His wife tells him that Danvers set Manderley on fire because she would rather see it go up in smoke than allow Maxim and his new wife to live there. And yet, even as a loyal Du Maurier fan, I really enjoyed it, and I think it stayed true to the novel while also adding some glamour, mystery, and romance to please the more modern audience. The Second Mrs. de Winter. Why did Mrs Danvers reveal Rebecca's room and private things to the new Mrs de Winter? Edit, According to the novel, Maxim thought that if he had fired her she could have suspected the truth, as she was the only one that saw him get back to the house so late the night Rebecca died. For October's gentle breeze whispers that Rebecca – beautiful, mysterious, malevolent Rebecca – is haunting their lives once more. The second Mrs. De Winter awakes from a nightmare – her dream of Manderley and Danvers. It was a choice by du Maurier to highlight the fact that the second Mrs. de Winter is living in the shadow of the first Mrs. de Winter, so that every time people speak to … Did the novel reveal the second Mrs de Winter's name. Never, never . First wife versus second wife: Only after the second Mrs de Winter arrives at Manderley, does she realise how difficult it will be to live there, continuously competing with the memory of the first Mrs de Winter, Rebecca. The novel was adapted for the movie by British screenwriters Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan. She and Maxim are in a hotel room in Cairo, a stop along the way on their quest for a new home. Rebecca is based on a 1938 novel by British writer Daphne du Maurier. Maxim never talks about Rebecca and, during their courtship, the second Mrs. de Winter isn't aware of how Rebecca died and … Rebecca de Winter was shot and killed by Maxim in assisted suicide, who then makes her killing look like a boating accident. Metacritic Reviews. There are some character differences, too. Inadequacy: Daphne de Maurier hated social events, feeling self-conscious, shy, out of her depth and inadequate. The answer (...) is simple: I could not think of one, and it became a challenge in technique the easier because I was writing in the first person". Mrs. de Winter is relived when Rebecca's death is officially declared suicide and the truth of Rebecca's cancer is revealed. However, Wheatley's film has a slightly different ending to Hitchcock's, particularly when it answers the question of how Rebecca really died. One major difference is the circumstances surrounding Rebecca's death. The Dark Side Mrs. de Winter officially crosses over to the dark side of the force after she learns that Maxim killed Rebecca. Just shy of a happily-ever-after, she drives back to Manderley with Maxim to find the beautiful house on fire. This glorious book, published in 1938, has sold millions of copies and is still in print all over the world in many different languages. Was it considered a modern movie in it's day? Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. The second Mrs de Winter (Joan Fontaine) moves with her new husband back to Manderley, his large country estate on the Cornwall (England) seacoast, and is immediately intimidated by the housekeeper, Mrs Danvers (Judith Anderson), who runs the gigantic house with an iron hand and makes it obvious that she adored Rebecca. • At the annual costume ball at Manderley, the second Mrs. de Winter wears a costume at the encouragement of Mrs. Danvers, not realizing it was similar to one worn by Rebecca shortly before her death. Based on Baker's report, the final verdict in the inquest is that Rebecca committed suicide. Maxim realizes that Rebecca telling him she was pregnant was actually her goading him into killing her. Edit, Yes. The transformation of Mrs de Winter in the film occurs BEFORE Maxim's revelation when she simply declares out of the blue that she is Mrs de Winter now! Rebecca has been adapted many times before, mostly famously by Alfred Hitchcock in a 1940 film starring Laurence Olivier as Maxim and Joan Fontaine as the second Mrs. de Winter. Suspense builds as the narrator grows both increasingly obsessed with the beautiful first wife and insecure in her marriage. In the final scene, the pillow covering bearing Rebecca's monogram is visible through the flames. Maxim searches frantically for his wife and finds her safe in the yard. Apparently he wanted very much for Vivien Leigh to get the role of the second Mrs. de Winter (they were married the year the movie was made), … Edit, After the accidental death of his first wife Rebecca over a year ago, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) falls in love with a shy, inexperienced woman traveling in Monte Carlo as a companion to a wealthy widow. They meet and fall in love while vacationing on the Riviera, and after a speedy marriage, return to Maxim's vast English estate, Manderly. Edit, The inquest is halted long enough for Maxim, Flavell, Frank Crawley (Reginald Denny), and Colonel Julyan (C. Aubrey Smith) to drive to London and interview Dr Baker (Leo G. Carroll) about Rebecca's secret visit to him on the day she died. The second Mrs. de Winter does not, because she’s distracted by cries from below: they’ve discovered the body of Rebecca. And the looming Manderlay but they are living in a puratory until death comes. “The sexiness of [Rebecca] is maybe the most unsettling part, since it centers on the narrator’s being simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by the memory and the mystery of her new husband’s dead wife.”. Maxim has some explaining to do. Netflix threw its hat in the ring with a new Rebecca movie, starring Armie Hammer and Lily James as Maxim de Winter and The Unnamed Narrator (aka the second Mrs. de Winter… In the end, the narrator is forced into a life of exile with Maxim and is still defined only as the "second Mrs. de Winter." In the movie, Danvers is younger, cold and vicious, and more like a partner to Rebecca's evil. External Reviews Edit, Most likely, Danvers was trying to prove to the second Mrs de Winter that she is a pale shadow compared with Rebecca, playing on her lack of self-confidence and her rather childish love for her husband. If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. Who killed Rebecca in Rebecca? On top of that, Maxim may not have realized just how disturbed Danvers was because she seemed like the ideal housekeeper—silent, matriarchal, and capable of complete control—and Mrs. de Winter never tells him what she's seen and felt around her. She wants to either drive her to suicide (which she almost does) or force her to run away. • Maxim and Crawley hurry back to Manderley only find it on fire. At first, she knew only that Rebecca had died