Rebecca | Summary, Characters, & Facts (2024)

Rebecca, Gothic suspense novel by Daphne du Maurier, published in 1938. Widely considered a classic, it is a psychological thriller about a young woman who becomes obsessed with her husband’s first wife.

Summary

The story is set evocatively in the wilds of Cornwall, in a large country house called Manderley. One of du Maurier’s intriguing devices is her refusal to name her heroine, the first-person narrator, known only as the second Mrs. de Winter. The novel opens with her famously saying, “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Much of the story is then told in flashback. A shy, awkward young woman, she is in Monte-Carlo, working for an elderly socialite, when she meets Maximilian (Maxim) de Winter. He is a wealthy widower whose wife, Rebecca, drowned in a sailboat accident. After a whirlwind courtship, the young woman and Maxim marry and later settle at Manderley. The narrator begins to feel progressively inferior to Rebecca, despite receiving compliments from various people. To the second Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca personifies glamour and gaiety, and she does not think that she can compete with this dead paragon to win Maxim’s love. Mrs. Danvers, the sinister housekeeper, especially wounds the narrator by constantly mentioning how much Maxim had loved, and would always love, Rebecca.

Suspense builds as the narrator grows both increasingly obsessed with the beautiful first wife and insecure in her marriage. At the annual costume ball at Manderley, the second Mrs. de Winter wears a costume at the encouragement of Mrs. Danvers, not realizing it was similar to one worn by Rebecca shortly before her death. The outfit upsets Maxim, who orders her to change. The narrator later confronts Mrs. Danvers, who says that Maxim does not want her and encourages her to jump out the second-floor window. However, just then rockets are set off as a ship strikes a reef in the nearby bay, and the two women part. Divers soon discover a sunken sailing boat that contains Rebecca’s body. Maxim then reveals the truth to his second wife—he was not in love with Rebecca. She was cruel and manipulative, and soon after their wedding she began having numerous affairs. Fearful of scandal, Maxim agreed to her offer: she would outwardly appear as the perfect wife if he allowed her to live privately as she pleased. However, on the night of her death, she had informed her husband that she was pregnant and that the father was one of her lovers. In a fit of anger, Maxim shot Rebecca and put her body in a sailboat that he then sank. (A body had been found weeks after Rebecca’s disappearance, and Maxim had identified it as being hers.)

The heroine subsequently discovers an inner strength and confidence that leads to a shift in power in her marriage. Maxim is seemingly saved when the coroner declares Rebecca’s death a suicide. However, one of Rebecca’s lovers, her cousin Jack Favell, tells the magistrate that Maxim murdered Rebecca, and Mrs. Danvers seemingly confirms that the two were having an affair. The magistrate tries to determine why Rebecca would have committed suicide, and it is discovered that she had gone to a London doctor on the day of her death. When the doctor is later questioned, he states that Rebecca was actually infertile and dying of cancer. In the view of the magistrate, this discovery provides a motive for Rebecca’s suicide, and Maxim is no longer a suspect. A final twist occurs when Mrs. Danvers disappears, and, upon the de Winters’ return from London, they find Manderley ablaze.

Analysis and adaptations

Among du Maurier’s favourite writers were the Brontë sisters (Emily Charlotte, and Anne), and the plot and pace of Rebecca are reminiscent of Jane Eyre. However, with Rebecca, many believed that du Maurier had found her own voice as an author. She infused the melodramatic tale with great psychological insight and presented a story of jealousy that resonated with many readers. Rebecca was hugely popular upon its publication and was later adapted for TV, film, and the stage. Perhaps its most notable adaptation was Alfred Hitchco*ck’s Academy Award-winning film (1940) starring Laurence Olivier as the brooding Maxim, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers.