Daphne du
Maurier's
Rebecca
Maxim de Winter
LESSON ONE
How much do we know about Maxim de
Winter?
Possible answers:
Widower?
Wealthy?
Grieving?
Escaping?
Let’s look at the characteristics of this
atypical widower.
How is he presented as part of, but apart
from, the ‘usual crowd’ of Monte; not one of
the ‘regulars’ as Mrs Van Hopper calls
them?
Which character from another novel is he
most like?
(Look closely at the description of Rochester
in Jane Eyre to find another tortured soul his
equal in suffering)
Here is a character who is more than simply
grieving. The language used implies a sense
of sorrow and pain that clings:
‘He looks ill doesn’t he?’
(Chapter Two)
‘I noticed, faint as gossamer, the line
between his brows’
‘his face clouded and he frowned very
slightly’
(Chapter Three)
Research Homework
Find out about Monte Carlo.
Where is it? What is it well
known for?
LESSON TWO
What is most unexpected about Maxim
de Winter’s affection for the Narrator?
Put into words why he is drawn to her.
Consider this as a starting point:
‘You’ve taken me out of myself’
(Chapter 4)
Write an analysis of the language and the
importance we can place on the following
speech by Maxim in Chapter Four. This takes
place following his first lunch with the
Narrator.
“I told you at the beginning of lunch you had a
lovely and unusual name,’ he said. 'I shall go
further, if you will forgive me, and say that it
becomes you as well as it became your father.
I've enjoyed this hour with you more than I
have enjoyed anything for a very long time.
You've taken me out of myself, out of
despondency and introspection, both of which
have been my devils for a year.”
Maxim uses the adjectives ‘lovely’ and
‘unusual’ to apply to the Narrator.
• How do we see the beginning of a bond forming
between them?
• What exactly does Maxim say regarding this
bond in Chapter Four?
LESSON THREE
Fettered and chained?
Maxim, like Rochester in Jane Eyre and Miss
Havisham in Great Expectations, is tortured by
terrible memories and great heartache.
Explore the following quote. What does it mean?
‘He seems less fettered then he had been
before, more modern, more human; he
was not hemmed in by shadows.
(AO1/A02)
• How does the daily drive in the
countryside around Monte Carlo
reveal a duality about Maxim?
• How does Maxim appear ‘fettered’
and ‘free’?
Consider the role Maxim plays in the life of
the Narrator:
‘I was young and shy. I hated my life with
Mrs Van Hopper, but she paid me a little
money to be her companion. I was not
exactly a servant and certainly not a
friend.’
• Does Maxim rescue the Narrator?
• Is it more complicated than that? Explain
your answer.
LESSON FOUR
“I’m afraid I think rather differently from
you. All memories are bitter, and I prefer
to ignore them.”
Consider the implication of these words in the light
of the famous line from Macbeth:
‘memory, the warder of the brain,
shall be a fume’
(Act One, Scene 7: Lady Macbeth)
“I’m afraid I think rather differently from you. All
memories are bitter, and I prefer to ignore them.
Something happened a year ago that altered my whole
life, and I want to forget every phase in my existence
up to that time. Those days are finished. They are
blotted out. I must begin living all over again.”
Study this extract. Can you link this character to
another character that you know from the world of
literature? How are the characters similar? How
are they different? Why have you selected this
particular character over other figures from
literature?
(AO2/AO4)
Memory is considered a powerful and
deadly faculty in the novel Rebecca.
Essay Question
To what extent do you agree that
memory is both a friend and an enemy
in the novel Rebecca?
LESSON FIVE
Click the link below to find out about
courting and the rules of polite society in
the early part of the twentieth century.
COURTSHIP ETIQUETTE
Certain etiquette and conduct was expected of an
eighteenth or nineteenth century gentleman when
courting. One etiquette book noted that “courting
ought never to be done except with a view to
marriage.”
How indicative of the change in Maxim’s feelings is
the following:
“To hell with this,” he said suddenly, as
though angry, as though bored, and he
pulled me beside him, and put his arm
around my shoulder…
“My family always call me Maxim, I’d like
you to do the same. You’ve been formal
with me long enough.”
“I suppose you are young enough to be
my daughter, and I don’t know how to
deal with you,” he said.
What can you deduce about the future
of the relationship from this quote?
LESSON SIX
“I’m asking you to marry me, you little
fool.”
• Is the reader prepared for this remark?
• What does the language reveal about Maxim’s
state of mind and the position that he now
places the Narrator in?
• How does this imply or preclude equality in
their relationship?
“I felt sorry for de Winter already. He
was Mrs Van Hopper's next victim.
Compare the two points of view from the
Narrator (above) and Maxim (below)
“instead of being companion to Mrs
Van Hopper you become mine, and
your duties will be almost exactly the
same. I also like new library books,
and flowers in the drawing-room, and
bezique after dinner. And someone to
pour out my tea.” (Chapter 6)
“Poor darling, what a shame. Never
mind, I’ll take you to Venice for our
honeymoon and we’ll hold hands in the
gondola. But we won’t stay too long,
because I want to show you Manderley.”
