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…
ruled by the upper-class as well as the men in her life, this character has no choice other than to crouch down while her surroundings tower over her. This is caused by the men that are in her life such as her new husband, Maxim, as well as the social construct that is set forth by the society which she lives in. This film is particularly interesting because it is different from many of Alfred Hitchcock’s other movies. “Hitchcock was more interested in how cold cinematic technique could be used to trouble and terrorize a male protagonist than in the sentimental and psychological consequences of a woman’s emotional life.” (Armstrong 132). Hitchcock’s typical film does not focus on the entrapment of the woman but rather the man in the film. However, in “Rebecca” this is largely the central them of the film which sets it aside from others. Emphasized in the film, the new Mrs.
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…
the pieces of the film together. It is as if there is no way for the new Mrs. de Winter to escape Rebecca’s shadow, she becomes imprisoned in this higher class society which she tries to fit into. She is forced to attempt to be better than the way that the late Rebecca is portrayed by almost every other character. This takes a huge toll on her mental health as the movie progresses. At the beginning of the movie, the new Mrs. de Winter is shown to be mentally stable and decently put together when she is a paid companion. However, as she takes on the title of Mrs. de Winter the stress begins to pile on as she attempts to live out a life that she has never before experienced. Her lowest point in the film is shown when she contemplates jumping out of the window with Mrs. Danvers whispering in her ear to go for it, to end it all. With all of the responsibilities and competition that came along with being the new Mrs. de Winter, this seemed like a plausible plan to the character at the moment. In this moment Rebecca, although not physically present, seemed to be winning the fight against her. Not only is the second Mrs.
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
Winter. With this unknown evil looming, the new Mrs. de Winters is not accustomed to this type of lifestyle. Due to the fact that she comes from a lower class life, everything in her new home is larger and grander than her which is something that she is not familiar with. She does not seem to really fit in with the environment of Mandalay like the butlers and others in the home. This emphasizes the difference between her and the other characters which are of a higher social class than her. The new Mrs. de Winter is also belittled in a mental way by being talked down to by almost all of the other characters in the film. The main person who belittles her is her own husband, Maxim. He reminds her of how young and naive she is by calling her a “little fool” and begging her, “Please promise me never to wear black satin or pearls... or to be 36 years old.” Mr. de Winter goes off for long periods of time, leaving the new Mrs. de Winter alone in Mandalay with the house keepers and butlers. Knowing that she is not used to this kind of lifestyle, he almost does nothing to help her adjust to her surroundings and goes on about his busy days. This is hard on her since she initially moved to Mandalay to be his wife and yet rarely sees or spends time with Mr. de Winter. Maxim knows very well that the new Mrs. de Winter is out of place in this new lifestyle as an upper class citizen by marriage. This is shown when he apologized to her for being selfish in marrying her and putting her into such a position that she is not accustomed to. Although he knew this, he still brought her into his life without her knowing about the secrets and what was behind closed doors. Being physically and mentally or emotionally belittled is entrapment in another sense for the new Mrs. de Winter. Feeling small and unimportant can put restraints on how she may act or feel about herself as a lower class citizen who fights to fill the role of a de Winter. The new Mrs. de Winter lacks a name throughout the film and adapted the name Mrs. de Winter when married to Maxim. She never was given a name of her own which emphasizes her lack of identity or importance as a lower class citizen. This is emphasized in the beginning of the film where she is shown as working as a paid companion for a higher class lady, Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper, in which she is given only pet names. Even when Maxim first meets the new Mrs. de Winter, he also only calls her by pet names that he gave her. Every other character in the film is given a name, even the butler, Frith. Even though Frith is a butler which is sometimes seen as a lower class occupation, he is of enough social class to be given a name in the film which compares her lack of identity to his obvious importance. Even in the scene with Mrs. Danvers where the new Mrs. de Winter screams, “I am Mrs. de Winter!” forcing her new identity on her after lacking her own for so long. This lack of her own identity traps the new Mrs. de Winter in the idea that she cannot be herself. Also, the late Rebecca is always known as Rebecca, no questions asked. However, Maxim’s new wife only gains a name after being married into a wealthy family. The lack of name until married into a higher class really emphasizes the fact that because she lacked money, she became unimportant in the world. This really keeps the character in a cage as if there is no way to really find her own identity and make it as her own person in the world. Throughout the entire film, the new Mrs. de Winter is trapped within the confines of her mentality as well as her environment. Whether this is through being constantly compared to Rebecca or being belittled and lacking a name, she is shown in the film as a trapped girl who struggles to take on her own identity. The new Mrs. de Winter cannot seem to escape her fate even as she attempts to take on the role as Maxim’s new wife. This seems like it would be a fairytale ending where the character finally gains her identity after marriage. However, the only happily ever after that the character gains is at the very end of the movie when Mandalay goes up in flames with Mrs. Danvers inside. Although gruesome, the character finally, at least partially, escapes the confines of Rebecca and Mandalay which plays a huge role in her being a caged bird who is ready to fly.
The reasoning pitfall raising a red herring appears in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible when Mr. Parris questions John Proctor’s religion in court. Parris commits a logical fallacy by stating “Such a Christian that will not come to church but once in a month” (88). Paris uses the red herring to mislead the court into questioning Proctor’s moral character instead of examining Procter’s evidence. Damaging Proctor’s reputation develops the theme reputations before reality; for once Parris damaged Proctor’s reputation Proctor’s evidence held no water against the Parris family stands high in the community.
