Rebecca

Maxim de Winter is a 42-year-old widower and the owner of a famous English estate, Manderley. Maxim is the narrator’s first love and eventual husband. Maxim is described like the brooding hero of a Gothic novel, seemingly belonging to a fifteenth-century walled city of narrow, cobbled streets. His face is “arresting, sensitive, medieval in some strange inexplicable way” (15). He seems like a figure from “a past where men walked cloaked at night […] a past of whispers in the dark, of shimmering rapier blades, of silent, exquisite courtesy” (15). When the narrator meets Maxim, he is haunted by secrets. His assumption of authority as a society leader and the experienced master of Manderley creates an inequality of power in his second marriage to the youthful narrator, raised for a different, humbler style of life.

The revelation of Maxim’s tortured marriage to his first wife and his desperate murder of her alters the relationship with his second wife. He becomes more dependent on the love and reassurance of the narrator as he tries to negotiate a post-Manderley life.

The deceased first wife of Maxim de Winter, Rebecca, is presented as the narrator’s antagonist in the novel, malevolently haunting the narrator’s dreams and walks around Manderley. Initially, Rebecca is characterized as the epitome of breeding, beauty, and brains, the wonderful mistress of Manderley who was loved by all who knew her. She hosted tremendously successful parties and perfectly executed every task she did. Described as tall and slim, Rebecca had a stunningly beautiful face surrounded by a mass of black hair. The widower, Maxim, was apparently so overcome by the loss of his adored wife that he nearly had a breakdown.

The insecure second wife of Maxim becomes obsessed with unfavorably comparing herself to her seemingly ideal predecessor. The narrator eventually learns that the real Rebecca was deceitful and manipulative, cruelly laughing behind the backs of people she fooled and used. Gifted with good taste in furnishings and gardens, Rebecca was willfully evil and adulterous. However, Rebecca was worshipped by her cousin and lover, Jack Favell, and her housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, who seek revenge for her death.

Mrs. Danvers is the housekeeper who came to Manderley when Rebecca married Maxim de Winter. She took care of the motherless Rebecca since childhood, admiring Rebecca’s beauty and spirit. Mrs. Danvers’s devotion to the deceased Rebecca prompts her resentment of the narrator whom she perceives as taking Rebecca’s place as the mistress of Manderley and the wife of Maxim.

Mrs. Danvers is described in death-like, Gothic terms, with “a skull’s face, parchment-white, set on a skeleton’s frame” (66) and “a voice as cold and lifeless as her hand had been” (67). The use of imagery associated with death emphasizes Mrs. Danvers’s obsession with the deceased Rebecca and her refusal to welcome new life. Mrs. Danvers attempts to psychologically torment the young narrator by suggesting her inferiority to Rebecca and by implying that Rebecca’s presence still dominates Manderley and Maxim’s thoughts.

The narrator is initially employed as a companion to a wealthy American, Mrs. Van Hopper, in Monte Carlo. A short, large-bosomed woman with “small pig’s eyes” (10), Mrs. Van Hopper ranks people according to their celebrity and wealth. She treats the narrator as an unimportant inferior and tries to keep her subservient. Mrs. Van Hopper’s social climbing plays a pivotal role in the narrator’s life as her employer inadvertently introduces her to Maxim de Winter, the owner of Manderley. During Mrs. Van Hopper’s illness, the narrator tours Monte Carlo with Maxim and falls in love.

When Maxim tells Mrs. Van Hopper about his plan to marry the narrator, the employer is envious, not happy for her young companion. Mrs. Van Hopper deliberately exacerbates the insecurity felt by the inexperienced narrator, which is further increased by Mrs. Danvers. Mrs. Van Hopper tells the narrator that she does not have the capacity to be mistress of Manderley and that Maxim is not in love with her, but only tired of living in an empty house. Mrs. Van Hopper begins the invidious comparison with Rebecca by telling the narrator about the famous parties she had given at Manderley in the past.

Frank Crawley is Maxim’s agent, completely reliable, loyal to Maxim, and devoted to Manderley. Frank is “a colourless, rather thin man with a prominent Adam’s apple” (92). Although Beatrice dismisses Frank as “a dull creature” who “never has anything interesting to say” (100), the narrator discovers that Frank carefully and tactfully chooses his words. The narrator does not find Frank dull, but kind. He also is appreciative of her qualities of kindliness, sincerity, and modesty. Frank is the only person, besides Maxim, who seems relieved that the narrator is very different from Rebecca. Rebecca had briefly tried to pursue Frank, leading him to offer his resignation to Maxim before he understood what was happening.

Frank is the narrator’s closest friend and ally at Manderley, besides her husband. Frank also serves as a mediator between Maxim and the young narrator when the spouses misunderstand each other. The narrator believes that Frank knows the truth about Rebecca’s death but supports Maxim.

Beatrice Lacy represents the conventional, wealthy countrywoman in England. The sister of Maxim de Winter, Beatrice is “tall, broad-shouldered, very handsome […]the sort of person who would nurse dogs through distemper, know about horses, shoot well” (92). Beatrice is very straightforward and speaks her mind. She is not fashionable nor deceptive like her deceased sister-in-law. She is well-meaning, but blundering. Although she and Maxim love each other, they often clash because of her tactlessness.

Beatrice provides the narrator with important information. She explains to the narrator that Mrs. Danvers resents Maxim’s second wife because she adored Rebecca and informs the narrator that her fancy dress costume is identical to the one worn by Rebecca at the previous Manderley ball. Beatrice’s husband, Giles, was briefly toyed with by Rebecca.

Ben is the son of a tenant on the Manderley estate with a mental delay. He is harmless digging shells at the beach, but he observed Rebecca and her activities with men at the cottage. The narrator initially does not understand Ben’s comments about a snake-like woman who threatened to put him in the cruel asylum, but she later realizes that he was referring to Rebecca. When Favell believes that Ben witnessed Maxim’s murder of Rebecca, the narrator worries about what he might reveal. Ben has more understanding than he admits, feigning ignorance and undermining Favell’s story. Ben can distinguish between the narrator’s kindness and Rebecca’s evil.

Jack Favell is “a big, hefty fellow, good-looking in a rather flashy, sunburnt way” (158). He has the reddish skin and bloodshot eyes associated with “heavy drinking and loose living” (158). He is Rebecca’s cousin. At first, the narrator cannot associate this coarse womanizer with Rebecca since she imagines the first Mrs. de Winter to have been charming, kind, and well-bred. Favell shares with Rebecca a wild, willful tendency to do evil. He and Rebecca were lovers. Favell tries to blackmail Maxim with his final note from Rebecca. The wickedness of his thinking is revealed in his cruel, mocking comments to Maxim and the narrator. He and Mrs. Danvers are allies in their worship of Rebecca. Favell and the housekeeper likely conspired to destroy Manderley by fire.