Daphne du Maurier always said her novel Rebecca was a study in jealousy - Telegraph Books Daphne du Maurier always said her novel Rebecca was a study in jealousy Seventy-five years after Daphne du Maurier published 'Rebecca’, her son tells Christian House how the author’s own torrid life inspired this enduring story The seed of the Rebecca story lay in Daphne du Maurier's jealousy of her husband's first fiancee Photo: REX By Christian House Comments 'Very roughly, the book will be about the influence of a first wife on a second,” wrote Daphne du Maurier in her notes. “Until wife 2 is haunted day and night… a tragedy is looming very close and crash! Bang! Something happens.” Seventy-five years ago this month, Rebecca was published, and readers flooded bookshops to discover the dark nature of that “something”. The novel was to be du Maurier’s masterpiece and a classic of 20th-century fiction that continues to enthral today.

“It goes on and it goes on,” says Kits Browning, du Maurier’s son, leaning back in his sofa at Ferryside, the house in Fowey, in Cornwall, that has been in the du Maurier family since the Twenties. “It’s the old cliché. It’s a bloody good story. And it still sells more than any of her other books.” An impressive 4,000 a month, by the reckoning of its publishers Virago, and it has never been out of print. A film-maker and photographer by profession, Browning first read it “more in visual terms” but has re-read it many times, and “I always find different things about it”. With his matinee-idol wave of hair and yacht-club bonhomie, at 72, Browning retains a jovial manner. Ferryside, perched on the Fowey estuary, was once part of a boatyard, and as we discuss the legacy of Rebecca, boat horns and the scream of gulls echo in from the water.

Related Articles Growing up in the house that inspired 'Rebecca' 26 Apr 2013 It was to this house that Daphne du Maurier returned in 1937 from Egypt, where her husband, Major Tommy “Boy” Browning, commanding officer of the Second Battalion, Grenadier Guards, was stationed in Alexandria. It was in Egypt that she had sketched out the story of Rebecca; in Ferryside, she got down to serious writing, surrounded by the squalls and sails that feature in the doom-laden narrative. The novel’s nameless young narrator is perplexed by her volatile new husband, Maxim de Winter, the rich owner of the grand Cornish estate, Manderley. Maxim is the kind of charmer who proposes by snapping: “I’m asking you to marry me, you little fool.” His first wife, the glorious but perhaps malevolent Rebecca, drowned in a sailing accident, but her spirit remains, infused in the masonry of Manderley and the seething glare of its housekeeper, Mrs Danvers. In August 1938, Rebecca caught the zeitgeist, drawing on the glamour of country society and the feeling of impending catastrophe that permeated the pre-war years.

Put coarsely, it is a novel about a dead woman and a house. Both of which were drawn from the author’s life. “Mum used to get fed up talking about it,” says Browning. “She did get so irritated with people calling it a romantic novel. Because she always said it was a study in jealousy.” The seed of the story lay in du Maurier’s jealousy of Jan Ricardo, the first fiancée of her husband. “I know that she came across one or two letters or cards, fairly sort of harmless things, where Jan did sign 'Jan Ricardo’ with this wonderful great R,” says Browning, flourishing his hand in the air. It is a portentous curlicue that is emulated in the book. “The name Rebecca,” wrote du Maurier, “stood out black and strong, the tall and sloping R dwarfing the other letters.” Ricardo later threw herself under a train, although not, Browning says, due to his parents’ marriage. Still, it is said that Daphne was haunted by the suspicion that her husband remained attracted to Ricardo.

Manderley was based on Milton Hall in Cambridgeshire, which du Maurier visited in her youth, but she placed it in the setting of Menabilly, the home she leased, hidden away in the woods by the Gribbin Head outside Fowey, and where the family moved after Ferryside. “She always had this thing that places were more important than people,” explains Browning; and, indeed, while she was in Egypt, she had confessed to missing the then-abandoned house of Menabilly more than her two children (Kits had yet to be born). It was at Milton Hall that she conceived of Mrs Danvers. “She saw this tall, dark housekeeper woman. They were always called Mrs, even if they weren’t married, like Mrs Hudson in Sherlock Holmes,” says Browning. “That’s where she first saw this terribly sinister-looking lady. I don’t think she ever spoke to her, it was just a look that sunk in.” Manderley, like Hogwarts and Brideshead, is a name fixed in our imagination. Yet the anonymity of the novel’s narrator continues to intrigue. “She couldn’t think what to call her and so she didn’t call her anything.

And then it became a challenge: could she actually write the whole thing without it,” says Browning. “Funnily enough, in the Hitchcock film, in the script she is written as 'I’, but they all called her 'Daphne’ on the shoot.” Both Mrs de Winters were drawn from du Maurier’s own character. “I always identified Mum with the second, rather timid one,” says Browning. “It was totally split, because she was just as good as Rebecca at the sailing and all that toughness.” And what about Rebecca’s cruel streak; did she possess that? “No. But, there again, who says it was cruelty? It’s Maxim’s version, isn’t it? There’s so much in that book, you know. Was he lying? Why is it that everybody else thought the sun shone out of her a---? There’s never a bad word about Rebecca except from Max. That’s why it runs and runs.” Laurence Olivier immortalised the moody figure of Maxim in Alfred Hitchcock’s Oscar-winning 1940 film. “Mum loved it.

