Rebecca Chapter 7 Essay, Research Paper

Summary

The chapter begins with the De Winter s leaving the showers of London moving directly, to their arrival, at Manderley. A huge and beautiful manor house set in the coastal valley in England. The journey from London to Manderley was long. They drove through the middle of a huge forest of the the blood red rhododendron in bloom . When she arrived to the main gate of the house, it s seemed to her she arrived to the house, but she didn t see the house, it was much further away. She had a feeling of fear from the new life she is going to start in this house. Max started to tell her about the maids and the servants in the house. It seemed he was feeling of her fear. They were to arrive to the house at five o clock for tea time. But she saw herself dressed unsuitably In a tan colored stockinet frock, a small fur known as a stone martin around the neck .

When they arrived to the house, Mrs. De Winter finds it beautiful, the size of her new home also frightens her, especially when the entire staff of servants comes out to greet her, led by the butler, Frith. The scene has been organized, against Maxim’s orders, by Mrs. Danvers, a thin, hollow-eyed housekeeper, who greets Mrs. de Winter with stiff formality. After returning the housekeeper’s welcome, she is led inside by Maxim. The couple took their tea in the library, a stuffy room that looks down to the sea. Jasper and his mother, also welcomed both of them. While Maxim opens his mail, Mrs. De Winter was imagining that she had boys who were playing around on the couches with their boots, until Frith interrupted her dream by taking the tea pots from the table. Later, she went upstairs with Mrs. Danvers to see her bedroom, which is renovated under Maxim s orders. Mrs. Danvers, a tall and gaunt, deathly cold, lifeless, whose prominent cheek bones and great hollow eyes gave her skull s face, was telling Mrs. De Winter that the west wing was much bigger and more beautiful than the east wing in a suspicious way. The room was not facing the sea but was facing rose garden. Max explains his choice to this wing that he spent his childhood with his mother in the rose garden. Mrs. Danvers is respectful, but in her manner Mrs. De Winter nervously senses a feeling of unfriendliness and hatred, and she is relieved when Maxim comes upstairs to complete the tour with her. Then the husband and wife go downstairs for dinner, which went smoothly, remembering their trips to Italy and France.

They went back to the library. Max was reading and Mrs. De Winter felt lonely and when she settled into her chair, she begins to think about Rebecca, whose place she has taken as Mrs. de Winter and Mistress of Manderley.

Commentary:

Mrs. De Winter frequently feels of the spirit of Rebecca around the house. She feels very strange towards Mrs. Danvers. We see Mrs. Danvers was fiercely devoted to Rebecca, and remains loyal to her even after death. She despises Mrs. De Winter for taking her mistress’s place. Rebecca is not the typical ghost story: although characters frequently speak of Rebecca’s presence at Manderley, her ghost never actually appears itself. But then, the ghost does not need to actually appear, for it has a living spokesperson in the house, representing its interests. From the beginning we clearly see Mrs. Danvers’s wickedness: we read, “Someone advanced from the sea of faces, someone 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 skeleton’s frame.” This living servant looks like death incarnate; she is the perfect representative for a dead woman. And though Mrs. Danvers may look skeleton-like and frail, her powers overcome physical reality, just as Rebecca is able to make use of her influence at Manderley despite her very death. It is thus Rebecca, and not Mrs. De Winter, who is the true mistress of Manderley; and as such she seeks to deny Mrs. De Winter her identity to ensure that her shadow forever eclipse this new Mrs. de Winter.