Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

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“I suppose sooner or later in the life of everyone comes a moment of trial. We all of us have our particular devil who rides us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end.” – Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca. Introduction Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca opens with the flashback of a young woman, referred to as The Second Mrs. De Winter reminiscing about her times spent at Manderly, a beautiful yet dark countryside in England. The plot focuses on three female characters: The Second Mrs. De Winter, Mrs. Danvers, the guileful housemaid, and most importantly, Rebecca. Rebecca, the complex and haunting dead wife of Maxim de Winter, appears as a ghost and acts as the most dominant and intimidating character in the novel. This classic Gothic Romantic…show more content…
Even though this perspective has a large bias towards the male, Daphne Du Maurier employs the psychoanalysis in Rebecca in order to emphasize on how the patriarchal society suppresses the women. Du Maurier grew up during a period of time where feminism was at its pinnacle and Freudian psychoanalysis had started to become consistently portrayed through film and literature. Her creation of all female characters, specifically, their struggle to gain a sense of identity, seems to be deeply influenced by the psychoanalytic view. Twisted around the idea of the ignorance towards women in general, Rebecca can be used to draw importance to women in society when all forces such as gender and caste are working against them. In order to further expand upon Freud’s feminist perspectives, it is important to examine the prevalence of three significant concepts: The use of the flashback, the Topographic theory, and the subtle influences of the Electra…show more content…
De Winter marries Maxim, moves to Manderly, and is haunted by the ghost of Rebecca. The eminent use of flashback allows us to discover her permanent inner conflict where she struggles to find her identity as she hides in the shadows of Rebecca. Manderly symbolizes Mrs. De Winter’s fears of her lack of identity- her inability to fit into her new elite society, her fear of lacking the traits of the perfect Victorian woman, and most importantly, the fear of never being able to get rid of the identity of Rebecca. The flashback builds tension, as the readers know that Mrs. De Winter is running from something, but they are left wondering as to what it is she is running from. The flashback therefore allows the reader to gain a better understanding of why Mrs. De Winter is so afraid of Manderly, and at the same time gives us a view at her inner
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