Chapter 6
Why do you think that Maxim does not
mention love?
LESSON SEVEN
Maxim presents the reader with a
rather selfish and ruthless end to the
seven week honeymoon period.
What happened and how do we
interpret this?
Quote 1
“Poor lamb, I’ve bustled you down here like this, and you
probably ought to have bought a lot of clothes in London.”
Quote 2
Now and again he looked up at me and smiled, and then
returned to his letters, the accumulation of the last months I
supposed, and I thought how little I knew of his life here at
Manderley, of how it went, day by day, of the people he knew,
of his friends, men and women, of what bills he paid, what
orders he gave about his household. The last weeks had gone
so swiftly, and I — driving by his side through France and Italy
— thought only of how I loved him, seeing Venice with his
eyes, echoing his words, asking no questions of the past and
future, content with the little glory of the living present.
Chapter 7
How is the Maxim on honeymoon a very different
man from that found in Chapter 8 in Manderley?
Essay Question
How and why do we see three
sides to Maxim between
Chapter 2 and Chapter 8?
LESSON EIGHT
Regret and despair
Like many other literary protagonists, Maxim is
chained to his past life via the chords of memory.
The Narrator: Chapter 9
‘You never know what’s going on in that funny mind of his.’
Maxim appears able to hide some of his emotion;
this is not always possible however:
“Oh, God, what a fool I was to come back.”
There are certain locations that trigger
terrible memories for Maxim. Rebecca’s
beach and sailing cove being one, as is the
West Wing at Manderley.
‘alright, I did not want to go to the other beach. Will that
please you? I never go near the bloody place, or that Goddamned cottage.’
‘…and if you had my memories you wouldn’t want to get there
either, or talk about it, or even think about it. There. You can
digest that if you like, and I hope it satisfies you.’
Chapter 10:Page 130
What does this extract reveal about Maxim’s
emotional state of mind and general
wellbeing?
• Imagine you are the Narrator. How do
you feel about this extra dimension to
married life?
• To what extent do we see that the
Narrator is largely overshadowed by the
memory and presence of another
woman?
LESSON NINE
Manderley traditionally hosts a
costume ball each year, and it is soon
time for the gala to take place.
Swept up in the preparations, the
heroine's spirits begin to revive.
However things don’t turn out as she
would have hoped.
• Why does Mrs. Danvers suggest that the
Narrator wears the white dress? What
does she hope to achieve?
• Find evidence to suggest that she was
thrilled with the reaction from Maxim.
How close does the Narrator come to losing Maxim?
Essay
Select appropriate moments from before and after the
appearance of the Narrator in her white costume dress:
“The dance was being given for me in my honour because I
was the bride” and perhaps “ the dress fitted perfectly…I
twisted and turned in front of the mirror” “I felt different
already, no longer hampered by my appearance. My own dull
personality was submerged at last” and also: “I don’t think I
have ever felt so excited before, so happy and so proud”
“what fun it was”. “I waited for the clapping and
laughter…nobody clapped, nobody moved” (Chapter 16)
• Now find other contrasting moments.
• Analyse the language and consider the transformation
in the Narrator’s spirits.
LESSON TEN
Consider the impact of the shipwreck. There is a
clear use of irony, as Rebecca’s boat, ‘Je Reviens’,
returns with serious and shocking consequences in
Chapter 19 when the diver finds more than one
hull on the Manderley reef.
The Narrator tells us that she feels ‘a strange sense
of foreboding in my heart’. How does this contrast
with the feelings she shares about Manderley?
‘I realised, perhaps for the first time, with a
funny feeling of bewilderment and pride that it
(Manderley) was mine; my only home; I
belonged there and Manderley belonged to me.’
Captain Searle is the harbinger of terrible news :
“It’s hard on you and hard on him that we can’t let the past lie
quiet but I don’t see how we can under the circumstances.”
‘This fresh blow coming swiftly upon my masquerade of the
night before was ironic and rather horrible.’
“there was a body in there, lying on the cabin floor,” he said
quietly.’
“I don’t want you to bear this alone. I want to share it with
you. I’ve grown up Maxim in twenty four hours. I’ll never be a
child again…Can’t we start all over again? Can’t we begin
from today?”
Do you agree with Maxim when he tells the Narrator:
“It’s too late, my darling, too late, we’ve lost our little chance
of happiness. It’s all over now, the thing has happened…we’re
not meant for happiness, you and I…Rebecca has won.”
THE DENOUEMENT
‘No, no you don’t understand…it’s Rebecca’s
body lying there on the cabin floor’ he said there
never was an accident’, he said ‘Rebecca was
not drowned at all. I killed her. I shot Rebecca
in the cottage in the cove. I carried her body to
the cabin and took the boat out that night and
sunk it there…will you look into my eyes and tell
me that you love me now?’ (Maxim Chapter 19)
What does the language reveal about
the state of Maxim’s mind here?
“the real Mrs de Winter lying dead and cold and
forgotten in the church crypt. If he suffers, then
he deserved to suffer, marrying a young girl like
you not ten months afterwards. Well, he’s
paying for it now! I’ve seen his face…his eyes.
