Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca: Secrets of the Past (Lecture on Ch. XI-XIX)
Added 2025-10-19 20:58:03 +0000 UTC'Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now? Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?’
We return again to Manderley, where the dark secrets of the past continue to unfold. Let's get to the bottom of this haunting mystery together as we continue to read through Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.
Today we're discussing ghost tales as guilt stories, how pleasure lures us to pain, the sublime symbolism of the sea, knowledge as wisdom vs gossip, neurosis, losing control, attachment theory, true love vs possessive jealousy, and much more.
Please do feel free to enjoy the discussion even if you haven't read these chapters of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca yet. You can enjoy our talk before, during, or after your reading as I am refraining from discussing any plot points beyond these allotted chapters.
Timestamps:
0:00 the unfolding secrets of Manderley
2:00 forbidden knowledge in domestic spaces
4:00 the perennial story of good vs evil
6:00 does the narrator truly love Maxim?
8:00 alignment of neurosis & original sin
10:00 how to deal with guilt & anxiety
12:00 when does normal become abnormal?
14:00 loss of control & sense of reality
16:00 what does being a companion mean?
18:00 my personal images of true love
20:00 how to know if you are truly in love
22:00 judging by words vs by actions
24:00 idealised love vs imperfect love
26:00 appreciating Shakespeare’s poetry
28:00 Emily Brontë’s description of love
30:00 eternal note of sadness in the sea
32:00 ‘guilty knowledge learnt in the dark’
34:00 when pleasure is ultimately pain
36:00 finally saying the name Rebecca
38:00 knowledge as wisdom vs gossip
40:00 on identifying the unidentifiable
42:00 mother-monster sea symbolism
44:00 on the power of vulnerability
46:00 being possessed by what we lack
48:00 ‘martyr to my own inferiority complex’
50:00 do clothes really maketh the woman?
52:00 imagining how others perceive us
54:00 searching of self is self-obsession
56:00 hiding the broken china pieces
58:00 what crime has been committed?
1:00:00 enveloped in one’s secret self
1:02:00 husband as father, brother & son
1:04:00 Daphne’s relation with her father
1:06:00 the four styles of attachment
1:08:00 the narrator’s attachment type
1:10:00 how much free will do we have?
1:12:00 obsessive compulsive questioning
1:14:00 flower symbolism in Rebecca
1:16:00 Rebecca as snake-like devil
1:18:00 meeting cousin Jack Favell
1:20:00 what is up with Rebecca’s cousin?
1:22:00 falconry in the history of courtship
1:24:00 ‘the rocks had battered her to bits’
1:26:00 the deep grief of Mrs Danvers
1:28:00 talking to the dead vs the living
1:30:00 burden of guilt vs carrying shame
1:32:00 guilt vs shame vs fear cultures
1:34:00 reviving the Manderley Ball
1:36:00 dressing up as Caroline de Winter
1:38:00 macabre comedy & terrible crisis
1:40:00 ‘the face of an exultant devil’
1:42:00 the narrator confronts Mrs Danvers
1:44:00 ‘I’ll see them in hell first…’
1:46:00 ‘you couldn’t beat my lady for spirit’
1:48:00 ‘she is still mistress here, even dead’
1:50:00 Maxim’s shocking revelation
Resources to Explore:
Biography: We've recommended Margaret Forster's excellent biography of Daphne du Maurier, but you may find yourself interested in reading about the rest of her family too. From the great writer herself, the work of family history that is The Du Mauriers presents a powerful and personal saga. Or you may find it interesting to read Daphne's popular biography of her father, Gerald du Maurier, written swiftly after his passing and shortly before Jamaica Inn and Rebecca.
Poetry: If you enjoyed the discussion on sea symbolism, you could use that as an avenue into some great poetry appreciation. I think of 'Dover Beach' by Matthew Arnold when reading certain passages in Rebecca: 'Listen! you hear the grating roar of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, at their return, up the high strand, begin, and cease, and then again begin, with tremulous cadence slow, and bring the eternal note of sadness in.' I also think of Paul Valéry's 'The Graveyard by the Sea' and recall our discussions on Walt Whitman's sublime sea-elegies. There's also Emily Brontë's 'My ancient ship upon my ancient sea,' the gothic masterwork that is Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,' and Hart Crane's breathtaking 'Voyages.'
