The narrator’s jealousy of Rebecca Essay Example for Free

The narrators jealousy of Rebecca EssayThe narrators jealousy of Rebecca permeates the majority of the novel. Because of her jejuneness and insecurity, the narrator is unable to understand why proverb chooses to marry her. As she learns more and more about Rebecca, she begins to compare herself to truisms first wife, who seemed to be far more beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated than she could ever hope to be. The narrators preoccupation with Rebecca develops to the point that she concludes that Maxim is still in acknowledge with her. With this revelation, the conflict amidst the narrator and the memory of Rebecca becomes a competition for Maxims love. Yet, with her desperate love for Maxim and jealousy of Rebecca, the narrator has no recourse until Maxim tells her the faithfulness about Rebecca.Only then washbasin the narrator overcome her jealousy and approach her coupling as the sole Mrs. de Winter. Jealousy also appears on Maxims side of the narrative, specifically in his relationship with Rebecca and her many lovers. Maxim confronts Rebecca in the boathouse and ultimately kills her because she manipulates his jealousy into a tool for her throw destruction. In both(prenominal) cases, jealousy is a destructive force that has the ability to destroy both Maxim and the narrator if they let it. Escaping the pastOne of the main conflicts of Rebecca revolves around Maxim and the narrators efforts to escape the past. From his first entrance in the novel, Maxim is tormented by the memory of his marriage to Rebecca and his eventual murder of her. Even though the narrator never knew Rebecca, she is equally haunted by her presence at Manderley through her natural representative, Mrs. Danvers. The characters are only able to move forward with their marriage after each one has come to terms with the past in their individual ways. For the narrator, Maxim must reveal that he never loved Rebecca in order for her to assume her position as mistress of Manderl ey. Maxim, on the other hand, must own up to the consequences of his actions and stop running from the memory of what he has done. In the end, Maxim and the narrator triumph over the memory of Rebecca but only after Manderley, with all of its memories of her, is destroyed. Good versus evil.Du Maurier plays with the dichotomy between good and evil in the way that shepresents the main characters. From a general perspective, it is clear that the narrator and Maxim are on the good side, while Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers are on the bad side. Yet, Du Maurier adds complexity to each character so that all sense of good and evil becomes purely subjective. For example, Maxim is the primary male character and the narrators love interest and thus, is presented as the hero of the novel. At the same time, however, Maxim is a murderer who shot Rebecca in a fit of rage, an act that is hardly withdraw for a hero. Similarly, while Mrs. Danvers is presented as the antagonist of the novel who actively s trives to undermine the narrator, she is also an individual who is overwhelmed with grief at the lost of her friend and mistress. By portmanteau the concepts of good and evil, Du Maurier creates a set of characters that are truly human in their complexity and motivations. Love vs. hateLove and hate serve as of import motivational tools for the primary characters in Rebecca. In most cases, characters exhibit both emotionssometimes even a blend of the twoand use their love or hate to justify their actions in the novel. For the majority of the text, Maxim is motivated by his love for the narrator and Manderley, as well as his horror for Rebecca and her memory. Mrs. Danvers and Jack Favell, as the seeming villains of the piece, are both prompted by their love for Rebecca and hatred for those who seem to have forgotten her. In Mrs. Danvers case, Rebecca is the object of an obsessive love that Mrs. Danvers uses to justify her hatred of the narrator and her attempt to undermine Maxims s econd marriage. Jack Favell, on the other hand, had hoped to marry Rebecca, and he uses his disappointed love to justify blackmailing Maxim. As the object of both love and hate, Rebecca is the only character who seems to be motivated purely by self-love in her behavior. As a result, she manipulated the emotions of those around her to her own advantage and maintained power over Manderley both in life and in death. IdentityOne of the major themes of the novel is the narrators reckon to establish her own identity. Du Maurier establishes this theme from the very beginning by maintaining the narrators anonymity, as only Maxim learns the narrators lovely and bizarre name. When she marries Maxim, the narrator isautomatically prone a new identity as Mrs. de Winter, but she does not feel comfortable or suited to the role. The narrators uncertain identity worsens during her time at Manderley because the constant reminder of Rebecca, the real Mrs. de Winter. The narrator is quickly overwhel med by the strength of Rebeccas presence and even considers given up all claims to an identity as Maxims wife. The climax of the narrators identity crisis is at the Manderley costume ball when even her physical appearance is overshadowed by the memory of Rebecca in the same costume. In the end, the narrator must learn the truth about Rebeccas nature before she can feel assured of Maxims love and her identity as Mrs. de Winter.