He’s made his own Hell”
(Mrs Danvers: Chapter 19)
How far do you agree that the de
Winters can not survive this new
shock? What do we learn about the
new strength of the Narrator?
LESSON ELEVEN
The Murder
“You think you can treat my house and my home
like your own sink in London. I’ve stood
enough, but my God, Rebecca, this is your last
chance” ( Chapter 21)
“Have you ever thought” she said, “how damned
hard it would be for you to make a case against
me?...haven’t we acted the parts of loving
husband and wife rather too well?”
To what extent do you agree that this ‘crime
of passion’ was entirely provoked?
“For the first time he is telling me he loves me”
How much does Maxim realise now what he
has done and what he might yet lose?
“I’d forgotten,” said Maxim, and his voice was
slow now, tired, without expression, “that when
you shot a person there was so much blood.”
Does the reader have any pity at this
stage for Maxim? If so, why?
The Narrator
LESSON TWELVE
After a seven week honeymoon and a two
week courtship, the Narrator is to return as
the mistress of Manderley.
‘I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of
first love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too,
whatever the poets may say.’
'I love you dreadfully. You've made me very
unhappy and I've been crying all night
because I thought I should never see you
again.’
How mature do these remarks
make the Narrator appear to be?
‘I sat with my hands in my lap, watching him
drink his coffee.’
'You can't marry me,' I said at last. 'I'm
different from you. I don't belong to your kind
of world. I don't belong to a place like
Manderley.’
To what extent is the Narrator
equipped for life at Manderley as
the wife of Maxim de Winter?
LESSON THIRTEEN
Mrs Van Hopper is used by du Maurier to
represent the worst characteristics of Monte
Carlo tourists - brash, rich and cruel.
• What characteristics in the Narrator are
intensified by Mrs Van Hopper?
‘Tact was a quality unknown to her, discretion
too, and because gossip was the breath of life
to her, this stranger must be served for her
dissection.’
‘Of course," she said, "you know why he is
marrying you, don't you? You haven't flattered
yourself he's in love with you? The fact is that
empty house got on his nerves to such an
extent he nearly went off his head.’
Analyse the language; what do we
learn about Mrs van Hopper and
the Narrator from the above?
‘Trailing in the wake of Mrs Van Hopper, like a
shy, uneasy colt’
‘Sometimes she would use me as bait to draw
her prey’
“I was a person of importance, I was growing
up at last. That girl who, tortured by shyness, …
she had gone with the wind that afternoon.
She was a poor creature, and I thought of her
with scorn if I considered her at all”
What do we learn about the
relationship between the Narrator
and her employer?
LESSON FOURTEEN
• How does the language present a
‘settling into’ life at Manderley as the
Mistress?
“The gulf between us had been bridged after
all. I was to call him Maxim.”
“I was to marry the man I loved. I was to be Mrs
de Winter. It was foolish to go on having that
pain in the pit of my stomach when I was so
happy.” (Chapter 4)
“I can close my eyes now, and look back on it, and see
myself as I must have been, standing on the threshold
of the house, a slim, awkward figure in my stockinette
dress, clutching in my sticky hands a pair of gauntlet
gloves.”
“I forced a smile, and did not answer him, aware now
of a stab of panic, an uneasy sickness that could not
be controlled. Gone was my glad excitement, vanished
my happy pride. I was like a child brought to her first
school, or a little untrained maid who has never left
home before, seeking a situation.”
“Any measure of self-possession I had gained hitherto
during the brief seven weeks of marriage, was like a
rag now, fluttering before the wind”.
What do these quotations reveal about
the state of mind of the Narrator?
“Poor lamb, I’ve bustled you down here like
this, and you probably ought to have bought a
lot of clothes in London”.
“I thought how little I knew of his life here at
Manderley, the last few weeks gone by so
swiftly… seeing Venice with his eyes…’
The use of the affectionate noun
phrase ‘poor lamb’ is deeply
significant: why?
LESSON FIFTEEN
How far do you agree that the Narrator is
living in a triangle; a puppet controlled by
the critical and censorious Mrs Danvers?
The road into the past
• How far can we agree with the views
presented below?
‘I could not forget the white lost look in Maxim’s eyes…I had
opened up a road into the past again.’ ‘I knew there was a barrier
between us because of it.’ (Chapter 10)
“I begin to wonder myself, and I begin to doubt, and I have a
fearful haunting feeling that I should never have married Maxim,
that we are not going to be happy. You see, I know that all the time,
whenever I meet anyone new, they are all thinking the same thing
– How different she is to Rebecca.” (the Narrator, Chapter 11)
“That’s why you are so good for him you are fresh and young and –
and sensible”.
“You have nothing to do with all that time that has gone.”
“We none of us want to bring back the past.”
• Why do Beatrice’s thoughts about Mrs
Danvers strike a chord of warning?
‘Of course she’s insanely jealous. I was afraid she
would be’
‘There’s no need to be frightened of her’, said Beatrice
‘and don’t let her see it whatever you do.’ ( Chapter 9)
• ‘Be careful what you wish for’ is an old
expression. How is it relevant to the
Narrator? You may wish to consider the
quotes below in your response.
