Examples Of Entrapment In Rebecca

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Entrapment in the Film “Rebecca” Entrapment is the idea of cornering someone or something in order to limit potential freedom and ability to live freely. One may immediately imagine a bird which is meant to soar in the skies that is trapped in a cage and cannot be free to do what its heart desires. The idea of being caged may come in many forms for different individuals. Whether this is a physical constraint or a one of a mental state, it can very easily take a toll on one’s thoughts and prevent them from living out the life that they imagined themself living. In the film “Rebecca”, (Hitchcock, 1940) this theme is very important throughout the film and is prominent in the life of the second Mrs. de Winter. Being crushed by a world that is …show more content…

de Winter is constantly compared to Rebecca, (Mr. de Winter’s late wife). No matter where the character turned, someone was mentioning, mourning or comparing her to the late Rebecca. This is seen several times throughout the movie but specifically when Mrs. Danvers, the house keeper, finds every reason possible to talk about Rebecca. She pops up unexpectedly many times to state “She knew everyone that mattered. Everyone loved her.” After Mrs. Danvers tricks the second Mrs. de Winter into wearing the same gown as Rebecca to the costume ball, she then states, “I watched you go down just as I watched her a year ago. Even in the same dress you couldn't compare,” and later on taunts her with, “You tried to take her place. You let him marry you.” This is just one of several scenes where the second Mrs. de Winter is compared to Rebecca and told that she just isn’t as good as Rebecca was. Even Maxim had shown that he had loved everything about Rebecca which he later reveals to the new Mrs. de Winter that he despised her in every way possible. Whether this is true or not, almost every character had something to say about how Rebecca presented herself while she was living. Even though Rebecca is not physically present and never actually takes a physical form in the film, she is most certainly present in almost every scene in the film. This is important because it forces the audience to take on their own opinion of the character by compiling all of …show more content…

de Winter compared to and reminded of Rebecca constantly but she is also belittled by her surroundings as well. This is shown particularly in scenes such as when she walks into one of the rooms in Mandalay where the fireplace is enormous compared to her stature. It towers over her as she is shown looking around at the tall ceilings. This is emphasized when the butler, Frith walks in the large room to ask if the new Mrs. de Winter would like a fire to be started and he too towers over her as well. This seems to make her uncomfortable based on the look on her face. She comments on how large the room is and she could almost be portrayed as a tourist in this scene by the way that she looks around taking in the environment for the first time. There is also many shadow scenes in the film which emphasize the kind of unknown or sketchy parts of life in the film. These are important to the development of the characters because “…shadow scenes can do a measure of justice to the complexity of viewing, poised as it so often is in Hitchcock between acceptance and dismay, expectation and incredulity” (Schantz 6). There are many scenes that use shadows but an important one is when Mrs. Danvers is shown in Rebecca’s room and shadows seem to swallow her as she looms around the room. Shadow scenes such as this one set an eerie, somewhat evil precedence over the character and show the audience that she is a danger to some other characters such as the new Mrs. de

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