Fairy Tales: Has your reading of Rebecca prompted you to explore some fairy tales? Last time, we recommended the story of 'Cinderella' as told by the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, and today I'd like to add another recommendation: 'Bluebeard'. If you're in the mood for some extraordinary, and endlessly influential, children's literature, then you might consider the fact that Maxim repeatedly sees our narrator as an Alice in Wonderland figure. And much of the language recalls the story of Lewis Carroll. Alice iconically said: 'Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.' I find it interesting that fairy tales, folklore, and works of so-called children's literature used to be extraordinarily dark and mature compared with what we often have today. I've noticed that during my current bedtime reading of The Wind in the Willows.
Plays: Daphne du Maurier overtly alludes to Shakespeare's tragedy of Othello in her novel, but I feel the influence of at least Macbeth, Hamlet, and Antony and Cleopatra in there too - perhaps some of The Winter's Tale as well? Any of these would make for a rewarding side-escapade alongside your reading. If you fancy some theatre outside of Shakespeare, we have discussions for masterpiece plays that could prove to be complementary pairings in quite interesting ways here. From Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest to Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and Goethe's Faust.
Non-Fiction: There is an incredible work of literary criticism from 1979 called The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. They examined Victorian literature through a feminist perspective and surveyed great works from the likes of Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, and George Eliot. Although they do not cover Daphne du Maurier's modern bestseller, I think the ideas explored in this work provide some thoughtful background to her work too. For a deeply influential work of feminist philosophy, which, like Rebecca, probes into issues of identity, there is Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. Or you may find the voice of Virginia Woolf interesting and complementary. We discussed A Room of One's Own when we read her Orlando together.
Book Club Reads: We have some very exciting discussions for Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Dickens very soon. This coming weekend, we will be discussing the ending of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. And the weekend after that, we will have a special standalone lecture on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for the Halloween season. You can enjoy the discussion either before or after reading the novella. I've always found reading this during an autumn weekend, over a couple of sittings, to be deeply rewarding. Penguin and Everyman have great editions in paperback and hardback, but do feel free to use the copy the comes most easily to hand for you. And, as we do every autumn, at the end of October we will be revealing the chosen Secret Dickens Read for the festive period. I'm putting together this video as we speak, and I'm so excited to dive into this masterpiece with you. I also have a little update about how life is going as a new parent and what we've been reading together.
Reading Assignment:
Our next discussion will cover up to and including chapter twenty-seven of this dark gothic story, which takes us through to the thrilling climax of this novel. And we will be discussing the sublime finale of Rebecca this coming weekend. So continue bringing yourself to Daphne du Maurier's haunting bestseller, making notes on any themes or ideas that capture your attention and imagination.
Questions to Consider:
1) How did you feel about Maxim’s shocking revelation?
2) Why did you think Rebecca continues to be a bestseller today?
3) What is the most resonant thing about the gothic for you?
4) Have your opinions on the characters changed as the story unfolds?
And please do share with us your impressions, favourite passages, and striking ideas from the this part of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. If this is your first reading, does this dark tale meet your expectations? Where are you expecting the story to go? If this is a reread, is the experience any different this time around?
Happy reading, everybody!
Comments
I keep thinking of this quote from Agatha Christie’s murder mystery story, Evil Under The Sun: “To count - really and truly to count - a woman must have goodness or brains.” It’s an interesting lens to view the two female protagonists (both Mrs de Winters). To what extent do each of them truly count?
Josie Swallow
2025-11-24 20:27:36 +0000 UTCThe tension just ramps up the entire way through these chapters. It's so incredibly well done. That culmination by the window is one of the most chilling and compelling scenes I've ever read. Is Mrs Danvers the real widow here? I suspect she still knew the Rebecca that Rebecca wanted her to, but she's more of an apparition than a real person, reanimated briefly by the thing she loved the most in the world. There are different kinds of love, and Mrs Danvers embodies that blind devotion.
Dorothy Watson
2025-11-08 10:54:34 +0000 UTCI loved this ghost story. Not all ghosts are sheet-wearing-walk- through-walls types!
NicoleA
2025-11-08 00:45:17 +0000 UTCHi Sandra. And welcome 😊 You don’t need to love a specific book here to participate in the conversation on it. When you read the comments, you’ll find you’re not alone in your perception in this case. There’s still always something to be gained out of every read Benjamin guides us through. And it’s an interesting experiment to figure out which characters we might feel compassion for and with which perhaps not so much, and why.