“I wish you would not treat me as if I was six, I said…”
“I can tell by your eyes. You’re playing with me all the
time, just as if I was a silly little girl” (Chapter 16)
Independent Study Essay
What is the most significant discovery
made by the reader in Chapter 14
regarding the unpleasant and
unhealthy obsession that Mrs Danvers
holds for her late mistress Rebecca?
LESSON SIXTEEN
The Manderley Ball - Chapter 16
“The house began to wear a new, expectant air.”
“it occurred to me that perhaps he thought I could not face it, that
being shy, as he knew only too well, I should find myself unable to
cope. I did not want him to think that. I did not want him to feel I
should let him down.”
“I think it would be rather fun”
“How is it? How do I look?’ I did not wait for her answer, I twisted
and turned in front of the mirror, I frowned , I smiled. I felt different
already, no longer hampered by my appearance. My own little
personality was submerged at last.”
“ I did not recognise the face that stared at me in the glass. The
eyes were larger surely, the mouth, the skin white and clear? The
curls stood away from the head in a little cloud.”
Consider how du Maurier develops tension and a
sense of foreboding in these quotations.
“What fun it is, what mad ridiculous childish fun!”
Consider these remarks said in her room whilst
dressing before she descends in her new
costume. Consider how the writer presents the
themes of revenge and jealousy.
“Maxim had not moved. He stared at me...There was no colour in
his face. It was ashen white.. why was Maxim looking like that?
Why did they all stand like dummies, like people in a trance.”
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” he asked. His eyes
blazed in anger. His face was still ashen white. I could not move, I
went on standing there, my hand on the banister
“I swallowed, my hand moved to my throat. ‘What is it?’ I said,
what have I done?’
“Then I saw that the door leading to the west wing was open wide,
and that someone was standing there. It was Mrs. Danvers. I shall
never forget the expression on her face, loathsome, triumphant.
The face of an exulting devil. She stood there smiling at me”.
PLENARY
Reread the chapter. Plot how and
where tension is used most effectively.
LESSON SEVENTEEN
The relationship between the Narrator and
Mrs Danvers changes in Chapter 18.
“She had been watching me…she knew, she had meant it to
happen…this was her triumph, hers and Rebecca’s… I thought of
her and that diabolical smile on that white face of hers and I
remembered that she was a living breathing woman like I was.”
‘she turned to look at me and I saw her eyes were red and swollen
with crying even as mine were…her voice was thick and muffled
with tears…now she was an old woman who was ill and tired.’
‘you’ve done what you wanted haven’t you? You meant that to
happen too. Are you pleased now? Are you happy?
‘why did you ever come here?...nobody wanted
you at Manderley. We were alright until you
came. Why didn’t you stay where you were in
France?’
‘I thought I hated you but I don’t now. It seems
to have spent itself all the feeling I had…You
tried to take Mrs de Winter’s place’
What evidence is there here that Mrs Danvers is
beaten and that the Narrator has now assumed a
position of power?
‘I was not afraid of her anymore. I went up to
her and shook her arm. ‘You made me wear that
dress…you did it because you wanted to hurt
Mr de Winter. You wanted to make him suffer!’
What do we learn about the Narrator here?
LESSON EIGHTEEN
‘it’s no use is it?’, she said, ‘you’ll never get the
better of her…it’s you that’s the shadow and the
ghost.’
‘it’s you who should be dead’
• How far does the reader feel sorry for Mrs
Danvers?
• How does the reader feel about the
Narrator at this point?
‘No you don’t understand. I want to share this
with you darling’
The discovery of Rebecca’s boat catalyses a
strange change in Maxim - an ardour that we have
not yet seen:
‘Will you look into my eyes and tell me that you
love me now’ (Chapter 19)
‘I was aware of no feeling at all, there was no
fear…this queer, cold absence of distress’
How far do we agree that the narrator is ‘a wooden
thing’ of no feeling?
‘I love you so much, so much’ This is what I have
wanted him to say every day and every night, I
thought, and now he is saying it at last. This is
what I imagined in Monte Carlo, in Italy, here in
Manderley. He is saying it now.’
The Narrator tells us ‘realisation flooded
me’ as Maxim turns cold. Select evidence
to support the view that Maxim is a
tortured character beset by pain.
LESSON NINETEEN
The Inquest - Chapter 22: Tab’s evidence:
Consider the quotations below.
‘there was nothing wrong with that boat’
‘it was hot, much too hot. Why didn’t they open a
window?...There were so many people’
‘she was deliberately scuttled’… ‘I must try and get out
of the door’
• How do the two speakers create a sense
of unbearable tension in this scene?
‘It is my duty to ask you a very painful question.
Were relations between you and the late Mrs de
Winter perfectly happy?’
How does the reaction of Mrs de Winter mirror
that of a famous character from Shakespeare?
‘They had to come of course, those black spots
in front of my eyes, dancing, flickering,
stabbing the hazy air, and it was hot, so hot,
with all these people, all these faces, and no
open window; the door, from being near to me,
was farther away than I had thought’
In what way does the end of Chapter 22 create
suspense, as we fear that Maxim will betray
himself?