She thought it was great.” Olivier had originally wanted to play opposite Vivien Leigh, “but it would be ridiculous because if Vivien Leigh played the second Mrs de Winter, she’d have fired Mrs Danvers on the first morning,” chuckles Browning. Instead, Joan Fontaine excelled as the naïve innocent caught in Mrs Danvers’s sights. Born in London in 1907, into a wealthy family, Daphne was the second of three daughters. A tomboy – and her actor father’s favourite – she preferred visiting Ferryside, the family’s remote holiday home, to participating in London society. She married the charismatic Boy Browning, who later became Prince Philip’s treasurer, after a three-month courtship when she was 25 and he 35. One of the du Maurier sisters had first spotted the handsome Browning sailing his boat in Fowey harbour; he had actually set out there after reading du Maurier’s first novel, The Loving Spirit, falling in love with her graphic descriptions of the Cornish coastline. Their marriage was stable, despite infidelities on both sides, and they went on to have three children: Tessa, Flavia and Christian (known as “Kits”).

It was quite clear that Kits was her favourite, and she doted on him. Biographers have described her as an aloof mother, especially towards her daughters, and nannies and housekeepers were employed to occupy them as she wrote. Du Maurier has also been described as something of a recluse, shunning publicity and social invitations. Yet Kits remembers her as being funny and warm. “As a mother and as a grandmother to our kids, she was the most wonderful and easy-going person, who’d join in and play cricket or football with the kids and all that. She wasn’t at all aloof. But she was very fond of her privacy.” The novel has repeatedly been adapted for stage and screen, with du Maurier herself writing the first theatrical treatment. As his mother’s literary executor following her death in 1989, Browning has been pivotal in their promotion. “Since the original film, I’ve been involved in so many touring plays of it,” with a range of actors playing Maxim. “Simon Williams. He was so good. And Nigel Havers, of course. The production they did three or four years ago did fantastically well.

He does bring ’em in.” Her estate, he admits, has a responsibility to the reputation of the book. Two well-received incidental novels have been authorised – Susan Hill’s Mrs de Winter and Sally Beauman’s Rebecca’s Tale. And one of Browning’s three sons, Ned, has designed a collection of Swiss-made du Maurier watches – the Maxim for men, the Rebecca for ladies – following the lead of his dapper great-grandfather, the thespian Gerald du Maurier, who launched a brand of du Maurier cork-tipped cigarettes. There has even been Rebecca: The Musical, which had a three-year run in Vienna before moving to Japan, Germany, South Korea and Sweden. “It is absolutely fantastic as a spectacle. Almost as Mrs Danvers comes to the top of the stairs, there’s a sort of 'boo’. It’s like pantomime,” says Browning. What, I wonder, might his mother have made of it? “I think she’d be delighted. It’s a very gothic version.” So what’s next for this classic? Well, Browning announces, “we’re coming full circle with it because we’re just about to sign an option for a remake. Cinema.

Big cinema.” Colin Firth is the only leading man he can think of for Maxim. And Mrs Danvers? “Doing fantasy trip, you’ve got to have a Meryl Streep. Or Glenn Close, she’d be good.” And will the Thirties setting remain? Browning pauses to consider a modern take. “You can’t really set it today. You wouldn’t have butlers today, would you? Unless you’re a footballer. Wayne Rooney, you rang m’lord?” Browning buckles over with laughter, drowning out the gulls. “No, you couldn’t do it like that.” SparkNotes: Rebecca: Summary SparkNotes Context Characters Rebecca's narrative takes the form of a flashback. The heroine, who remains nameless, lives in Europe with her husband, Maxim de Winter, traveling from hotel to hotel, harboring memories of a beautiful home called Manderley, which, we learn, has been destroyed by fire. The story begins with her memories of how she and Maxim first met, in Monte Carlo, years before. In her flashback, the heroine is working as the young traveling companion to a wealthy American named Mrs. Van Hopper.

In her flashback, Maxim is staying at the same hotel as the heroine and her employer, and after knowing the heroine for only a few weeks, he proposes marriage. She accepts, and he marries her and takes her back to his ancestral estate of Manderley. But a dark cloud hangs over their marriage: Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, drowned in a cove near Manderley the previous year, and her ghost haunts the newlyweds' home. Rebecca's devoted housekeeper, the sinister Mrs. Danvers, is still in charge of Manderley, and she frightens and intimidates her new mistress. Despite the encouragement of the house overseer, Frank Crawley, and Maxim's sister, Beatrice, the heroine struggles in her new life at Manderley. She feels that she can never compare favorably to Rebecca, who was beautiful, talented, and brilliant--or so everyone says--and soon she feels that Maxim is still in love with his dead wife. 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. But the ball ends in disaster: on Mrs.