Ylva
2025-11-05 23:35:26 +0000 UTCLoved Loved Loved this reread. I remember my first reaction, just a joy...atmospheric. I think Rebecca was a plain old villain. People didn't thrive around her
Stephanie Ecklund
2025-11-01 00:31:38 +0000 UTCSo I guess I have a different take than Ben on the section where Max says he remembers being with his mother, who was picking the dead blooms from the roses. Ben indicates it represents death, which it surely does. But I remember walking with my mother when she was removing dead blooms from flowers and having her explain to me that the flowers could support only one - the living or the dead - and if she didn’t remove the dead blossoms there would be no energy for the new ones. It seems to me that Max’s inability to move beyond Rebecca’s death prevents him from truly living and enjoying a new bloom.
Janet
2025-10-27 18:22:11 +0000 UTCI guess I’m alone in finding the narrator boring. “Yes” she says over and over. No spirit. I know she was subdued by the surroundings, etc but, come on, what an empty person. I didn’t like anything about her. I tried hard to like this book. I read it, watched the Hitchcock movie, read the book again. Still can’t get it. Am I too old, too shallow, too stupid? I’m new to this book club. I enjoy the lectures and the comments but I just don’t appreciate this book.
Sandra D’Onofrio
2025-10-27 13:52:08 +0000 UTCI picked up The Crying of Lot 49 after reading Rebecca. In a modern way it echos the path to madness similar to Mrs de Winter.
Vince Barbosa
2025-10-27 13:11:07 +0000 UTCI really loved this book! So much fun to read and experience. The ending surprised me - it was fantastic and actually quite sublime. The tension builds up in such a unique way as we experience the narrator's feelings as she wakes up from a bad dream, goes to sit by Maxim, then notices the "first red streak of sunrise. Little by little it spread across the sky...I glanced at him and saw his face, I saw his eyes...He drove faster and faster". As we, the readers, begin to understand what is happening, we are left with the haunting closing words, "It was shot with crimson, like a splash of blood. And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea" I had to go back and read it again to make sure I was understanding it right. Wow! Ms Danvers was a frightening character and one I won't forget. To me her and Rebecca possessed a strange symbiotic relationship. I think this was the scariest aspect of the story for me. Even though Rebecca was dead, she lived through Mrs. Danvers. Sadly, the narrator is constantly haunted by this "symbiotic creature", even at the very end. After I finished the book I watched the 1979 BBC series - I found this to be a very good retelling of the story. I still want to see the others. Thanks Ben, for the links, and I'm looking forward to listening to your lecture tonight!
Estella
2025-10-27 00:50:54 +0000 UTCI actually loved everything about Rebecca! About the characters—In my head I called the narrator Morgelyn—a beautiful and unusual Cornish name (more-GHELL-in). I identified a lot with “Morgelyn,” especially in my young adulthood, which was like hers unguided and for all intents and purposes, parentless and vagabond. For better or for worse, she and the younger I shared many characteristics. I know a slew of men like Max, especially family brought up in Europe, uncles, older cousins, silent or reticent for the most part but surprisingly loquacious, almost passionate, on certain topics (for Max it was flowers). People growing up more recently than me (ahem) no doubt find Max an unlovable, unfeeling, harsh boar of a man—but consider the time frame! He is a perfect representation of a certain type from that era. We are too quick to judge characters from the past according to our contemporary standards—and certainly I did want to shake them both from time to time! Mrs. Danvers of course HAD to be the terrifying old crone, Beatrice the common-sense, chummy sister-in-law, Frank the sympathetic friend, Favell the sleazy blackmailer. And Ben, like Benjy in The Sound and the Fury, the teller of cryptic truths to add to the mystery. All in all, an excellent page turner, even in its second read 50+ years later!
Yvonne Finnegan
2025-10-26 19:56:23 +0000 UTCNot since the white supremacy jewelry controversy. Jury still out with me but pushing hold until it gets resolved.
Kay Greig
2025-10-26 12:53:50 +0000 UTCSince we are deep into the gothic, is anyone listening to the new Taylor Swift album -- “The Fate of Ophelia”? That song is dripping with the gothic. It reminds me of our Narrator.
Greg
2025-10-26 11:52:35 +0000 UTC