Who claims the greatest
part of the reader’s
sympathy?
LESSON TWENTY
Life Together: Chapter 25
‘they were all forgotten at this moment, it was
ours, inviolate; a fraction of time suspended
between two seconds.’
‘the truth screamed in their faces and they did
not see’
• What ‘TRUTH’ concerning Rebecca’s
death is missed?
‘it’s too late, she can’t do anything to us
now….the harm is done. She can’t hurt us
anymore’
‘yes,’ he said, ‘yes, we must go on being
together’
‘tonight we want to be together’
When Mrs Danvers is used as gaoler to the de
Winters by Colonel Julyan before the visit to see
Dr Baker, how is the impression created that
both Maxim and the Narrator have no future?
‘I held out my arms to him and he came to me
like a child. I put my arms round him and held
him…I held him and comforted him just as if he
was Jasper’
Where is the irony in this moment?
Mrs Danvers
LESSON TWENTY ONE
Who is Mrs Danvers and why is she so
important?
Discuss why she is used in the novel and
what she represents.
AQA AS ENGLISH LITERATURE A
Context AO3 - 24% of the marks
Band 4 - ‘thorough understanding of the
significance of relevant contexts’
• Danvers’ position in Manderley was typical of the needs of the
gentry who, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
employed an array of servants to run their daily lives.
• Manderley had both indoor and outdoor servants. We see the
confusion in the Narrator who herself was unused to the old
aristocratic way of life. At one point in the narrative, she returns
to hide in her room when the maids are making her bed (Chapter
8: ‘when I opened the door, I found the housemaids in there’).
• She also lingers too long when Frith the long serving family
Butler and his Footman Robert come to clear the breakfast
table. Here she appears both ill-bred and provincial. (Chapter 8)
Mrs. Danvers (who, like the Narrator, is without a first name)
is the main antagonist of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel.
Nicknamed "Danny" by Rebecca, ‘Mrs. Danvers’ was
Rebecca's childhood maid. After the death of her beloved
Rebecca, Danvers is heart-broken. She persecutes the new
Mrs. de Winter; she appears to have developed the false idea
that the new Mistress of Manderley is seeking to "take
Rebecca's place" (despite knowing that the two were total
strangers and entirely opposite personalities). Resenting
Maxim for remarrying, Danvers aims to blight the marriage.
This is most notable in Chapter 16, when she suggests that the
new Mrs. de Winter wear the dress of Caroline de Winter to the
costume ball, knowing Rebecca wore it to the costume ball the
year before. Mr. de Winter is speechless with rage and a
serious wedge comes between him and the Narrator for some
time. When the Narrator finally confronts Danvers about her
deception, Danvers attempts to manipulate her into jumping
out of the second floor window in the final moments of
Chapter 18.
Fear, Jealousy and Loss
Mrs Danvers is a link between the living and the
dead…
• Can you perhaps imagine how she feels to have
lost the most significant person in her life?
• What are the emotions that du Maurier
explores via Danvers?
Make notes, with a partner, about how she feels
about Rebecca, Maxim and the Narrator?
“I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I
would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes
of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes
of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the
one, I will indulge the other.”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein
• Consider this quote. How is it relevant to
the novel Rebecca?
• Summarise your feelings and
findings about Danvers
• What is her emotional state when
the novel opens?
• Do you feel that she is comparable
to Frankenstein’s Monster in a
significant way?
LESSON TWENTY TWO
• Discuss where and why Danvers focuses
her hatred.
• Consider the quote below then answer
the question that follows:
‘Well…let me see Mrs Danvers; I hardly
know; I think that we had better have
what you usually have, whatever you think
Mrs de Winter would have ordered.’
• How does the Narrator humiliate herself
further?
Web of Lies
Danvers' devotion to Rebecca was not as
mutual as she believed it to be. Rebecca kept
secrets from Danvers, including both the
diagnosis of cancer and Maxim’s terrible
knowledge of her adulterous behaviour. Having
failed to break up the marriage, Danvers
disappears and soon after, Manderley is set on
fire. This fire is discovered on their return from a
trip to London and the de Winters watch
helplessly as their beloved home is consumed by
flames.
• What do you think may have happened to
Danvers?
Who was Rebecca closest
to and what was their
relationship?
How is it a blow for
Danvers to understand
this?
LESSON TWENTY THREE
• Can you recall Maxim’s vague and
apparently complimentary comment
about Danvers to preface their
arrival at Manderley?
• What is it? Why is it significant?
“an extraordinary character” (Maxim)
• Is this statement confirmed when the
Narrator first meets Mrs Danvers?
Consider the quote below.
‘I glanced up at her and once more met her eyes, dark
and sombre in that white face of hers instilling onto
me…a strange feeling of disquiet, of foreboding, I
found myself held by those eyes that held no light, no
flicker of sympathy…I could see she despised me’
‘tall and gaunt, dressed in deep black’ (Chapter 7)
‘prominent cheek-bones and great, hollow eyes [that]
gave her a skull's face, parchment-white, set on a
skeleton's frame’ (Chapter 7)
How is the Narrator
affected by Danvers?
