Although publicised at the time as a Gothic romance, Rebecca, the best-selling novel by Daphne du Maurier, is a melodramatic story of unhealthy relationships in which married women feel isolated and inadequate in their roles. Du Maurier was bisexual and spoke of feeling trapped in a woman’s body; this is explored in her book in the relationship between its two female characters, the anonymous narrator and her deceased rival Rebecca.
MANDERLEY
The narrator and protagonist is a timid young woman who impulsively marries Maximilian de Winter, a handsome and wealthy older widower who she meets on holiday in Monte Carlo. The Rebecca of the title is Maxim’s first wife, who died in a boating accident the year before. Her presence, however, is still very much felt, as the new Mrs. de Winter discovers upon arriving at her new home on the Cornish coast: a grand country house with a wild and wonderful garden called Manderley. The book begins with a well-known opening sentence thanks in part to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film of the novel:
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and chain upon the gate.”
- “La notte scorsa ho sognato che ritornavo a Manderley. Da quel che ricordo ero di fronte al cancello di ferro che porta al viale d’ingresso e non riuscivo ad entrare perché il passaggio era sbarrato. C’era un lucchetto e una catena che chiudeva il cancello”.
AN OUTSIDER
This dreamed opening places us at the end of the novel, where Mr. and Mrs. de Winter are in exile and she recalls the events of the recent past. She remembers meeting the staff at Manderley for the first time, especially the sour housekeeper Mrs. Danvers.
“Someone advanced from the sea of faces, somebody tall and gaunt, dressed in deep black, whose prominent cheek-bones and great, hollow eyes gave her a skull’s face, parchment white, set on a skeleton’s frame [...] when she took my hand hers was limp and heavy, deathly cold and it lay in mine like a lifeless thing.”
- “Da quel mare di volti ne emerse uno, quello di una donna alta e ossuta, vestita di nero, che aveva gli zigomi pronunciati e gli occhi infossati, sembravano quelli di un teschio, bianco come la cartapecora, posto su uno scheletro. [...] ma la mano che afferrò la mia era molle e pesante, fredda come la morte. Si appoggiò sulla mia come un oggetto inanimato”.
THE OTHER WOMAN
Mrs. Danvers constantly brings up Rebecca in a way that makes the second Mrs. de Winter feel like an intruder in a house that is the manifestation of Rebecca’s feminine virtues. Rebecca’s initials are on the house stationery and embroidered on handkerchiefs. Even Rebecca’s beautiful room, overlooking the sea, has been preserved exactly as she left it.
“I was sitting in Rebecca’s chair, I was leaning against Rebecca’s cushion, and the dog had come to me and laid his head upon my knee because that had been his custom, and he remembered, in the past, she had given sugar to him there.”
- “Ero seduta sulla poltrona di Rebecca, ero appoggiata ai cuscini di Rebecca e il cane era venuto e aveva appoggiato il muso sul mio ginocchio, com’era solito fare, e si ricordò che in passato lei gli aveva dato uno zuccherino”.
THE COSTUME BALL
Fortunately, the narrator has allies: Maxim’s sister Beatriz and her husband Giles, and Frank, who works on the estate, are all kind to her. With their encouragement, she decides to have a costume ball at Manderley. Maxim agrees and even Mrs. Danvers seems enthusiastic, suggesting that the protagonist wear a copy of a beautiful dress from a painting. The night of the ball comes and the narrator appears at the top of the stairs wearing the dress. But her excitement fades when she sees the look of horror on Maxim’s face:
“Maxim had not moved. He stared up at me, his glass in his hand. There was no colour in his face. It was ashen white... I hesitated, one foot already on the stairs. Something was wrong, they had not understood. Why was Maxim looking like that?”
- “Maxim non si era mossa. Lui mi fissò, aveva un bicchiere in mano. Il suo viso era pallido, bianco come il latte... Esitai, rimasi con un piede sulle scale. Qualcosa è andato storto, non hanno capito. Perché Maxim aveva quello sguardo?”.
DON’T BE AFRAID
Maxim shouts at his wife, who runs to her room; Beatriz finds her there and tells her that Rebecca wore the same dress in her last costume ball. Humiliated, the protagonist is obsessively drawn to Rebecca’s room again, where Mrs. Danvers tries to convince her to jump from the window.
“The pain would be sharp and sudden as she said. The fall would break my neck. It would not be slow, like drowning. It would soon be over. And Maxim did not love me. Maxim wanted to be alone again, with Rebecca. ‘Go on,’ whispered Mrs. Danvers. ‘Go on, don’t be afraid.’”
- “Il dolore sarebbe stato acuto e improvviso, come aveva detto lei. La caduta mi avrebbe spezzato il collo. Non sarebbe stata un’agonia, come quando si annega. Sarebbe finita presto. E Maxim non mi amava. Maxim voleva stare di nuovo solo con Rebecca. «Su», sospirò la signora Danvers. «Forza, non aver paura».
REVELATION
Mrs. de Winter is saved by the sound of shouting nearby. A ship has run ashore and has become stuck there. While everyone on board is saved, its recovery reveals the wreck of Rebecca’s sailing boat with her decomposed body locked inside it – a body with a bullet hole in it! This revelation leads to a confession from Maxim: he murdered his wife because of her cruelty towards him. Rebecca, he says, was a smooth operator who fooled everyone. Mrs. de Winter’s shock is accompanied by joy: Maxim loves her after all! And fortunately for Maxim, it also emerges that Rebecca had a terminal illness and probably ‘manipulated’ Maxim into a mercy killing. One last tragedy occurs, however, when Manderley goes up in flames, driving the couple into exile.
ADAPTATIONS
It is a disturbing ending, especially by today’s standards! Subsequent authors have been fascinated by the character of Rebecca and her unorthodox ways: Susan Hill wrote a sequel called Mrs. de Winter in 1993, followed by Sally Beauman’s Rebecca’s Tale in 2001. Rebecca has been adapted many times for stage and screen, including a 1939 play by du Maurier herself, and Hitchcock’s Oscar-winning film, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.