“You have a lovely and unusual name.” Mrs de Winter from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca – a Gothic Heroine in Search of Identity
Journal Title: Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature - Year 2019, Vol 43, Issue 2
Abstract
The paper is devoted to the analysis of Mrs de Winter, one of the main characters from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, as an example of a Gothic figure. The analysis traces the stages in the development of the heroine by demonstrating how she first becomes, through the process of gothicisation, “the Gothic damsel in distress.” Vulnerable and easily threatened, she is defined solely in relation to her aristocratic husband, whose status she is unable to match. Then, however, as a result of her growth as an individual, Mrs de Winter is degothicised. We witness a change in her attitude toward her tormentors: she no longer feels intimidated; she starts developing, in what we view as an identity-building process, her public and personal sense of a mature and independent individual.
Authors and Affiliations
Anna Kędra-Kardela
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP610212
- DOI 10.17951/lsmll.2019.43.2.75-85
- Views 41
- Downloads 0
Developing Individual Language Competences via Task-Based Learning and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
In Austria optional English language teaching (ELT) starts in kindergarten. It becomes obligatory and curriculum based in the first year of primary school. The first two years language teaching happens in an integrative...
Genre et littérature au xviie siècle : La Princesse de Clèves et ses enjeux politiques
This article explores the political implications, both at the time and for present-day readers, of the way La Princesse de Clèves calls into question gender norms/roles. Analyzing plots and characters in Lafayette’s text...
Mistaken for Ghosts: The Gothic Trope of Catholic Superstition in Conrad and Ford’s Romance
A perennially fruitful activity in Gothic studies is to track the development of Gothic tropes as popular literature evolves. Joseph Conrad’s career, which spanned Victorianism and early Modernism, provides examples of t...
Autour de l’écrit-client : analyse de lettres commerciales de vente par correspondance produites en milieu universitaire marocain
The mail order business letter has a dual purpose for the company: it arouses the customer’s ordering act and builds a long term customer-relationship. This relationship is directly built on supply and is considered as a...
Lo studio morfo-sintattico dei costrutti determinanti con il pronome dimostrativo variabile quello
The aim of the present paper is to review, describe and analyze determinant constructs, activated by the Italian variable demonstrative pronoun quello. The main corpus of the study consists on the discrimination and desc...