The Crucible is dense with the theory of “names” and what they mean to each character. A name could mean a form of identity, or a stature within the village. There is a relation between names and reputation. However, having a good name is irrelevant compared to the truth. How one perceives oneself, and how someone can stick to their moral codes is the most important virtue. Rebecca Nurse and Abigail Williams are polar opposite of each other in the play. Nurse is the embodiment of all goodness, while Williams is the exact “devil” Salem is trying to expel. Through these models of goodness and evil, the truth, while eliciting punishment, is better than preserving a “name” that is carries no substantial meaning to oneself.
¨Why, it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot, I cannot.¨ This is a quote said by Rebecca Nurse, a character from The Crucible, while in court before she was hung. Rebecca Nurse was arrested for allegedly killing Ann Puntnamś. She was a very religious women. She never lied, and she went to church every Sunday. She gave lots of money to charities around her. When in court for her case she couldn't lie about killing Annś babies even though she did not kill the babies. Rebecca and i have a few personality traits that can be viewed the same in that we both are modest and religious in our church, generous and charitable to people we know, and we are nurturing.
Elizabeth Proctor is a character from the novel The Crucible. Elizabeth Proctor is an example of a mother figure archetype. The definition of a mother figure is someone who guides and cares for others, and they emotionally, spiritually and physically support their family. Elizabeth Proctor is an example of a mother figure archetype because she is a mother and a wife, who cares for her family. She tries to protect her family at all costs. The main question I will use to research is: why is Elizabeth Proctor considered a mother figure? The reason I chose to research Elizabeth Proctor is because she has a small role in the story but she has a big influence in the plot. Through his play, Arthur Miller shows how
One great example would be Rebecca Nurse. Because Rebecca Nurse was a wise, independent, prominent woman with a high reputation in their society, she was then a prototype of what Puritans would call handmaiden of the devil. Miller even mentioned that Rebecca was “the wife of man of rising fortunes” based on her character description, which was also the target of the class in decline. Rebecca accepted her fate with ultimate pride and dignity to the very end, and refused to admit her supposed guilt after she was tried and sentenced to death. This succumb to the pressures of male authority imposed on her. At one point, she was directly referred to as a saint, whose brave willingness and conduct to choose death over renouncing herself. Rebecca
Injustice is something has become very common amongst us. People not assuming the responsibility for what they’ve done, the damage they’ve caused. In this case it occurs in the crucible. Abigail is not only the one to blame for the disasters that occurred in the crucible, but is also someone whose word can not be trusted.She has lied about everything, she went around dragging people with good reputations down without hesitation or any remorse. She blamed others for things they were free of guilt for, False accusations towards everyone were the only things that came out her mouth. Even though she was also accompanied by other liars who also took role in the murders of innocents she is the one that has to take the biggest blame for it all. She
How can a girl who condemned seventy two to a death sentence and drank a charm to kill a man’s wife, a man she has slept with on more than one occasion be the victim? It’s possible when the town she lives in is worse than her. Although Abigail Williams is typically thought of as the antagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, she is in fact a victim as much as any other tragic character in the play.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, it appears to be that Abigail is a victim of her society. She was, in a way, pressured to do what she had done. Many things may have influenced her behavior. That much is obvious. However, she should not be excused for what she did.
Protecting the innocent is a major theme in To Kill a Mockingbird. It is shown in many ways. Some ways include how Atticus tries to protect Tom Robinson, how Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout, and how Heck Tate tries to protect Boo. Harper Lee may be trying to show how society should protect the innocent through her characters and their actions.
Lydia Velishek Mr. Stensrud Honors: US Literature & Composition 10 October 2017 Title Here It is clear that Abigail Williams is portrayed as the antagonist in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, taking place in the late 1600s in Salem, Massachusetts and based on the witch-trials therein. She serves as a catalyst for the witch trials by falsely accusing innocent townspeople with the intent of maintaining the position of power she gains from them. Due to the transparency of her actions, Abigail’s ulterior motives are also distinguishable.
“It’s strange how I knew you, but I suppose you look as such a good soul should. We have all heard of your great charities in Beverly.” This quote, stated by Reverend Hale, referring to Rebecca Nurse explains how others in the town think very highly of her. Therefore, when Rebecca is accused of using witchcraft to murder Ann Putnam's babies during the Salem Witchcraft Trials, the townspeople suggest that it may be a hoax. I can relate to Rebecca Nurse because we are both greatly understanding, extremely skeptical, and very nurturing.
Gilman uses setting to suggest that imprisoning oppression causes a type of loneliness that can lead to insanity. Gilman's young mother describes the nursery bedroom "with windows that ... [are] barred for little children" (426). In the above passage, the barred windows seem to intensify her oppression, and her perception that she is being imprisoned. Gilman also uses the young woman's description of the summer home to express her feeling of being all alone. "It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of Eng...
will happen next time. Furthermore, the fact that the phrase makes it seem that the shadows are scared of something, and the reader would normally associate shadows with blackness and fear, makes the reader. feel uneasy and heighten tension. It is almost as if fear is afraid of fear of the self. The setting of the story also creates tension and suspense; "the great red room of Lorraine Castle, in which the young duke died.
...nd fear of the domesticity that she is imprisoned in. These ideas only reiterate the gilded cage idea of the nineteenth century and the association of all that is bad in a society represented by the trappings of domestic life.
In the novel A Bird In The House, Margaret Laurence illustrates the theme of physical entrapment. All of the characters in the novel feel the need to escape their personal situation. In fact, the title is a symbol of entrapment because of the bird that is. trapped in the house and is also trying to get out. From my background knowledge.