Symbols In Rebecca

Just as in Poe’s, this story places significance upon the appearance of the house and its surroundings. The Dorsets host parties for each generation of children in their neighborhood. Enhancing further the evidence of gothic style found in Taylor’s story, the parents’ curiosity is overcome by a feeling of horror concerning the types of events that unfold during those parties. The parties also act as points of isolation for the children and the Dorsets. Except for the people who attend the party, no one knew the explanation or the necessity for the annual event. The presence of curiosity and secrecy help to support the gothic basis for this story.

Dr. Paul Dawson once states in the lecture, "Gothic fiction explores and dramatizes the contemporaneous to cultural anxieties, in effect to resonate readers. Stevenson symbolically exploits and sublimated fiction forms the board fears of the whole society." Abrams suggests that gothic fiction often refers to its setting in a catholic country, especially Italy or span. The locale was usually a gloomy castle furnished with surgeons, subterranean passages, and sliding panel. However, the setting of the novella is considered to be disrupted against the traditional convention of the gothic genre, where it is based in the late Victorian London city.

I said, "who do you want?"... "I'm afraid you have made a mistake," I said; "Mrs. de Winter has been dead for over a year."... "It's Mrs. Danvers, Madam," said the voice. "I'm speaking to you on the house telephone" (Du Maurier, 84). This moment not only signifies her initial detachment from her role, but also reflects the overarching influence of Rebecca, making the narrator feel like an imposter in her own home.

Furthermore, Rebecca reflects the conventions of the romantic genre by showing that the heroine?s first impressions of the hero were incorrect. She had first viewed him as ?hard? and ?sardonic? due to his remarks at Mrs Van Hopper, ?He got up at once, pushing back his chair. ?Don?t let me keep you,? he said. ?Fashions change so quickly nowadays they may even have altered by the time you get upstairs.?? However, following her first breakfast with Maxim, she realises that she was wrong and says, ?I had ill-judged him, he was neither hard nor sardonic, he was already my friend of many years.? The first impression of Maxim only lasts over one coffee with Mrs Van Hopper however is fixed soon after when he sends the heroine a note which reads, ?Forgive me. I was very rude this afternoon.? It is evident that as soon as she receives this note, her opinions of the hero change. She also elaborates on her feelings the next morning when Maxim invites her

In Rebecca du Maurier appears to conform to the conventions of the romantic genre however, du Maurier has also subverted the genre of romance through her representation of the relationship between the narrator and Maxim and the structure of the novel. She has also incorporated of elements of the gothic genre and the psychological thriller.

In Daphne du Maurier’s gothic-style novel, Rebecca, develops one of her main characters, Maxim de Winter, into a classic gothic hero. A gothic hero possesses certain features including: some degree of a tragic life experience, high social rank, constant foreshadowing of doom, a strong sexual element, etc. du Maurier’s character development of Mr. de Winter is excellent because he portrays all of the features of a gothic protagonist. Throughout Rebecca, Maxim de Winter exhibits the characteristics of a gothic hero: having some degree of tragic stature, having a tendency to be influenced by past events, and having an occasional association with what is non-human.

The term gothic serves as the ideal backdrop for a literary era of suspense, mystery, and terror. A haunted mansion bursting with secrets, a naïve helpless heroine, and the male hero that saves the day are all quintessentially gothic. When Ellen Moers first coined the term “Female Gothic” in her 1976 book, Literary Women, she defined it as “the work that women writers have done in the literary mode that, since the eighteenth century have been termed Gothic” (Moers). Her argument that Female Gothic literature is a code for women’s fear of domestic entrapment, especially within their own bodies as was mainly experienced in childbirth and motherhood, was quite influential. Anne Williams, in her book The Art of Darkness: A Poetics of Gothic, argues that Female Gothic can be further dissected to include its intention to criticize the patriarchy while educating and socializing its female readers with an affirmation of absolute independence and strength. The Female Gothic is often pursued and haunted by a villainous patriarchal figure, but finds salvation on her own accord and more importantly, within herself. Another element of Female gothic is madness and monstrosity as an explanation for why the female would deviate from the conventional norm.

All of the servants adored Rebecca. Despite everyone around her comparing her to the late wife, the narrator made things worse on herself by comparing everything she did to Rebecca. She compared her clothes that she wore to Rebecca, the way she socialized with others, and how she handled her everyday tasks. But there is one thing that the narrator seems to always compare to Rebecca and that is her relationship with Maxim to that of his and Rebecca’s. At first, the narrator felt as if she would never replace Rebecca.

the seed of doubt in the mind of the reader as to the credibility of

Since the genre was created in the late eighteenth century, Rebecca has been a popular gothic romance novel. The plot is traditional: A young woman, the protagonist, ends up in a foreign and sinister setting, where she must piece together a mystery and win the heart of a striking man.

One of the spookiest experiences in Harley’s life was on a cold, dark Halloween night when Harley and her friends, Lauryn and Heidi, got chased by a clown for 3 blocks on a gloomy narrow road. This scenario relates to traits  of Gothic Literature and Magical Realism because, that experience was in a dark setting and contained weird incidents and a disturbing plot. Those two genres are similar because they both usually have unrealistic characters and scary plots. However, in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher” is an example of Gothic Literature because, the story’s setting is in an isolated, creepy, and large house with odd characters and a frightening plot line, while Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of  Magical Realism because the realistic characters are accepting the unimpressed narrative tone in an ordinary way of life. Gothic Literature is a style of writing that is characterized by elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom. Settings are usually in a isolated and haunted location in a big house or castle with trap doors, dark rooms, and secret passages. Characters are usually supernatural beings or monsters.

To begin, with intent of initiating mystery in gothic stories, the locale is often portrayed as being physically isolated, triggering insanity in the characters. This idea can be demonstrated by the seclusion of the institution for the criminally

The third and final element of gothic literature that can be found in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is that of the presence of madness and the thin boundary line that

Although many gothic novels are written in a complex manner, the novel “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” is very different. This gothic novel is written in a simplistic fashion which is understandable on the surface. However, if one digs deeper than the surface of this novel, “We Have Always lived in the Castle,” proves to be full of details and themes. There are many important themes in this story and some which are not as important. In the novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” there are many extremely important themes such as, domesticity, rich vs. poor, and sibling relationships. Also, in the novel, “We Have Always lived in the Castle,” there is one theme which is not essential to the novel, which is the supernatural and potential witch elements in this story. All of these themes help to portray the message of Shirley Jackson’s novel, “We have Always Lived in the Castle.”

The central theme of all Gothic novels is the presence and symbolism of the Gothic castle. Depiction of ruinous abbeys, monasteries, subterranean passages, vaults, secret panels, and the trapdoors is a standard method of achieving the atmosphere. Howells sees the Gothic castle as being ‘a shadowy world of ruins and twilight scenery lit up from time to time by lurid flashes of passion and violence ’(6). Therefore, the gloominess of the exterior and interior environment is illuminated by intense emotional and passionate moments of the characters that inhabit the castle. As Sage claims, the castle is ‘the lair of the villain’(166), and it is an accurate reflection of his dark and frightening character. Gloomy, dark, and dangerous, the castle reflects the emotions and psychological experience of many of the novel’s characters.