Deception In Rebecca By Daphne Du Maurier

Deception is portrayed in many forms in life. Through family, friends, strangers, and even government, it is hard to trust anyone. The novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, tells the story of how a lower-middle class woman navigates her new, fancier life filled with deception and mystery. Deception is a huge theme in Rebecca because there are many instances of it throughout. Rebecca deceives everyone into thinking she is innocent and pure, while Max and she deceive everyone into thinking that they have a happy marriage are the ideal couple. Another theme is justice and how to decide what is morally right. The plot and character development of Rebecca and Maxim show this because Max needs justification in his murder of Rebecca. The character

development of Max is important because he goes from a quiet, mysterious stranger to revealing his darkest secret to his new bride, and expecting her to stick with him through the ordeal. Rebecca’s development also goes along with her deception and how she was seen as perfect at the beginning, but her dark side is eventually revealed.

The Narrator’s character also develops from a shy and quiet girl to a strong-willed young woman. The Narrator’s point of view can also be examined as she is retelling the story from a number of years later, so it may not all be accurate. The setting, and possibly characterization, of the home, Manderley, is very significant because it was the scene of many of the most important events hat transpired throughout the story.

Notably, the title character of Rebecca is the character that is the most fascinating. She is already deceased when the story starts, so her development cannot be changed or stopped, because it has already happened it just needs to be revealed. After Max admits to killing Rebecca, he tells the story of how she tricked everyone she met, “’No one would guess meeting her that she was not the kindest, most generous, most gifted person in the world”(du Maurier 271). Anyone who had ever met Rebecca would immediately fall in love with her and think that she was just the most wonderful person. She was very smart in how she acted to make people think that she was truly this kind and welcoming, and knew exactly how to talk to everyone so

that they would only see her as wonderful. Later on, it is revealed that Rebecca had a separate living space in London where she kept her improper acts separate from Manderley, “What she did in London did not touch me-because of Manderley […] I told her she could see her friends in London” (275). Rebecca saw her “friends” in London and would casually keep up her appearances at Manderley, so that she and Maxim could still be seen as the happy couple they were. However, she started seducing men at Manderley, and bringing them to her boat house on the property, “She used to have this fellow Favell [her cousin] down to the cottage […] Then she would spend the night down there with him”(277). Rebecca was so dissatisfied and unsettled that she had affairs with her cousin, and Max did not like that because it was not in London and it was too close to Manderley, which was his place. Rebecca turned out to be a deceiving, manipulative, and highly disturbed individual, but few knew this side of her. Max was first introduced at the hotel Cote d’Azur as a kind man who actually talked and interacted with the Narrator, “’I’m afraid I must contradict you […] you are both having coffee with me’” (14). Max is seen as very kind because usually Mrs. Van Hopper’s guests forget about the Narrator, and she sits at a different table and quietly eats her meal or drinks her tea. Maxim is the first guest who has treated her like a human being, not only at tea time but also when he starts a romantic relationship with the Narrator. When he “proposes”, it is very abrupt and not like the Max who drove around with the Narrator, “No, I’m asking you to marry me, you little fool” (51). Max is starting to develop into his condescending self now because he knows that he can have someone to be superior to. Although he does eventually admit to loving the Narrator, he also has a superiority complex. Then, when he admits to killing Rebecca, a whole new side of him is exposed, “’She turned round and faced me, smiling […] When I killed her she was smiling still. I fired at her heart” (280). Max reveals that he actually felt inferior, for once, to Rebecca. She had been playing him ever since the start of their marriage, and he could not take being manipulated to, or not having power. Max felt like the only way to regain his power, and life, would be to kill Rebecca, and that is exactly what he did. The characters of Rebecca and Max both develop into colder, and more selfish beings as they both realize that the other needs to be in power.
The theme of justice is very significant because Max kills Rebecca, but faces no consequences for his actions.