LESSON TWENTY FOUR
“you tried to take Mrs de Winter’s place,” she
said. (Danvers: Chapter 18)
‘I would have been friends with you if you had
let me but you set yourself against me from the
first’
The Gothic Genre
"little patches of yellow beneath her ears" Chapter 14
• How is language and inference used here to
suggest the repugnance of Danvers?
• As you work, think about the description below
from Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’. Are there
are any intentional similarities
His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his
features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow
skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries
beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing;
his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances
only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes,
that seemed almost of the same colour as the dunwhite sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled
complexion and straight black lips.
• How important is the
Gothic element to our
understanding of Danvers
and her obsession with
Rebecca?
LESSON TWENTY FIVE
AQA AS ENGLISH LITERATURE A
A04 Text connections
- 12% of the marks
Band 4- ‘logical and consistent exploration of
connections across Literary texts’
We have already made a link to Mary Shelley’s
‘Frankenstein’, however the most significant link is
to Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre. There are
similarities between Danvers and the kind Mrs
Fairfax of Jane Eyre, the Housekeeper of
Thornfield. They both oversee and control daily life,
however Fairfax and Danvers are entirely different
characters.
Read the extract from Jane Eyre below. Here Jane meets Mrs Fairfax.
A snug small room; a round table by a cheerful fire; an arm-chair high-backed and oldfashioned, wherein sat the neatest imaginable little elderly lady, in widow’s cap, black silk
gown, and snowy muslin apron; exactly like what I had fancied Mrs. Fairfax, only less stately
and milder looking. She was occupied in knitting; a large cat sat demurely at her feet; nothing
in short was wanting to complete the beau-ideal of domestic comfort. A more reassuring
introduction for a new governess could scarcely be conceived; there was no grandeur to
overwhelm, no stateliness to embarrass; and then, as I entered, the old lady got up and
promptly and kindly came forward to meet me.
“How do you do, my dear? I am afraid you have had a tedious ride; John drives so slowly; you
must be cold, come to the fire.”
“Mrs. Fairfax, I suppose?” said I.
“Yes, you are right: do sit down.”
She conducted me to her own chair, and then began to remove my shawl and untie my bonnetstrings; I begged she would not give herself so much trouble.
“Oh, it is no trouble; I dare say your own hands are almost numbed with cold. Leah, make a
little hot negus and cut a sandwich or two: here are the keys of the storeroom.”
And she produced from her pocket a most housewifely bunch of keys, and delivered them to
the servant.
“Now, then, draw nearer to the fire,” she continued. “You’ve brought your luggage with you,
haven’t you, my dear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’ll see it carried into your room,” she said, and bustled out.
•
Now create a comparative PQE paragraph comparing Mrs Danvers
and Mrs Fairfax. (A01/2/3)
Jane Eyre – Mr. Brocklehurst- The Superintendent of
Lowood School ‘A Charitable Institution for Girls’
In Jane Eyre the description of Mr Brocklehurst in Chapters 4 & 7 is
particularly damning and important in terms of both plot, context and
authorial message (A02, A03). He is described by Bronte as:
‘a black pillar!—such, at least, appeared to me, at first
sight, the straight, narrow, sable-clad shape standing
erect on the rug: the grim face at the top was like a
carved mask, placed above the shaft by way of capital.’
‘gaunt outline…I glanced sideways at this piece of
architecture. Yes, I was right: it was Mr. Brocklehurst,
buttoned up in a surtout, and looking longer, narrower,
and more rigid than ever’
• Analyse the quotes above and draw
comparisons with Danvers. (A02/3/4)
PLENARY
Is Danvers nothing more than a
bully?
LESSON TWENTY SIX
Danvers claims to have been Rebecca’s confidante, and true
friend. We understand that Danvers has been in Rebecca's
life since she was twelve. Danvers accompanied Rebecca to
Manderley as her personal maid and eventually, she rose
through the ranks to become head housekeeper and aide de
camp. After Rebecca's death, Danvers assumes total control
of the management of Manderley.
In Chapter 14 consider the extent of Mrs Danvers’ obsession
with Rebecca in the description of Rebecca’s room.
Page 185: ‘There are brushes and combs on the dressingtable, and powder. The bed was made up, I saw the gleam
of white linen”
“there are flowers on the dressing-table and on the table
beside the bed… a satin dressing-gown lay in a chair and a
pair of bedroom slippers beneath.”
Obsession- Analysis of the text in Chapter 14 (A02)
“no, it was not used. It was not lived in any more. Even
the flowers could not destroy the musty smell. The
curtains were drawn and the shutters closed. Rebecca
would never come back to the room again. Even if Mrs
Danvers did put the flowers on the mantelpiece and the
sheets upon the bed, they would not bring her back.
She was dead.”
‘Even if’ implies the absurdity of Mrs Danvers’ actions;
her sense of loss and her traumatic state lead her to
the willing suspension of reality. This is rather ironic; as
the actual mistress of Manderley uncovers her weakest
spot but fails to understand how to recognise it or use
it. The flowers symbolise life, but in their ultimate
fragility also represent death - the death of Mrs
Danvers’ hope and her fake reality.
