Jealousy In Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

While many readers will argue the novel Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is a love story, it is in fact a story about jealousy. There are several examples of jealousy, including Mrs. Danvers, who constantly brags about how great Maxim’s first wife Rebecca was compared to the new Mrs. De Winter. “Jealousy is an attitude or disposition in which one is apprehensive of losing a position or affection, and becoming resentful or bitter in rivalry”(dictionary.com). In Rebecca, the issue of jealousy is shown through many of the characters. Mrs. Danvers, Mrs. Van Hopper, Maxim, and the second wife of Maxim all show examples of jealousy. These characters are willing to destroy the lives of others for their own selfish reasons. One of the best points

Van Hopper was one of the first characters who began to show jealousy in the novel. She was interested in Maxim when she initially met him, but he showed no interest in her. He was interested in soon to be wife. When Mrs. Van Hopper found out Maxim wanted to marry her assistant, she was not happy for her at all. She was trying to make her feel insecure from the beginning. She told her, “You haven’t the experience, you don’t know that milieu. You can scarcely string two sentences together at my bridge teas, what are you going to say to all his friends?”(59). She then later tells her “Of course, you know why he is marrying you, don’t you? You haven’t flattered yourself, he’s in love with you” (60)? She should have been happy for her, but she could not. She was upset because she wanted Maxim and he wanted her young

Her son did an interview and said that his mom did write the book due to some jealousy towards a woman her husband was previously in love with. Even though many people have different views of the book, many of us can still see the jealousy within the novel. Several different writers have given their opinion on the book, but most of them find the jealous portion of the plot. According to Yardley (2004), he was “utterly caught up in the novel’s plot when first I read it, I simply didn’t understand that this isn’t just a novel about a lovesick girl’s obsessive jealousy of her husband’s dead first wife, it is also a book about the interweaving of past and present”(p. 3). Kate (2013) said “Rebecca is an absolutely gripping and powerful novel to which any teenage girl can relate as the themes of identity crisis and competition with another woman will undoubtedly have resonance for many readers”(1). This book opens the reader’s eyes to the depths a jealous person will go to ruin someone else’s