Maxim learns that Mrs. Danvers has suddenly moved out
of Manderley. This gives him a bad feeling, so they drive back to Manderley
immediately. As they're pulling up in the wee hours of the morning, they see
bright lights on the horizon and realize (we assume) that Manderley is on fire. Not
quite the happy ending they thought they had.

Mrs. de Winter

Who is this woman? Really, we want to know. Sure, she's the narrator
of Rebecca. But even so, she's a very mysterious character. She
doesn't tell us her first name, her maiden name, or a whole lot about
her past.

Here's what we know: during the bulk of the story she's twenty-one. She's
from a working class family. When her parents die, she has to find a way to
support herself, which isn't easy, because there are limited employment and
educational opportunities available to her (and most women). So she
becomes a paid companion to a snobby American, Mrs. Van Hopper. In
Monte Carlo, with Mrs. Van Hopper, she meets the dashing and wealthy
Maxim de Winter and his dark past. A few flirts later, and she's the lady of
Manderley.

Mrs. de Winter has changed from the beginning of her story to the end. She has
come through three “stages” of developing of her self - perception: “Alice-in-
Wonderland”, “The Dark Side” and “Not of His World”.
Alice-in-Wonderland

"Put a ribbon round your hair and be Alice-in-Wonderland," said

Maxim lightly; "you look like it now, with your finger in your
mouth." (16.50)

In Chapter 16, which features the build-up to the Manderley costume

ball, Maxim suggests (three times!) that Mrs. de Winter go as "Alice-in-
Wonderland" (16.50, 16.129, 16.146). She could have spared herself
some agony if she'd listened to him instead of Mrs. Danvers! But, she's
blind as usual and thinks he's kidding or insulting her. we find Maxim's
suggestion intriguing .

Clearly, Maxim has a decent grasp on aspects of Mrs. de Winter's

character. She is like Lewis Carroll 's famous heroine in that she has a
vivid imagination and an extreme curiosity. Manderley is Wonderland –
a magical but scary place – for Mrs. de Winter. But Maxim shouldn't
want her to be curious, right? The second time he suggests she dress
as Alice is right after he catches her pretending to be Rebecca at the
dinner table and tells her, "There is a certain type of knowledge I prefer
you not to have. It's better kept under lock and key" (16.21).

Eventually, however, Maxim decides he must tell his new wife the
truth. Once she knows what really happened to Rebecca, she's forever
changed. She's no longer the innocent girl that Maxim married. He
famously notes this change, saying: "It's gone for ever, that funny,
young, lost look that I loved. It won't come back again. I killed that too,
when I told you about Rebecca... It's gone, in twenty-four hours. You
are so much older..." (21.219). By the end of the novel, Mrs. de Winter
seems to have come of age, just as Alice has by the end of her
adventures in Wonderland.

The Dark Side

Mrs. de Winter officially crosses over to the dark side of the force after
she learns that Maxim killed Rebecca. She's so psyched that Maxim
doesn't love Rebecca that she doesn't even seem to care that he's a
murderer. We are told that she "sat there on the carpet, unmoved and
detached thinking and caring for one thing only, repeating a phrase
over and over again, 'He did not love Rebecca, he did not love
Rebecca'" (21.2).
Now, Mrs. de Winter will do anything for her husband. She thinks, "I
would fight for Maxim. I would lie and perjure and swear, I would
blaspheme and pray" (21.3). As Favell points out, Mrs. de Winter isn't
supposed to testify against her husband. She's supposed to stand by
him, and try to get him released if he goes to jail. So, she's not legally
guilty of participating in the cover up, like Frank is. Whether she's
morally guilty of a crime is for you all to decide.

But here's the thing: after she learns the truth, she wishes she could
"[shoot] Favell [and hide] his body in a cupboard" to keep him quiet
(23.177). When she realizes Rebecca's doctor, Dr. Baker, is being
located and that he could implicate Maxim, she thinks "Please God
make Baker be dead" (25.175). She also expresses absolutely no
sadness over Rebecca's death, or, even a thought for what she thinks
is Rebecca's unborn child.