• Consider how the façade is not easy for
Danvers to maintain.
“I picked up the slippers and held them in my hand. I
was aware of a growing sense of horror, of horror
turning to despair.“
“The nightdress was inside the case, thin as gossamer,
apricot in colour. I touched it, took it out of the case,
put it against my face. It was cold, quite cold. But there
was a dim mustiness about it still where the scent has
been”
Thematic Exploration (A01/2)
• Consider the use of fear in the first half of the
novel. How does du Maurier present fear to the
reader? (25 marks)
• Use the following slides to help you…
“It was cold, quite cold” (AO2)
• The nightdress is both cold and musty - just as
Mrs Danvers clings to these possessions they
betray her by their physical condition.
Interestingly enough Mrs Danvers does not
attempt to preserve the Beach Cottage - here
both decay and neglect are very clear. Perhaps
du Maurier does this on purpose to convey a
sense of both fear and hopelessness; to
ridicule Mrs Danvers’ desperate attempts to
maintain a false reality. Just as Aunt Reed
cannot accept the debaucheries of her son, or
accept reality in Jane Eyre, so it is with Mrs
Danvers.
HOW IS FEAR PRESENTED?
I saw Mrs Danvers. I shall never forget the expression on her face.
Triumphant, gloating, excited in a strange unhealthy way. I felt very
frightened…She smiled, and her manner, instead of being still and
unbending as it usually was, became startlingly familiar, fawning even.”
“now you are here, let me show you everything… her voice ingratiating
and sweet as honey, horrible, false,”
“here is her night dress in its case. You’ve been touching it haven’t you?
This was the night dress she was wearing for the last time, before she
died. Would you like to touch it again?” “I haven’t washed it since she
wore it for the last time. I put it out like this, and the dressing gown and
slippers”
“I did everything for her”
‘she forced the slippers over my hands, smiling all the while, watching
my eyes. “You never would have thought she was so tall, would you?
Those slippers would fit a tiny foot. She was so slim too.”’
“You’ve seen her brushes, haven’t you?” She said, taking me to the
dressing table; there they are just as she used them, unwashed and
untouched. I used to brush her hair for her every evening.”
• Analyse how du Maurier uses language here to
create a sense of horror.
LESSON TWENTY SEVEN
Chapter 21- Comparing Characters across texts.
Read this extract from Jane Eyre
“John does not at all resemble his father, and I am glad of
it: John is like me and like my brothers — he is quite a
Gibson. Oh, I wish he would cease tormenting me with
letters for money. I have no more money to give him: we are
getting poor. I must send away half the servants and shut
up part of the house; or let it off. I can never submit to do
that — yet how are we to get on? Two-thirds of my income
goes in paying the interest of mortgages. John gambles
dreadfully, and always loses — poor boy! He is beset by
sharpers: John is sunk and degraded — his look is frightful
— I feel ashamed for him when I see him.”
• Mrs Reed fears the idea of death but more, the terror of
shame and gossip. Why is this so? Does this character
compare with any in Rebecca? Explain your answer.
Consider how language implies a twist in the
positioning of power between Mrs Danvers and
the Narrator. How is it that the Narrator assumes
a degree of dominance at last?
‘Her eyes were red and swollen with crying’
‘She kept talking with her head turned from me’
(Chapter 18)
In Chapter 18 the Narrator gains a certain
power and loses her fear of Mrs Danvers; can
you explain why? Why does the narrator now
have power?
LESSON TWENTY EIGHT
Remind yourself of how we first see Danvers in Chapter 7:
Find a suitable quotation to analyse - for example:
‘someone advanced from the sea of faces, someone tall
and gaunt, dressed in deep black, whose prominent cheekbones and great, hollow eyes gave her a skull’s face,
parchment-white’
Now consider this from Chapter 18:
‘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.’
The aftermath of the costume ball
‘I had not expected to find her so. I had pictured her
smiling as she had smiled last night, cruel and evil.
Now she was none of these things, she was an old
woman who was ill and tired’. (Chapter 18)
‘When she took my hand, hers were limp and heavy,
deathly cold and it lay in mine like a lifeless thing.’
Consider the transformation in Danvers. How is
there a stark contrast between Chapter 7 and 18?
‘I shall never forget the expression on her face,
loathsome, triumphant, smiling at me.’
How and why does this contrast with the final
words about Danvers, at the end Chapter 16?
Select evidence from Chapters 16 & 18.
LESSON TWENTY NINE
Further Links
Chapter 7 ‘Run along and make friends with Mrs Danvers’
‘A black figure stood waiting for me at the stairs, the hollow
eyes watching me intently from the white skull’s face’
‘once more I met her eyes, dark and sombre, in that white
face of hers, instilling into me, I knew not why, a strange
feeling of disquiet, of foreboding’
‘I had the impression she was feeling her way, as if into my
mind, and watching for the effect upon my face’
How are we reminded of both horror and
fairy tale genres here?
