'Rebecca': Favorites

[Scheherazade]

Who is your favorite character in Rebecca? What is your favorite quote/passage?





Book Club Regulations (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4104)

[Scheherazade]

In this book, I did not like any of the main characters. The narrator is far too passive for my liking. In the beginning I liked her until she accepted Maxim's proposal. Even though I didn't like Maxim, I was expecting she would be more assertive (it was 'brave' of her to go to his room with the excuse of saying good bye, I thought). However, she lost it all once they were at Manderley.

Rebecca, although she never appears in the novel in person, is the one with strength and she is more memorable than the Narrator herself, I thought. She at least had some gusto and was a strong character even though she was not a very 'nice' person.

I liked Mrs Danvers' character because of her eerie auro; her dedication to Rebecca is amazing... What did you think of that, by the way? Do you think she was in love with Rebecca? The passage where Mrs Danvers finds the Narrator in Rebecca's room and talks about Rebecca is my favorite part in the book. It was kind of chilly, the way she kept the room in her memory and went around touching her things. Also, it was very cunning of her to suggest Rebecca's costume for the ball! Yes, very interesting character, overall.

Looking at the characters list, I think Frank is the one I really liked because of his loyalty and strength. I am wondering if he was in love with Rebecca but even so he managed himself the best throughout the story.

Now thinking about it, maybe one of the things which makes this book so endearing to me is the fact that there are no perfect characters. They are all flawed, hard to sympathize with and never above criticism.

[NNoah3]

I enjoyed very much reading this book.
I agree with Scheherazade and I did not like the main characters too. Maxim de Winter thought in his superiority that he deserved everything. I hated too much that he walked away of his crime without punishment.

I dislike the narrator because her passivity, her weak character. She was so naive in believing and following Mrs. Danvers' advice. She wanted to please everybody. She hated that everything in the house made her and Maxim remembering Rebecca, but she did nothing about that.

I dislike Mrs. Danvers because she was kind of fanatic about Rebecca and she refused to accept her death. Nevertheless I like her loyalty and dedication to Rebecca.

I think that Rebecca, although she was dead, was the stronger character in the book. She minimized the character of the narrator. She was a strong woman who knew what she wanted in her life, but she did not concern about other people. She used them to be succeed in everything.

[Lady19thC]

I agree. The narrator drove me crazy with her lack of self esteem and constant demeaning self dialogue. This just made Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers so much stronger. Max seemed a bit off and twisted, as a result of all he had been through, and I never felt like they would have a happy marriage, by any means. Rebecca certainly had the upperhand throughout the whole book, but really only through Mrs. Danvers. It was as though Rebecca lived through her. Mrs. Danvers kept her memory alive in the house, from her room, her accessories to her spirit. She was so clever and cruel, at the same time, but you pretty much knew she would come out on top. And she did, if she was the one who set fire to the place. If Rebecca couldn't live there, no one could! I would love to know what Mrs. Danvers did after this novel!!

[Scheherazade]

What did everyone else think of Frank?

And the relationship between Rebecca and Mrs D? What was going on there?

And who would you vote for as your favorite character all said and done? (scroll up) :)

[Lady19thC]

I voted for Mrs. Danvers! LOL

Between her and Rebecca...well, she certainly had an infatuation with her, and I think Rebecca played along, though whether or not they actually acted upon it, is another thing.

I wanted to like Frank, and I often did, but for some reason I felt like I could not trust anyone-that they all had something they were covering up, so I felt like I could not devote myself to one character in particular. I just thought Mrs. Danvers was so coniving, that one couldn't help but see her get the best of everyone, somehow! I have actually never seen a movie version of this, and would like to, to see how everyone is portrayed!

[NNoah3]

I cannot decide to whom vote, I am in favor between Rebecca, Mrs. Danvers and Frank Crawley. Can I think about it a little more time?.

Even though Rebecca was dead and to my taste she wasn't a good woman, she lived as she wanted.
Mrs. Danvers in her dedication to Rebecca's memory is kind of madness...