Not of His World

Here's a snippet of conversation between Maxim and the soon-to-be Mrs. de

Winter, from the marriage proposal scene:

"I don't think I know how to explain. I don't belong to your sort of world for
one thing."

"What is my world?"

"Well – Manderley. You know what I mean."

"You are almost as ignorant as Mrs. Van Hopper, and just as unintelligent.
What do you know of Manderley? I'm the person to judge that, whether you
would belong there or not." (6.62-6.66)

Aside from showing how Maxim talks to Mrs. de Winter, this passage
expresses her constant preoccupations with class. She prides herself on not
being a snob, but she sees people with wealth as alien and
unapproachable, almost like another species. She can't see herself
becoming one of them.

Maybe part of why she likes Maxim is that he seems to be able to cross
class lines: he actually helps her wipe up the water she spills on the table
instead of immediately calling for a waiter, and he rescues the wounded
crewmember just before Rebecca's boat is discovered. Is it possible that
Maxim is deliberately looking outside his class for a new wife, because his
new wife needs to be the opposite of Rebecca? Either way, the new Mrs. de
Winter seems to like this about him.

Mrs. de Winter herself has always been precariously perched between

classes. When she's Mrs. Van Hopper's paid companion, she's looked down
on both by the upper-class Mrs. Van Hopper and by others of her own class,
who resent her. When she marries Maxim, Mrs. de Winter is officially
considered an upper-class woman, but she has a hard time feeling
comfortable in the role.

Maximillian de Winter

At forty-two, he's handsome, wealthy, and the proud owner of Manderley, a

huge estate with a castle-like mansion. Maxim escapes official justice for
murdering his wife Rebecca, whom he believes to be pregnant with another
man's child.
While his murderous act defines Maxim for many readers, we don't learn about it until
late in the book. I can't forget what it has done to you. I was looking at you,
thinking of nothing else all through lunch. It's gone forever, that funny, young,
lost look that I loved. It won't come back again. I killed that too, when I told you
about Rebecca. It's gone, in twenty-four hours. You are so much older...

Maxim, p. 299
Her shadow between us all the time. Her damned shadow keeping us from one
another. How could I hold you like this, my darling, my little love, with the fear
always in my heart that this would happen? I remembered her eyes as she
looked at me before she died. I remembered that slow treacherous smile. She
knew this would happen even then. She knew she would win in the end.

Maxim, p. 265
This quotation is spoken by Maxim after he has told the narrator the truth
about Rebecca's death.
This quotation is spoken by Maxim after he has revealed the truth about
Rebecca's death to the narrator
At that point, we've already built up some sympathy for him. Our early view of Maxim is
mostly through the eyes of his second wife, known only as Mrs. de Winter, and she's
head over heels in love with him.

He does seem perfectly comfortable in his own skin and is at ease in most
situations. Yet, he does change, when he's angry, excited, or retreating
inward. When Maxim sees Mrs. de Winter wearing the same costume
Rebecca wore, Mrs. de Winter describes his facial transformation: "His eyes
were the only living things in the white mask of his face" (16.246). When she
later joins him at the ball, dressed in regular clothes, she sees that "[h]is face
[is] a mask, his smile [is] not his own" (17.111). There's your costume for you,
Max.

Othello?

"All married men with lovely wives are jealous, aren't they? And some of 'em
just can't help playing Othello. They're made that way. I don't blame them. I'm
sorry for them." (23.157)

Spurred on by these lines from Favell, readers and critics often compare
Maxim to Othello, star of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy. Othello
murders his wife Desdemona in a fit of jealousy when he mistakenly believes
she's unfaithful to him. To hear Maxim tell it, his murder of Rebecca (who was,
it seems, unfaithful) has nothing to do with jealousy. He claims he's never
loved her or wanted her, but puts up with her to avoid the shame of divorce
and to preserve Manderley. He shows no remorse for killing her. Othello, on
the other hand, loved Desdemona deeply and bitterly regrets his crime.

A Changed Man

Whatever we knew about Maxim at Manderley, we know now is completely

different. Take a look at this passage, where Mrs. de Winter describes how
she can tell when Maxim is remembering the past:

I can tell by the way he will look lost and puzzled […] all expression dying
away from his dear face […] and in its place a mask will form […] formal and
cold, beautiful still but lifeless. He will fall to smoking cigarette after cigarette,
not bothering to extinguish them, and the glowing stubs will lie around on the
ground like petals. He will talk quickly and eagerly about nothing at all,
snatching at any subject as a panacea to pain. (2.3)
Rebecca de Winter

My knowledge about Rebecca is filtered through the narrator, and

because she's the second wife of Rebecca's husband, we can't be sure
all of my narrator's information is quite reliable.

we hear about Rebecca from a variety of different people who knew

her. The chief sources of information about Rebecca – Mrs. Danvers,
Maxim, and Favell – are extremely unreliable and maybe even insane.
Ben offers some persuasive testimony about her, but Ben's grasp on
reality and his motivations are questionable. We don't read any of
Rebecca's personal writings, and she never actually appears in the
story. Her power over the other characters seems entirely of their own
making. Yet, things are left open enough to tantalize us with the
possibility that Rebecca is somehow reaching from out from the grave.

Maxim suggests that Rebecca has a serious mean streak, that she mocked
everyone she met behind their backs, and that she played cruel and
manipulative games with everyone she encountered. Mrs. Danvers
admiringly confirms this comment on Rebecca's general nature. Of course.
without hearing Rebecca's version, it's hard for us to know what to think
about their claims.
If I had a child, Max, neither you, nor anyone in the world, would ever prove
that it was not yours. It would grow up here in Manderley, bearing your name.
There would be nothing you could do...It would give you the biggest thrill of
your life, wouldn't it, Max, to watch my son grow bigger day by day, and to
know that when you died, all this would be his?

Rebecca, p. 279
This quotation is spoken by Rebecca in a flashback that Maxim describes to
the narrator. This is the first time that the reader gets a sense of Rebecca as
a character rather than just a memory. It also demonstrates Rebecca's skill
at manipulating Maxim. Aware of her failing health, Rebecca took
advantage of Maxim's emotional attachment to Manderley in order to goad
him into shooting her (and thus dying on her own terms).
We find Ben's take on Rebecca particularly compelling. As soon as we learn
that someone threatened to put him in an asylum, we wonder if it was
Maxim or Rebecca who did it. At one point, Ben explicitly blames Rebecca,
describing what happened when Rebecca caught him peeping in the
windows of the boathouse/cabin:

"[S]he turned on me, she did. 'You don't know me, do you?' she said.
'You've never seen me here, and you won't again. If I catch you looking
at me through the windows here I'll have you put to the asylum,' she
said. 'You wouldn't like that would you? They're cruel to people in the
asylum.'"  (13.48)

Tall and dark she was. She gave you the feeling of a snake. I seen her here with
me own eyes. By night she'd come.

Ben, p. 154
The quotation is spoken by Ben during the narrator's second conversation
with him on the beach next to the cottage. Significantly, Ben is the only
character who acknowledges Rebecca's evil nature from the very
beginning. 

Mrs. Danvers

Mrs. Danvers, the head housekeeper at Manderley, is one the scariest people
we can imagine sharing a gothic mansion with. Every bit the gothic figure,
she's first described as "tall and gaunt, dressed in deep black […] [with]
prominent cheek-bones and great, hollow eyes [that] gave her a skull's face,
parchment-white, set on a skeleton's frame" (7.32). Mrs. de Winter never
mentions her without describing "her white skull's face" (7.57, 12.51, 14.49,
18.89) or her "dead skull's face" (7.90) or just, you know, her "skull's face"
(14.28). At one point, Mrs. de Winter gets too close to her and notices Mrs.
Danvers has "little patches of yellow beneath her ears" (14.30).

I might also catch myselves wondering if Rebecca is acting through Mrs. Danvers. Mrs.

Danvers would totally love that, but if she's actually possessed by Rebecca, she isn't
aware of it.
NARRATOR ABOUT DANVERS But I never dared ask Mrs. Danvers what she did
about it. She would have looked at me in scorn, smiling that freezing, superior smile of
hers, and I can imagine her saying: “There were never any complaints when Mrs. de
Winter was alive.”

Mrs. de Winter has also shown Mrs. Danvers in so many ways that she's easily
manipulated and that takes everything very personally. So, she's really ripe for a
fall (so to speak), and Mrs. Danvers knows just wish buttons to push.

Mrs. Danvers tells Mrs. de Winter:

Don't be afraid […]. I won't push you. I won't stand by you. You can jump of your own
accord. What's the use of your staying here at Manderley? You're not happy. Mr. de
Winter doesn't love you. There's not much for you to live for, is there? Why don't you
jump now and have done with it? Then you won't be unhappy any more. (18.142)

Mrs. Danvers is clearly crossing a line here, even though the incident doesn't end in
suicide. Does it mean this old housekeeper is evil, or insane, or is she just having a bad
moment? That's what you readers are here for, to answer those lofty questions!

Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca

Mrs. Danvers claims to have a wonderful relationship with Rebecca, to have been her
confidante, and true friend. We know that Mrs. Danvers has been in Rebecca's life
since Rebecca was at least twelve.

“I thought I hated you but I don't now,” she said; “it seems to have spent itself, all
the feeling I had.”
“Why should you hate me?” I asked; “what have I ever done to you that you
should hate me?”
“You tried to take Mrs. de Winter's place,” she said.

“I will give the orders about the lunch,” she said. She waited a moment. I did not
say anything. Then she went out of the room. She can't frighten me any more, I
thought. She has lost her power with Rebecca.

Mr. Frank Crawley

Mrs. de Winter portrays Frank in a very sympathetic light. He's

described as the proper English gentleman and the perfect host. He's
infinitely kind to Mrs. de Winter, and he's always at her side to support
her in difficult Manderley moments.
Mr. “I ought to have told you all this before,” I said.
“I wish you had,” he said. “I might have spared you some worry.”
“I feel happier,” I said, “much happier. And I've got you for my friend
whatever happens, haven't I, Frank?”
“Yes, indeed,” he said.
We were out of the dark. Jack Favell

According to Maxim, Rebecca pursued Frank sexually, and Frank had to call on Maxim
to make her stop. According to Favell, Frank pursued Rebecca, and turned on her when
she wouldn't reciprocate. In this way, Frank is a great example of how we never really
know what to think about these characters because their past is so mysterious (and all
we know is what Mrs. de Winter tells us). Who do you believe?

It seems like Frank knows that Maxim killed Rebecca and actively participates in the
cover-up. He's even prepared to pay off Favell when he tries to blackmail Maxim with
the letter he has from Rebecca. Like most characters in Rebecca, Frank has a dual
nature: part good, part evil (and part that murky territory in between).

Jack Favell is Rebecca's first cousin, her childhood friend, and, it seems, her
lover. (We know:...

Mrs. Beatrice Lacy

Beatrice is Maxim's slightly older sister. She a sympathetic character who genuinely
tries to...

Ben
Ben is the son of a man who used to work at Manderley. He's emotionally unstable and
seems to be...

Colonel Julyan
Colonel Julyan, the magistrate at Kerrith, isn't what we'd call an impartial investigator.
It...

Minor Characters
Alice is a housekeeper at Manderley. She acts as Mrs. de Winter's temporary maid, and
she looks...

This has to be one of the best and most complete books I have ever read.
Each element - plot, characters, twists, suspense, climax - all of it, perfect!
The plot - I have to be honest, I judged a book by its cover and title. I
thought, okay, "Rebecca", an elegant woman, a curly font, probably another
cheesy classic romance. I'll read it because it is one you are supposed to
read, but I doubt I will think it is great. I have never been so wrong.
Mystery, intrigue, deception, subterfuge, twists, turns, misunderstandings,
accusations, threats, etc. etc. etc. So much is happening in this story, and it
is great!