• At the end of Chapter 18, Danvers having lost
all power, now reminds us of Miss Havisham
when her revenge is done:
‘Mrs Danvers drew back from the window. Her face was
expressionless once more, the cold white mask that I
knew.’ (Chapter 19)
‘She kept talking with her head turned from me’
(Chapter 18)
• When she fails to entice the Narrator to jump to
her death from Rebecca’s bedroom window,
Danvers collapses back into the creature
behind the mask. The ‘cold, white mask’
implies hatred, but what else? Research her
further acts before the novel reaches a climax.
PLENARY
Can anyone be Danvers’ friend?
Themes
Love and Longing
“I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first
love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too, whatever the
poets may say.” (Chapter 5)
“I was to marry the man I loved. I was to be Mrs de
Winter.” (Chapter 6)
“Her eyes were red and swollen with crying.” (Chapter
18)
“For the first time he is telling me he loves me.”
(Chapter 21)
“Maxim put his arms round me and lifted me against
him.” (Chapter 25)
Jealousy
‘of course she’s insanely jealous. I was afraid she
would be’
‘There’s no need to be frightened of her,’ said Beatrice
‘and don’t let her see it whatever you do.’ ( Chapter 9)
“the real Mrs de Winter, lying dead and cold and
forgotten in the church crypt. If he suffers then he
deserves to suffer, marrying a young girl like you not ten
months afterwards. Well, he's paying for it now, isn't
he? I've seen his face, I've seen his eyes. He's made
his own hell” (Mrs Danvers: Chapter 19)
Where else can we see jealousy
in Rebecca?
Madness
‘once more I met her eyes, dark and sombre, in that white face of
hers, instilling into me, I knew not why, a strange feeling of
disquiet, of foreboding.’
‘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’
‘Mrs Danvers drew back from the window. Her face was
expressionless once more, the cold white mask that I knew.’
(Chapter 19)
How and why is the character of Danvers
mad? Which other literary character does
she remind you of?
Social Class
‘was young and shy. I hated my life with Mrs Van
Hopper, but she paid me a little money to be her
companion. I was not exactly a servant and certainly
not a friend.’ (Chapter 4)
‘“To hell with this,” he said suddenly, as though angry,
as though bored, and he pulled me beside him, and put
his arm around my shoulder…’ (Chapter 5)
‘The gulf between us had been bridged after all. I was
to call him Maxim.’ (Chapter 6)
“Well…let me see Mrs Danvers; I hardly know; I think
that we had better have what you usually have,
whatever you think Mrs de Winter would have ordered.”
Chapter 10
How is social class evident in these quotations?
Manderley- a house bewitched
‘Oh, God, what a fool I was to come back.’
‘Little things, meaningless and stupid in themselves,
but they were there for me to see, for me to hear, for me
to feel. Dear God, I did not want to think about
Rebecca. I wanted to be happy, to make Maxim happy,
and I wanted us to be together. There was no other wish
in my heart but that.’
‘I could not help it if she came to me in thoughts, in
dreams. I could not help it if I felt like a guest in
Manderley, my home, walking where she had trodden,
resting where she had lain.’
How important is the unseen power of Manderley?
COMPARATIVE ESSAY QUESTION
SUITABLE FOR ENGLISH LITERATURE
AS LEVEL AQA (A)
CONSIDER the experience of love in
Rebecca and Jane Eyre
• Who are the two main characters that
may feel that love is a burden in Rebecca
and Jane Eyre?
• How does the nature of the love they feel
differ? How is this conveyed through the
way they behave, the way they speak and
the language that is used?
Research the following chapters:
• From Rebecca, Analyse Chapters 4,5,6
and 7 for the Narrator and/or Maxim and
then Chapters 14 and 18 for Mrs Danvers
• From Jane Eyre, consider the portrayal of
Jane and Rochester in Chapter 14 and
15, Chapters 17 and 18 for Jane, and for
the marriage agreement Chapter 23. For
the wedding day and its consequences
see Chapters 26-8
Consider the emotion of jealousy and how it is
portrayed in the novels Rebecca and Jane Eyre.
Jealousy is often considered an ‘ugly’ emotion as its
effects are often physically identifiable.
How do both novels portray jealousy for their
protagonists?
When is the Narrator affected by feelings of jealousy
for Rebecca?
Is Jane affected by this emotion?
Refer to:
Rebecca - the Narrator - end of Chapters 4 and 8;
Chapter 9 and 11
Jane Eyre – Chapter 16 – taking pen and pencils to
sketch herself and ‘her rival’ and Chapter 18
Consider how deception is revealed in the
novels of Rebecca and Jane Eyre.
Do Maxim and Rochester have secrets?
Do the novels explore the suffering that these secrets
keep, offering an important moral message to
readers?
Consider the role that jealousy plays and where its
effect is most keenly felt:
Refer to:
Rebecca- Chapter 10 - the first secret from the
cottage; Chapters 19-20 for Rebecca’s death and the
details of Max’s involvement; Favell’s secret: Chapter
23
Jane Eyre: for the secret tenant - Chapters 15-16;
Chapters 20 and 26
Over To You
Now attempt the essay question.
Good Luck!