Rebecca Notes

Rebecca

Rebecca has 4 genres within it:

- Gothic: terror, mystery, supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.

- Physiological thriller: characters are reliant on their mental resources, whether it is by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling of equilibrium in the character’s own mind.

- Subversion of romance: sets up the conventions of a romantic genre then slowly subvert or undercut/demolishes our expectations.

- Crime: crimes, their detection, criminals, and their motives.

The novel is written first person by the narrator, who is never named within the book, and can be considered an вЂ?unreliable narrator,’ because everything is shown through her вЂ?unreliable narrative’ пÑ" вЂ?she’ is persecuted, вЂ?she’ is inadequate, вЂ?she’ has an inferiority complex and вЂ?she’ is haunted by Rebecca. The narrator dreams twice, once in the beginning and once in the end, which conveys the truth that her conscious mind cannot.

In the beginning of the novel the most evident genres are Gothic and anti-romance, but as the novel progresses the genres crime and physiological thriller appear more often. There is the continuity of reference back to gothic, but in the last 7 chapters, it is it dominated by more of the crime genre.

Rebecca is dominated by the Gothic genre throughout the whole novel because of the continuous presence of Rebecca and the overshadowing Manderley. Even in the end, seems to have risen from the dead to have her final revenge пÑ" through Mrs Danvers and the burning of Manderley.

• In the very beginning of the book, the narrator introduces us to Manderley as an empty “inviolate, untouched”, cold “no smoke came from the chimney”, mysterious place “desolate shell, soulless at last, unhaunted”

• Whenever Rebecca’s name is mentioned Maxim de Winter seems to become excessively emotional

• The rhododendrons, “blood-red and luscious” вЂ" symbolic of Rebecca

• Mrs. Danvers seems very mysterious, “deathly cold,” “skeleton” and “lifeless”

• The constant references back to Rebecca “I was sitting in Rebecca’s chair, I was leaning against Rebecca’s cushion.

Even though the Gothic genre is the most dominant genre there are also the secondary genres:

Physiological thriller вЂ" mystery and вЂ?crime of the death of Rebecca, the continuous haunting of Rebecca on the narrators mind, also the continuous irony of how right after the Manderley dress ball Rebecca’s body is found

Crime вЂ" the formal inquest is held and Maxim’s committed murder and his motives are shown

• The past in opening chapters is itself a mystery вЂ" why is Manderley a ruin?

• Unclear as yet but Rebecca’s death a mystery, which seems to affect everyone at Manderley… who was she?

• Narrator feels like she doesn’t belong “This was their routine…long custom” пÑ" caught in an alien world of tradition.

• Rebecca’s presence in the household still evident

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