Danvers's suggestion she wears a costume that, it turns out, is the same dress that Rebecca wore at the last ball. Upon seeing the heroine, Maxim is horrified, and the heroine becomes convinced that he will never love her, that he is still devoted to Rebecca. The following day, Mrs. Danvers almost convinces her to kill herself, and she only breaks away from the old woman's spell when rockets go off over the cove, signaling that a ship has run aground. When divers swim near the grounded ship, they find the wreckage of Rebecca's sailboat, with Rebecca's dead body in the hold. This discovery prompts Maxim to tell the heroine the truth: Rebecca was a malevolent, wicked woman, who lived a secret life and carried on multiple affairs, including one with her cousin, Jack Favell. On the night of her death, Maxim had demanded a divorce, and she had refused, and told him that she was pregnant with Favell's child. Furious, he seized a gun and shot her, and then sailed out to the harbor in Rebecca's boat and sank it, with the body stowed safely inside. This revelation restores the heroine's marriage, and enables her to finally shake off the burden of Rebecca's ghost.

Meanwhile, however, the noose of justice tightens around Maxim: first, it is found that holes have been drilled in the bottom of Rebecca's boat; luckily the coroner delivers a report of suicide, rather than murder. But soon Rebecca's cousin Favell, certain that Rebecca did not kill herself, accuses Maxim of the crime. The local magistrate, Colonel Julyan, investigates, and finds that on the day of her death, Rebecca went up to London to see a Doctor Baker. Favell, Maxim, and the heroine accompany Julyan to London; the heroine is certain that Baker will reveal that Rebecca was pregnant, thus revealing Maxim's vengeful motive for murder. But instead, it turns out that Rebecca was dying of cancer, and that furthermore she was infertile; she had lied to Maxim about her pregnancy. Her terminal illness now supplies a motive for Rebecca's supposed suicide, and Maxim is saved. He and the heroine drive all night back to Manderley, stopping only once, when Maxim calls home and learns that Mrs. Danvers has disappeared. As they crest the ridge near the mansion, they look down and find it in flames.

More Help Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - Paperback Author Info About the Book With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca. This special edition of Rebecca includes excerpts from Daphne du Maurier's The Rebecca Notebook and Other Memories, an essay on the real Manderley, du Maurier's original epilogue to the book, and more.

Trimsize: 5.313 in (w) x 8 in (h) x 0.937 in (d) Pages: 416 Daphne du Maurier Please see disclaimer Review of Rebecca - Ann Willmore When Daphne du Maurier was a child she went to stay at a house called Milton, near Peterborough. It was a huge house and very grand with a vast entrance hall, many rooms and a commanding housekeeper. This was a house with numerous staff, where even the children would be waited on at breakfast by the butler. Daphne liked the house, feeling at home there and held it in her memory. As a young adult Daphne discovered Menabilly, the home of the Rashleigh family, situated just outside Fowey in Cornwall. It was a large house hidden away down a long driveway with vast grounds surrounded by woodland and a pathway leading down to a cottage nestled beside the sea with two beaches sheltered in a little cove. Daphne would visit the house often, trespassing in the grounds. The house was empty and neglected but she loved it.

Much later Daphne was to live at Menabilly and do much of her writing there and her love for Menabilly was to last her a lifetime. It was a combination of these two houses that became Manderley, the house at the centre of Daphne du Mauriers novel Rebecca, which opens with the famous lines: ï¿½Last 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 meï¿½. Daphne started to write Rebecca in the late summer of 1937. Her husband, Tommy had been posted to Egypt as commanding officer of the 2nd battalion of the Grenadier Guards and she had left her two little girls Tessa and Flavia in England with their nanny while she accompanied him. This enforced separation from her beloved Cornwall must have caused Daphne to turn her thoughts to writing a novel set in that area and although she could not know it at the time, she was writing the book that was to become her most famous work.

The book was completed when Tommy was posted back to Aldershot and the family were reunited in a house called Greyfriars near Fleet in Hampshire. Victor Gollancz published Rebecca in April 1938. The central character of Rebecca is the second wife of Maxim de Winter. The novel begins with her reflecting on a dream she has had about Manderley and as she remembers her dream the story unfolds. The character is never named but she tells the story in the first person and is traditionally referred to as the narrator. The story begins in Monte Carlo where a rich American woman called Mrs Van Hopper is staying with her paid companion, the young and inexperienced narrator. Mrs Van Hopper discovers that Maxim de Winter is staying at the same hotel and is eager to meet him, as an air of mystery and sadness is said to surround him since the recent death of his wife Rebecca. To Mrs Van Hopperï¿½s delight she gets the opportunity to invite Maxim to join her and chatters away in her crass manner while he remains icily polite and the narrator remains quietly in the background. Mrs Van Hopper becomes indisposed and while she is confined to her room Maxim and the narrator get to know one another.

The narrator thinks Maxim is wonderful but his is twice her age and much more experienced in life than her and despite the fact that they go out together every day and spend a lot of time together she thinks Maxim is just being kind to her. When Mrs Van Hopper suddenly decides to leave Monte Carlo the narrator is distraught at the thought of never seeing Maxim again, but Maxim asks the narrator to marry him and she accepts. Mrs Van Hopper is very disparaging of their relationship and tells the narrator that Maxim is only marrying her because he is lonely and that he has not got over the death of Rebecca. Once married Maxim takes the narrator home to Manderley his country estate in Cornwall. As they motor down the long drive towards the house the narrator feels anxious at the prospect of what the future holds. Maxim and the narrators arrival is greeted by the entire staff of the house and estate and the narrator feels nervous as she is introduced to Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper. Mrs Danvers is a frightening looking woman with hollow eyes. On the first day at Manderley Maxims sister Beatrice, her husband Giles along with Maxims estate manager Frank Crawley come to lunch so that they can be introduced to Maxims new wife.

Beatrice is a very blunt and plain speaking woman and after lunch she tells the narrator that Mrs Danvers worshiped Rebecca. That afternoon, when the visitors have gone, Maxim takes the narrator and his dog Jasper for a walk through the grounds and down to the bay where there are two beaches. On the further beach is an old boathouse and Jasper runs to it with the narrator following but Maxim gets angry and calls them away, marring what had started as a happy afternoon. Once Maxim has calmed down he explains briefly that if the narrator had his memories of the boathouse and the beach and the bay she would not want to go there either. The narrator knows that Rebecca was drowned in a boating accident in the bay, and Maxim tells her that he identified her body when it was found about two months later, forty miles up the coast but Maxim is very upset and does not want to talk about it any more. A few days later the narrator approaches the subject of Rebecca with Frank Crawley who tells her that Rebecca was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Living at Manderley proves to be difficult for the narrator partly because there are reminders of Rebecca everywhere but also because she is unfamiliar with such grandeur.

She is unable to give instructions to the staff effectively and she finds Maxim distant once he is back at work running the estate with Frank. Mrs Danvers runs the household as she did when Rebecca was mistress and although faultless as a housekeeper she makes her contempt for the narrator obvious at every opportunity. It is clear that Rebecca loved the lifestyle that the narrator is struggling with. A few days later Maxim goes to London on business leaving the narrator at Manderley. While he is away a man called Jack Favell visits Mrs Danvers. He is introduced to the narrator as Rebeccaï¿½s cousin. Jack chats to the narrator in a rather over familiar manner but when he leaves he asks her not to mention the visit to Maxim. Maxim and the narrator have a suite of rooms in the East Wing of the house overlooking the rose garden but Rebecca and Maximï¿½s rooms were in the West Wing overlooking the sea. When Jack has gone the narrator ventures into the West Wing of the house to see what it is like. Mrs Danvers suddenly appears and offers to show the narrator Rebeccaï¿½s room. The room is just as it would have been when Rebecca was alive.

All her clothes are in the wardrobe, her hairbrushes are on the dressing table, even her nightdress is on the bed and everything is exquisitely beautiful. Mrs Danvers talks about Rebecca with loving devotion and describes the night that Rebecca went out sailing and never returned leaving Maxim distraught. The narrator is distressed by how powerfully Rebeccaï¿½s presence is felt in and around Manderley even though she has been dead for over a year. And how everyone seems to want to tell her how wonderful Rebecca was except Maxim who can hardly bear to mention Rebeccaï¿½s name. Traditionally a fancy dress ball is held at Manderley every year and it is agreed that the tradition should continue so that Maxim can show off his bride to the county. The narrator cannot make up her mind what to wear. Surprisingly Mrs Danvers steps in to help and suggests that she copies the costume from a painting of Caroline de Winter, one of Maximï¿½s ancestors. The narrator keeps her costume a secret and despite much teasing from Maxim, who suggests that she should dress as Alice in Wonderland, she will not be drawn into telling anyone except her maid.

On the evening of the ball the narratorï¿½s maid helps her to dress and transformed into Caroline de Winter she looks absolutely beautiful as she steps out of her bedroom and down the stairs to where Maxim, Beatrice, Giles and Frank are waiting. But as she steps forward a look of horror crosses all their faces and Maxim starts shouting at her. The narrator tries to explain that she has copied the painting, but by now Maxim is shaking with rage and tells her to go and get changed. The narrator turns and runs back to her room, tears filling her eyes and as she runs she sees Mrs Danvers standing in the shadows with a look of triumph on her evil face. Soon afterwards Beatrice comes to the narrators room. She explains that Maxim thought that the narrator had chosen the costume deliberately because it is identical to the costume Rebecca wore to her last ball. Later, when she has calmed down a little, the narrator changes into an ordinary evening gown and takes her place at Maximï¿½s side for the rest of the evening, but there is a tension between them and the narrator fears that she has lost Maxim completely. The next morning all thoughts of the ball have to be put to one side when a ship hits the rocks in the bay.