suddenly. | Just like the second Mrs DeWinter in the book, this film version of ‘Rebecca’ has been compared to the original Hitchcock version a lot! After being employed by a rich American living in Monte Carlo, she meets the widower Maxim de Winter. However, as the second Mrs. de Winter (the title character, Rebecca, was his first wife), she is never identified by her first name. The answer (...) is simple: I could not think of one, and it became a challenge in technique the easier because I was writing in the first person". Edit, No, the novel doesn't reveal the Christian name of the second Mrs de Winter. But the sensual warmth of a golden autumn cannot mask the chill of a lingering evil. Your IP: 91.121.138.226 In fact, the memory of Rebecca seems to haunt everyone, including Maxim. Maxim killed Rebecca after she told him she was carrying her lover’s child. | In the novel, she neither dies nor goes insane, and her burning of Manderley can be read as just revenge for Maxim's murder of the woman she loved. No, they didn't live happily ever after. Maybe he lived happily ever after but yes, Rebecca is gone. Edit, Awards 1939 Please enable Cookies and reload the page. Which means that she, and not Rebecca (who let me remind you, is dead), comes first in Maxim’s affections. When Manderley burned, tormented Maxim de Winter and his demure second wife fled the ghosts of a dark, unspoken yesterday and now have come home to England, to bury what was and start anew. Performance & security by Cloudflare, Please complete the security check to access. No spoilers; if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie get thee to Amazon immediately! Mrs Danvers of the novel was an older woman and was more torn by Rebecca's death. Maxim does say in the book that the second Mrs de Winter has "a very lovely and unusual name" but, as in the movie, we never find out what it is. | Does the second Mrs de Winter die? Maxim is a cooler dude (at least in the beginning) In the 1940 film, Olivier's take on the character … The narrator and Rebecca are simultaneously mirror images of one another and opposites. Edit, Those who have both read the book and seen the movie generally report that they are quite different. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. Cloudflare Ray ID: 64621f2e6f3240d7 Danvers seems to believe that Maxim was as obsessed with Rebecca as she was. | Certified Educator Near the end of the novel, Max de Winter confesses to his second, unnamed wife that he killed Rebecca. Rebecca–as she learns from the servants, her sister-in-law, and neighbors–was a wonder. Like any grand British estate worth its salt, Manderley is haunted. As the flames engulf the west wing, Danvers can be seen through Rebecca's bedroom window. In the novel, she neither dies nor goes insane, and her burning of Manderley can be read as just revenge for Maxim's murder … User Ratings How Does Rebecca Die? By the end of the novel, Mrs. de Winter seems to have come of age, just as Alice has by the end of her adventures in Wonderland. The second Mrs. de Winter learns in bits and pieces what happened to Maxim’s first wife. Spoiler alert: After their whirlwind courtship and marriage, the de Winters return to Manderley where the second Mrs. de Winter quickly comes to feel she is a most inadequate substitute for Rebecca. In the case of the movie, I wonder if my perception of Max isn’t colored by Laurence Olivier’s performance. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. The movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and won the 1941 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. In the movie, Rebecca is killed when she falls and hits her head on a boat tackle, whereas in the novel Rebecca is shot by Maxim. Only after she marries de Winter does the narrator receive a name in the novel. Its ghost, however, is not a supernatural one. Maxim never talks about Rebecca and, during their courtship, the second Mrs. de Winter isn't aware of how Rebecca died and doesn't broach the … All her insecurity vanishes and she immediately becomes equal to the role of mistress of Manderley, even standing up to Mrs. Danvers now that she feels secure in her husband's love. As Daphne du Maurier puts it in her memoirs "(the readers keep asking) why did I never give my heroine a Christian name? Flavell phones Danvers to tell him how Rebecca lied to them both about being pregnant. Mrs. Danvers, the sinister housekeeper, was profoundly devoted to the first Mrs de Winter, Rebecca, who died in a boating accident about a year before Maxim and the second Mrs de Winter met. — Emily Alford, Jezebel. Compare and contrast the narrator and Rebecca in Rebecca. How did Rebecca de Winter die? The book suggests, that the name is exotic and difficult to spell. In what year or era is this Movie set? Does the second Mrs de Winter die? How does Mrs Danvers die in the book? No, the novel doesn't reveal the Christian name of the second Mrs de Winter. Rebecca's former bedroom is kept intact, as a shrine, by the housekeeper, Mrs Danvers, who makes plain her contempt for the second Mrs de Winter. Flavell assumes that it was because Rebecca was pregnant with his child, but Dr Baker reveals that she was terminally ill with cancer and had but a few months to live. Mrs. Danvers (whose first name is never given) is the main antagonist of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca.Danvers is the head housekeeper at Manderley, the stately manor belonging to the wealthy Maximillian "Maxim" de Winter, where he once lived with his first wife, Rebecca. Yes It is through the slow unfolding of Rebecca’s story that we watch the second Mrs. de Winter save her prince. The Second Mrs. de Winter is relieved Maxim murdered Rebecca because this means he did not love her. At Manderley, the second Mrs. de Winter realizes she could also be over her head as the pinnacle housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, tries to make her life a dwelling hell. The second Mrs. de Winter is a shy and naive young woman, besotted with charming and urbane Maxim de Winter. It gets clearer as the story unfolds that Rebecca was not the angel that everyone thought her to be and neither did she die in what was referred to as a tragic accident. Since the novel is written in the first person from Mrs de Winter the second's point-of-view, she refers to herself only as "I" or as "the second Mrs de Winter". Why didn't Maxim fire Mrs Danvers after Rebecca died? How closely does the movie follow the novel? For example, Jack Favell (George Sanders) in the movie is not the drunken slob that's portrayed in the novel. What does Manderley mean? 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