It could be argued that since Rebecca was so horrible to him that she deserved it, and that is what the Narrator makes it seem like. After it is found out that Rebecca could have been suicidal, because she only had a couple months to live, Jack Favell is visibly devastated and remarks “The law can get you yet, and so can I, in a different way…”(370). Since Rebecca’s death was ruled a suicide, Max will face no legal consequences for his actions, only a semi-guilty conscious. Max seems above the law because he is upper class, and he covered up his mistakes very well. However, it is inferred that Julyan, the Colonel who was investigating this case, most likely knew that Max killed Rebecca, ”’He knew,’ said Maxim slowly, ‘of course he knew’”(374). If Julyan did know that Max killed Rebecca, he chose to ignore the law wither for lack of evidence against Max, Max’s social class, or he felt like Rebecca deserved it. Due to the fact that only Max, Frank, and the Narrator were some of the only people who knew about Rebecca’s manipulation, it would be left that he did not accuse Max because of lack of evidence and Max’s social class. The judge had also already decided that Rebecca committed suicide, and there was a great deal of evidence that supported this theory, so there would be no point in trying to dispute that at this point in time. Another huge theme is

deception. Like stated before, Rebecca deceived everyone she met by seeming like she was a wonderful person, but in reality she was terrible and manipulative. Rebecca even tried to seduce Frank, a loyal friend of Max, “’He broke down and told me. She never left him alone, he said, she was always going down to his house, trying to get him to the cottage. […] [Frank] who had always thought we were the normal happy married couple we pretended to be’” (275). Max and Rebecca bot were deceitful to their friends and family with their marriage, but Rebecca took it too far. Max and Rebecca had an agreement that she would leave her improper events for London, and Max would have Manderley, but she eventually brought them to Manderley, and even tried to seduce one of her husband’s dear friends. Therefore, the themes of justice and deception are both prevalent and evident through the characters of Rebecca and Max.
The Narrator has many interesting aspects about herself. To begin with, the Narrator is for the most part a reliable narrator, but there are many instances where she goes off into her imagination and imagines different outcomes of events. This can be confusing at times because it is not certain if she is recounting what actually happened or if she went off into her imagination. After the inquest into Rebecca’s death, the Narrator is back at Manderley and thinking about what would happen if Max is found guilty, “I did not know what happened. I did not know what people did. […] Suppose Maxim was taken away?”(315). Although it is obvious that she is using her imagination, the language and how much detail she brings in from her own life can make it confusing at times. Another unreliability is that this is being retold after many years, so it is natural that some things might be forgotten or misremembered. Also, the only the only side that is mentioned is Max’s side of the story, and he could be making Rebecca seem untrustworthy in order to gain sympathy and have a reason to have killed Rebecca. Although, Rebecca may have been a manipulative person, it cannot be completely trusted because there is only one side, and it is impossible for the other side to be heard because Rebecca is dead. Finally, barely any personal details about the Narrator are revealed in her retelling. When the Narrator and Max first start talking, he asks her age, “and when I [the Narrator] told him he laughed” (27). The age is revealed to Max, but not to whomever she is retelling the story to. Something else that is never revealed is the name of the Narrator, she is simply referred to as Mrs. de Winter. A possible reason for keeping the Narrator’s age and name a secret is to keep her anonymous, to not have her replace Rebecca, and that the story is more about Rebecca than the narrator. The Narrator also is a new Mrs. de Winter, so by not giving her another name than that makes her anonymous and easier to relate to. The story is mostly about Rebecca, and how she changed everything around her while she was alive, but it does not focus on the Narrator that much, so there is no need to give her a name because even though she is the narrator, she is not that important. Obviously she tells the story and adds more emotion to the plot, but overall she is not helpful in plot advancement. The narrator adds emotion because she is very emotional to the murder confession, and the events that follow, and that adds more suspense and emotion because it is viewed through her eyes, as someone who love Max and did nothing wrong. Therefore, the Narrator is unreliable due to the fact that she is retelling the story from many years later, and the story is not about her so that is why she is not given a name or age.
Therefore, through many aspects of the novel, the themes of justice and deception and thoroughly evident. The characters of Rebecca and Max go though many changes and they both become more manipulative and power hungry over the course of their marriage. The themes of justice and deceptions are again both evident in the characters of Max and Rebecca. Justice is not served for Rebecca because she does not deserve it, and Max is above the law because he is of an upper class. Rebecca is the most deceptive and manipulative character, because she manipulates men to have affairs with her so she can feel fulfilled, and so that she can have power. Her marriage to Max is also deceptive because everyone thinks that they are a very happily and in love couple, but that is not the case at all. Finally, the Narrator’s point of view is unreliable because only one side of the mystery is seen, Max’s, and it is not certain if Rebecca was actually that manipulative. Also, the Narrator does not receive a name or age to keep the focus on Rebecca, because the story is mostly about her and what she has done. To conclude, deception and justice work very well together, because in order to have justice served, everything must be clear and precise, and there can be no deception.