Maxim and Frank go to help and all the crew from the ship are rescued, but a diver is sent down to check the damage to the ships hull and while he is under water he discovers a little sailing boat on the seabed. Plans swing into place to raise the sailing boat and when it surfaces a body is discovered on the floor of the cabin that is later identified as Rebecca. The narrator has believed for a long time that Maximï¿½s love for Rebecca is what is causing him to be so distant with her and she is desperately worried at how Maxim will react to the discovery of Rebeccaï¿½s body. However she is not prepared for what he is about to tell her. Instead of being saddened by the sharp reminder of Rebeccaï¿½s death he is angry that her body has been found and finally he is ready to really talk to his young wife. He tells the narrator that he had never loved Rebecca and that they had lived a lie from the first, with her playing the part of the mistress of Manderley while she carried on numerous liaisons with other men, both at her flat in London and at Manderley.

She had tried to involve Giles and Frank but much of her time had been spent with Jack Favell, who she met at night in the boathouse. Maxim explained that he had gone along with her to maintain the pretence of a successful marriage to preserve the good name of Manderley, the home he loved, but eventually the situation had become unbearable and one night when Rebecca had returned from London and gone straight down to the boathouse, Maxim had taken his gun and followed her expecting to catch her with Jack Favell. Maxim had been surprised to find Rebecca alone, but she had taunted him saying that if she were pregnant he would not be sure who the father of her child was. This was too much for Maxim and he shot Rebecca, then carried her body out to her boat, which he took out to sea and sank by driving three holes into the bottom of the boat. No one had suspected anything and later Maxim had identified the body of a woman, though he knew it could not be Rebecca and his guilt at what he had done had been interpreted as grief by everyone. Although the situation is grave the narrator feels that she and Maxim can cope with anything now that she knows that Maxim did not love Rebecca.

An inquest takes place attended by Colonel Julyan, the local Justice of the Peace. Problems arise when William Tabb, the boat builder, says that Rebecca was an excellent sailor and that the boat would not have sunk but for the holes that had been deliberately driven through the bottom of it. However, there seems to be no motive for foul play and eventually a verdict of suicide is given. Later that evening Maxim and Frank bury Rebecca at a private funeral in the chapel on the Manderley estate. While they are out Jack Favell arrives a little worse for drink and demands to see Maxim. The narrator feels it is best to invite him in and they wait together for Maxim. When Maxim and Frank return Jack Favell says he has a letter that Rebecca wrote to him on the day she died, asking him to meet her at the boathouse that night. He claims that she could not have intended to commit suicide and says that if he makes it known that he has such a letter, it could make things difficult for Maxim. Jack Favell is not a rich man and this is clearly developing into an attempt at blackmail.

Maxim will have none of it and calls Jackï¿½s bluff by telephoning Colonel Julyan and asking him to come over. When Colonel Julyan arrives Jack shows him the letter and the discussion rapidly develops into a heated argument during which Jack says that Rebecca was his lover and that they were going to be married. He then goes a step further and actually accuses Maxim of murdering Rebecca. Colonel Julyan tries to calm the situation down and points out that there is no real proof that Jack and Rebecca were involved with one another. Jack insists that Mrs Danvers be summoned, but instead of supporting Jacks story she says that Rebecca did not love Maxim or Jack and just played with their affections to amuse herself. Colonel Julyan asks Mrs Danvers if she can think of a reason why Rebecca would have killed herself, but Mrs Danvers is emphatic that Rebecca would never have done such a thing. He then asks what Rebecca had been doing in London on the day she died. With the help of Rebeccaï¿½s appointments diary the group discover that Rebecca had made an appointment with a man called Baker.

This person is unknown to everyone, but there is a telephone number in the diary and Colonel Julyan rings the number and finds out that the number relates to a Dr Bakers consulting rooms. It is agreed that Maxim, the narrator, Colonel Julyan and Jack Favell will travel to London the next day and try to speak to Dr Baker in the hope that he can throw some light on what happened that day. Dr Baker certainly does have some answers for the group when they gather in his home the following day. He tells them that Rebecca had seen him on a previous occasion and he had taken X-rays and that she had returned on the day in question for the results. It was bad news and he had told her that she had an inoperable growth and that there was nothing he could do for her other than offer her painkillers. Maxim thanks Dr Baker and they all leave. Jack Favell looks grey and shaken, he had no idea about Rebecca and now there is a suicide motive he has lost his hold over Maxim. The small group part company and Maxim and the narrator go for a meal. They are free of Rebecca and can begin their life together at last. Later they set off on the long journey home to Cornwall.

They drive through the night and it is about two thirty in the morning as they approach Manderley and see the sky lighting up like the first red streaks of sunrise, little by little spreading across the sky. But this is not the sunrise it is flames and Manderley is burning. In the Christian Science Monitor, September 14th 1938 page 12, V S Pritchett reviewed Rebecca for the American public. He said that it had received fabulous reviews in England, reading almost like advertising copy. He then went on to say that it would be absurd to make a fuss about Rebecca, which would be here today and gone tomorrow like the rest of publicityï¿½s masterpieces. How wrong he was, Rebecca became the most famous of all Daphne du Maurierï¿½s novels and is still the one that she is best remembered for. Daphne could never understand its popularity saying that it was simply a study in jealousy. Rebecca has been variously described, firstly as an example of the Cinderella story but with the central character being helped from rags to riches by the older man who marries her rather than the more traditional help of a fairy godmother.

