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Flashbacks
Chapter 21
Explanation and Analysis—The Mmes. de Winter:
Rebecca and the narrator are foils. The narrator is practically fated to compare herself to Rebecca because she is following in Rebecca's footsteps as Maxim's wife.
At first it seems as though they are complete opposites. Rebecca was self-assured, cultured, tall, beautiful, and commanding. The narrator, on the other hand, is constantly questioning herself. She doesn't feel old enough, beautiful enough, or socially competent enough to run Manderley. She struggles to feel that the name "Mrs. de Winter" belongs to her, even though it is both legally hers and also the only real name she has in the novel. Even in name, she is eclipsed by Rebecca.
The more that is revealed about Rebecca, the more it seems that it may be a good thing that the narrator is not like her. Rebecca could be cruel. She had strict rules about the way things were to operate at Manderley, and the narrator starts to discover that she prefers to do things differently. For instance, she prefers to be a bit less formal with some of the servants.
However, after Maxim confesses to the narrator that he murdered Rebecca, more similarities between the two of them begin to emerge. In Chapter 21, the narrator takes herself by surprise by ordering the servants to throw away a meal of leftovers and cook something new. She remarks:
I had not thought it would be so easy to be severe. I wondered why it had seemed hard for me before.
Previously, the narrator has left it entirely up to Mrs. Danvers to determine the menu and make decisions about the house. Mrs. Danvers is as shocked as the narrator by this sudden change in her demeanor. The reader can easily answer the narrator's question for her: it was hard for her to be "severe" before because she had very little confidence in her role as Mrs. de Winter. Paradoxically, learning that Maxim killed Rebecca increased her confidence on the spot. Instead of worrying about how dangerous Maxim is, she finds it soothing to know that Maxim would rather be married to her than Rebecca. She enjoys scheming with Maxim to cover up the murder. At last, it becomes clear that the two Mrs. de Winters may both be a match for Maxim's own conniving nature.
Related Themes:
