Mrs De Winter finally decides she wants to be treated like an adult.

Mrs De Winter finally decides she wants to be treated like an adult by attempting to equal their
power in the marriage and calling out his behaviour towards her. Throughout the novel Maxim
suggests that she should dress up in Alice in Wonderland using her “hair-ribbon” to dress up like her.
Du Maurier uses this as a metaphor saying that all she needs to do is put on a hair ribbon and she
looks like Alice but really Mrs De Winter already acts lost and trapped in a new world with no idea
whats going on around her. Promptly after that she states “You’re playing with me all the time, just
as if I was a silly little girl.” This quote demonstrates her realisation and she demands an end to this.
Mrs De Winter is soon shut down by her husband in the quote ‘Get on with your peach and don’t
talk with your mouth full.” Yet another example of him talking to her as if he was educating an infant.
This is what lead to Mrs De Winter to organise a costume to ‘impress’ Maxim in an attempt to
become a new person, this is demonstrated throughout the ball scene. Mrs De Winter attempted to
regain power and step into the role of a wealthy wife, influenced by Rebecca, yet is constantly
fighting her husbands talk, one such spoken to an infant.

How does Du Maurier Subvert the fairytale trope?

Du Maurier subverts the fairytale trope by shutting down Mrs De Winter’s grand moment at the ball.
The new Mrs Du Maurier follows the romantic fairytale trope in organising an outfit for the ball to
wow her husband in a very similar ‘love at first sight’ moment. She organises the ball to be fairy like,
with beautiful decor and wonderful costumes, organising one for herself this is demonstrated int eh
quote “The old austerity had gone”, showing that the glum Manderly had been transformed into a
fairy like event. Yet Du Maurier quickly subverts this by ensuring that her husband Maxim shuts down
her wonderful moment in the quote “What the hell do you think your doing?”. She is sent up stairs
with a clear message to the audience that Du Maurier has attempted to remove the love at first sight
trope, her push towards acceptance, and rather shut her down to become an ordinary person once
again, removing the costume which holds symbolism, being the object she used to step into a
fairytale she ever so wanted. Du Maurier subverts the fairytale by clearly showing the readers the
clear difference between her fairy tale moment and when it ended quickly without the romantic
trope happening.