Rebecca has also been described as the first major gothic romance in the 20th century. It certainly contains all the elements of the great gothic novel and had often been compared to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, with the house so strongly influenced by the previous occupant, the brooding hero in the shape of Maxim, the mad woman in the shape of Mrs Danvers, the growing tension, and finally the house destroyed by fire. There is another school of thought that believes the Rebecca, Maxim, narrator triangle is a reproduction of the relationship between Daphne du Maurier and her father and mother or perhaps Daphne, her husband Tommy and his previous fiancï¿½e. The love that Daphne and her father Gerald had for one another is well documented, as is the less comfortable relationship that Daphne had with her mother. It has been suggested that the younger womanï¿½s struggle to feel secure in the older mans love because of the influence of the more sophisticated and successful Rebecca comes from the relationship Daphne had with her parents.

Another similar suggestion comes from the fact that Tommy had been engaged to a very beautiful and self-assured woman before he knew Daphne and although this relationship was called off, Daphne was consumed with jealousy and doubted that Tommy could love her as much as he had loved the other woman. It seems likely that this woman may well have been developed to create the character of Rebecca. Either way there can be little doubt that the nameless second Mrs de Winter is none other than Daphne du Maurier herself. Over the years many people have asked why the second Mrs de Winter does not have a name. Daphne du Maurierï¿½s reply to this was that she could not think of one and it became a challenge in technique to write the whole story without naming her. It proved to be a very effective way of making the character appear to be a lesser person than Rebecca, so that she is less confidant, less capable, less attractive to Maxim, not even a significant enough person to be named. In 1939 Daphne du Maurier adapted Rebecca for the stage and the play, like the novel, has retained its popularity ever since.

The story does leave one with lots of unanswered questions and there have been a number of attempts to write sequels to Rebecca. In 1993 Susan Hill wrote Mrs de Winter, which continues the story to quite a successful conclusion and in 2001 Sally Beauman wrote Rebeccaï¿½s Tale, which moves the story on twenty years and then looks back at what happened with interesting results and without spoiling any of the tension of the original novel. Undoubtedly the interest in Rebecca will continue for a long time to come.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Gollancz 1938, Doubleday 1938) Further reading: The Rebecca Notebooks by Daphne du Maurier (Doubleday 1980, Gollancz 1981) Daphne du Maurier by Margaret Forster (Chatto & Windus 1993) (Published in the US as Daphne du Maurier - The Secret World of the Renowned Storyteller (Doubleday 1993)) Daphne ï¿½A Portrait of Daphne du Maurier by Judith Cook (Bantam Press 1991) Daphne du Maurier by Richard Kelly (Twayne 1987) Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill (Sinclair Stevenson, London 1993, William Morrow & Co, New York 1993) Rebeccaï¿½s Tale by Sally Beauman (Little, Brown and Company 2001, William Morrow & Co, New York 2001). ï¿½ A. Willmore 2002.

Rebecca (1940) - IMDb IMDb 18 January 2017 5:37 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A self-conscious bride is tormented by the memory of her husband's dead first wife. Director: a list of 25 titles created 16 Jul 2011 a list of 45 titles created 16 Dec 2011 a list of 37 titles created 10 Mar 2013 a list of 21 titles created 07 Jul 2013 a list of 29 titles created 13 Sep 2014 Search for " Rebecca " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 10 nominations.

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Director: Frank Capra A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive. Director: Alfred Hitchcock While traveling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train. Director: Alfred Hitchcock A shy young heiress marries a charming gentleman, and soon begins to suspect he is planning to murder her. Director: Alfred Hitchcock 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring which is trying to steal top secret information. Director: Alfred Hitchcock An ingenue insinuates herself into the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends. Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Edit Storyline A shy ladies' companion, staying in Monte Carlo with her stuffy employer, meets the wealthy Maxim de Winter.

She and Max fall in love, marry and return to Manderley, his large country estate in Cornwall. Max is still troubled by the death of his first wife, Rebecca, in a boating accident the year before. The second Mrs. de Winter clashes with the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, and discovers that Rebecca still has a strange hold on everyone at Manderley. Written by Col Needham <col@imdb.com> See All (142) » Taglines: The shadow of a remembered woman came between their lips... but these two had the courage to hope... and to live their love! See more » Genres: 12 April 1940 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording) Color: Did You Know? Trivia Some of the exteriors at Manderley were filmed at Del Monte, California, while the beach scenes were filmed on Santa Catalina Island. See more » Goofs When the new Mrs. De Winter first enters the room to do her correspondence, there are three books on the table. An establishing shot shows that the book on the left is labeled "menus", and the one in the center is labeled "addresses". Mrs.

de Winter picks up the one on the left, and it is now revealed in a close-up to read "addresses" on the cover. See more » Quotes See more » Crazy Credits The original 1940 credits read "Selznick International presents its picturization of Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca'". The credits on the re-issue version read "The Selznick Studio presents its production of Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca'". See more » Connections Rebecca Summary - eNotes.com Rebecca Summary Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca Summary Following her marriage, the second Mrs. de Winter uncovers the mystery of her husband's first wife, Rebecca. Wracked with guilt, he finally confesses that Rebecca was terminally ill and goaded him into killing her. The second Mrs. de Winter's first name is never revealed. She's a meek woman who has recently married Maxim de Winter. She goes to live on his estate of Manderley. Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, hates Maxim and tries to turn the second Mrs. de Winter against him. Mrs.

Danvers convinces her new mistress to wear a fancy dress to a ball, but doesn't tell her that Rebecca wore the very same dress to her last ball. Maxim tells his wife everything: Rebecca was terminally ill with cancer, and she goaded him into killing her. He sailed out onto the ocean and sunk the ship with her body in it. This revelation paradoxically brings the couple closer together. Mrs. Danvers burns the house down in a last ditch attempt to destroy them. Download Study Guide Start Free Trial Start your free trial with eNotes to access more than 30,000 study guides. Get help with any book. link Link Rebecca is the novel that made Daphne du Maurier famous and that remains her best-known work. Rebecca has been called a modern Jane Eyre, and there are certainly striking similarities between the two novels. In each there is a shy, poor, and rather plain heroine who takes up residence in a grand country house. Once there she is terrorized by strange goings-on, falls in love with the master of the house (an older man), and lives to see the house burned to the ground by a deranged woman. The differences are few but important.

Du Maurier’s heroine is not a governess but the second wife of a man whose tempestuous first wife died under questionable circumstances. The new wife’s shyness is made more painful when she compares herself with the exotic Rebecca. In Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester’s first wife is alive but mad and stands in the way of his marrying Jane. In the du Maurier story, Rebecca is dead but her spirit haunts the halls of Manderley and puts a strain on the marriage between Maxim and his new wife. Throughout the novel the new wife is convinced that her husband is brooding over the death of Rebecca. This misconception is reinforced by Mrs. Danvers, the sinister housekeeper who keeps Rebecca’s boudoir exactly as it used to be. She does her best to poison the heroine’s mind, even to the point of encouraging her to jump from a high window. Maxim is distraught because the truth is that he killed Rebecca in a fit of rage, put her body in a boat, and scuttled the boat. The reader finds out later that Rebecca had deliberately goaded Maxim into killing her because she had just learned she had a terminal illness.

The tension between Maxim and his young wife eases once this cloud of secrecy is lifted. Meanwhile, Mrs. Danvers, sensing defeat but unwilling to surrender, sets fire to Manderley and perishes in the conflagration, just as the mad wife does near the end of Jane Eyre. Du Maurier said that not giving her heroine a name became a challenge to her in writing the novel. For readers it has remained the perfect way to suggest the heroine’s low self-esteem, especially since the story is told through her eyes. Above all, however, is du Maurier’s superb sense of atmosphere that, once established in the haunting opening lines, continues unflawed until the last chilling lines when the de Winters realize that the crimson glow in the sky is not the sunrise but Manderley in flames. Du Maurier’s obsession with Cornwall can be felt in every line, and it is this total sense of place that gives Rebecca its magic. Du Maurier began writing the novel when she was in Egypt with her husband while he was stationed there.

In an effort to shut out the stifling heat, the harsh light, and the teeming masses, she returned in her mind to Cornwall’s chill mists and stormy seas, its craggy promontories, and its windswept beaches. The result was a modern but ageless love story—with a twist. link Link Manderley is gone. Since the fire had destroyed their home, Mr. and Mrs. de Winter have lived in a secluded hotel away from England. Occasionally, Mrs. de Winter recalls the circumstances that had brought Manderley and Maxim de Winter into her life. A shy, sensitive orphan, Mrs. de Winter had been traveling about the Continent as companion to an overbearing American social climber, Mrs. Van Hopper. At Monte Carlo, Mrs. Van Hopper forced herself upon Maxim de Winter, owner of Manderley, one of the most famous estates in England. Before approaching him, Mrs. Van Hopper informed her companion that Mr. de Winter had been recovering from the shock of the tragic death of his wife, Rebecca, a few months previously. During the following days, the young woman and Mr. de Winter become well acquainted; when Mrs.

Van Hopper decides to return to America, Maxim de Winter unexpectedly proposes to her companion. Already deeply in love with him, the young woman accepts, and they are married shortly afterward. After a long honeymoon in Italy and southern France, Mr. and Mrs. de Winter return to Manderley. Mrs. de Winter is extremely nervous, fearing that she will not fit into the life of a great estate like Manderley. The entire staff gathers to meet the new mistress. Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who had been devoted to her former mistress, immediately begins to show her resentment toward the new Mrs. de Winter. Gradually, Mrs. de Winter pieces together the story of Rebecca. She learns that Rebecca had been a beautiful, vivacious woman and a charming host. As Mrs. de Winter becomes acquainted with the relatives and friends of her husband, she becomes convinced that they find her lacking in those qualities that had made Rebecca so attractive and gracious. One day, she goes secretly to the closed rooms Rebecca had occupied. Everything is as Rebecca had left it before her fatal sail in her boat. Mrs. Danvers suddenly appears and forces her to view Rebecca’s lovely clothes and other personal possessions.

When the bishop’s wife suggests that the traditional Manderley dress ball be revived, Mr. de Winter gives his consent. Mrs. de Winter announces her intention of surprising them all with her costume. At Mrs. Danvers’s suggestion, she plans to dress as an ancestor whose portrait hangs in the hall at Manderley; but as Mrs. de Winter descends the stairs that night, a silence falls over the guests, and her husband turns angrily away without speaking. Realizing that something is wrong, Mrs. de Winter returns to her room. Beatrice, Mr. de Winter’s sister, goes to her immediately and explains that Rebecca had worn the identical costume to her last fancy dress ball. Again, Mrs. Danvers has humiliated her new mistress. Although Mrs. de Winter reappears at the ball in a simple dress, her husband does not speak to her all evening. Her belief that he has never ceased to love Rebecca becomes firmly established in her mind. The next day, a steamer runs aground in the bay near Manderley. A diver is sent down to inspect the damaged steamer and discovers Rebecca’s boat and in its cabin the remains of a human body. Mr.

de Winter had previously identified the body of a woman found in the river as that of Rebecca. Unable to keep silent any longer, Mr. de Winter tells his wife the whole story of Rebecca and her death. The world had believed their marriage a happy one, but Rebecca was an immoral woman, incapable of love. To avoid the scandal of a divorce, they make a bargain: Rebecca is to be outwardly the fitting mistress of Manderley, but she would be allowed to go to London periodically to visit her dissolute friends. All goes well until she begins to be careless, inviting her friends to Manderley and receiving them in the boathouse. Then she begins to plague Frank Crawley, the estate manager of Manderley, and Giles, Mr. de Winter’s brother-in-law. After Frank and others had seen Rebecca’s cousin, Jack Favell, at the boathouse with her, gossip ensued. One evening, Mr. de Winter follows her to the boathouse to tell her that their marriage is at an end. Rebecca taunts him; she suggests how difficult it would be to prove his case against her, and asserts that should she have a child it would bear his name and inherit Manderley.

She assures him with a smile that she would be the perfect mother as she had been the perfect wife. She is still smiling when he shoots her. Then he puts her in the boat and sails out on the river. There he opens the seacocks, drills holes with a pike, and, leaving the boat to sink, rows back in the dinghy. Mrs. de Winter is horrified, but at the same time, she feels a happiness she had not known before. Her husband loves her; he had never loved Rebecca. With that discovery, her personality changes. She assures her husband that she will guard his secret. A coroner’s inquest is held, for the body in the boat is that of Rebecca. At the inquest, it is established that a storm could not have sunk the boat; evidence of a bolted door, the holes, and the open seacocks point to the verdict of suicide, determined by the coroner’s jury. Later that night, after the jury’s verdict, a drunk Jack Favell appears at Manderley. Wildly expressing his love for Rebecca and revealing their intimate life, he tries to blackmail Mr. de Winter by threatening to prove that de Winter killed his wife. Mr.

de Winter calls the magistrate, Colonel Julyan, to hear his case. Favell’s theory is that Rebecca had asked her husband to free her so that she could marry Jack, and that de Winter, infuriated, had killed her. From Rebecca’s engagement book, it is learned that she had visited a Dr. Baker in London on the last day of her life. Colonel Julyan and Mr. and Mrs. de Winter, with Favell following in his car, drive to London to see Baker. On checking his records, the doctor finds that he had examined a Mrs. Danvers on the day in question. They realize that Rebecca had assumed the housekeeper’s name. Baker explains that he had diagnosed Rebecca’s ailment as cancer in an advanced stage. Colonel Julyan suggests that the matter be closed since the motive for suicide had been established. Driving back to Manderley after leaving Colonel Julyan at his sister’s home, Mr. de Winter tells his wife that he believes that Colonel Julyan had guessed the truth. He also realizes that Rebecca had intimated that she was pregnant because she had been sure that her husband would kill her; her last evil deed would be to ruin him and Manderley. Mr.

de Winter telephones Frank from the inn where they had stopped for dinner, and the estate manager reports that Mrs. Danvers has disappeared. His news seems to upset Mr. de Winter. At two o’clock in the morning, they approach Manderley. Mrs. de Winter has been sleeping. Awaking, she thinks by the blaze of light that it is dawn. A moment later, she realizes that she is looking at Manderley, going up in flames.

Question: Who was the housekeeper in Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca'?
Answer: Mrs Danvers