The passage where Mrs. Danvers finds the Narrator in Rebecca's room and talks about Rebecca is my favorite part in the book. It was kind of chilly, the way she kept the room in her memory and went around touching her things.
This passage was the only one that Mrs. Danvers showed her sadness, I like it too. As for if she was in love with Rebecca, probably yes, but a kind of sickly love.
I didn't like too much Frank Crawley, although he is the good guy in the story, the thing that bothers me more is that in the end he knew what Maxim had done and like everyone he did nothing about it. Nevertheless with that he showed his loyalty to Maxim.

[Amra]

I would have to say "none of the above" to the choices offered.. My favourite "character" would have to be Rebecca before we actually figure out how she is. :goof: Namely, what makes the whole book is the imagination and illusions the reader has about Rebecca, the presence that she has in the book, the anticipation to find out the whole truth, and all that is found in the perception of Rebecca that the narrator has BEFORE we finally hear the whole story from Max. The Rebecca that Max portrays is not half as intriguing as the one we get to know through the narrator. Got my point? :banana:

[Scheherazade]

It is true that the image of Rebecca we hear from Max is far from perfect; however, I think it is also important to remember that that is his point of view and he is surely not being objective when he tells things. He is a creepy man in my opinion and I sincerely cannot trust his version of the events. He didn't mind about Rebecca's affairs as long as she kept them in London and turned a blind to it all. Why? Because Rebecca, undoubtedly, was a good hostess and, by his own admission, made the Manderley what it is at the time. Excellent reason to keep a marriage going! :rolleyes:

Of course, Mrs D also admitted that Rebecca liked to getting her own way and that did not mind using her sex appeal to that end; at least she was honest about it, unlike Max.

[rachel]

I felt like screaming after ten pages with the whimpiness of the new Mrs. And as for Max what kind of a guy marries someone with the mindset of a grade nine and takes her home to cope with a woman that was so fanatically loyal to Rebecca that you were sure she carried a knife in her apron pocket to plunge into the new intruder first chance she got.
Rebecca may or may not have been as evil as Max made out. I think he liked her openess and in your face attitude along with her beauty enough to want her for his own. He just in my opinion was too stuffy and sedate and boring for Rebecca and did nothing about it as time went on so she did. I don't approve of it but I admire that she at least inhaled and exhaled unlike her husband and new wife.
And the life they lived after under the hard blue sky of the tropics, makes you kind of want to plunge into the ocean just to get away from them.

"There's an east wind coming Watson" Holmes to watson concerning the second world war.

[papayahed]

I finally finished the book. I agree one of the best passages is when the narrator and Mrs. Danvers were in Rebecca's room - very creepy.

I did not pick a favorite it would be a toss up between Frank and Jasper, and I'm leaning towards Jasper. I would like to think the Rebecca came on to Frank and not the other way around - but we don't know which is why Jasper is winning.

I do think Mrs. Danvers was in love with Rebecca - I'd be interested to see how Rebecca treated Mrs. Danvers, I'm betting not very well.

[downing]

Wow! I cannot imagine how can you like Rebecca or Mrs. Danvers!!! I hate them! My favourite characer was Second Mrs de Winter and Max. They were forming such a nice couple, two persons in love. I really did feel sorry for Second Mrs de Winter after the ''joke'' Mrs Danvers made her, for the ball from Manderley. She was a good character and a women in love. I did so like the part in which she was with Maxim in Monte Carlo. Could I have choosen 2 charcters? I would have choosen Max,too. I did chose Second Mrs de Winter. Max's life was ruined by Rebecca. She was a horible person, I beleive. A grand book!

[dramasnot6]

It truly was a wonderful book! The most memorable plot twist i can recall in a novel. I always use it as an example for the importance of characterization and storylines with other students who dont quite understand those concepts. This was my first Daphne De Maurier read and i have been an addict ever since. Anyone read "The House on the Strand" too?