Rebecca ---notes On The Narrator's Attraction To Maxim
(Du Maurier, Daphne)
In Daphne du Maurier?s classic of romantic suspense, the young narrator is defined by her state of desire. It is this state of insufficiency that gives her distinctive characteristics and makes her a self-conscious being. As she fulfills her desires, she loses her sense of identity, becoming one and the same as the ghost. It is then fitting that as she finally overcomes the ghost, the relic of Rebecca, Manderley burns. This also explains her lack of revulsion at the revelation that Maxim has killed his first wife.
Nietzsche writes in his essay on master and slave morality, that all instincts that do not discharge themselves turn inward, becoming the substance of the soul. It is then, this insufficiency of the narrator that gives her an identity. She begins her tale as the colt-like companion to the Snobby Mrs. Van Hopper, whose object of interest is the wealthy and mysterious Maxim de Winter. She describes her position as inferior and subservient to hers. Her subsequent infatuation with Maxim is as strong as Van Hopper?s curiosity. She says of her state, how young and inexperienced she was, how self-conscious she was. She is embarrassed of Van Hoppers? unfettered probings of Maxim, as she sees Van Hopper in a maternal role (and therefore as a reflection of herself).
In the second chapter of Rebecca, the narrator attests to the change that has taken place within her, as she comes to fulfill her desired role. She says that she supposes his dependence on her has made her strong. She notes how different she is from the timid girl who first came to Manderly. She then goes on to compare her former self with the figure of Rebecca, the figure she has come to replace. The narrator makes this transition from colt-like servant to mindless matron by overcoming Mrs. Van Hopper, as well as the ghost of Maxim?s past. www.valiantdeath.com --- for wonderful experimental music/ art/ zines
Resumos Relacionados
- Rebecca
- Rebecca
- The Function Of The Narrator In Poe's William Wilson
- The Function Of The Narrator In Poe's William Wilson
- Rebeca
|
|
