Analysis of Hitchcock's Rebecca and

Tania Modleski's "Woman and the Labyrinth: Rebecca"

Freudian psychoanalysis states that in order for a woman to become heter
osexually complete she must shed her desires to please her mother, and accept he
r role as wife and mother herself. The phantasmal and invisible character of Reb
ecca represents the pre-oedipal mother, one who is strong and infallible. She al
so represents the symbolic representation of the male castration anxiety. Becaus
e Rebecca is invisible, Maxim cannot fetishize or demystify her. Her invisible f
orm makes it impossible for any man to gain control over her in the classical na
rrative way (Modleski 52). Not only can Rebecca not be seen, she herself becomes
an all-seeing presence through Mrs. Danvers as well as Manderley and the cottag
e. She has affectively stolen the gaze and the power it confers, away from the m
ale protagonist. She threatens the masculine power of other men (Maxim) by being
powerful and untouchable. Rebecca is never seen, only the ever present R stampe
d on pillow cases, paper and handkerchiefs remind us of her all-seeing eye. The
character Mrs. Danvers, the servant, is also un-caged by the patriarchal constru
ct of the cinematic screen. She appears suddenly, un-accommodated by the camera.
Her ability to move freely and without restraint makes her a powerful and dange
rous character. We (as well as the heroine) are never sure when or where she wil
l pop up next. Her command of space makes her a foil to the heroine while at the
same time a mirror of Rebecca. The heroine's lost looks, clumsiness and confuse
d roaming around Manderley further show her to be inadequate and not as capable
as the cunning and competent Mrs. Danvers (and her invisible mistress).
The unnamed heroine of the film is represented as childish and insignifi
cant. She is the child and Rebecca (along with Mrs. Danvers) are the pre-oedipal
mother figures. She is constantly dwarfed by her surroundings (the huge house,
furniture, and doors), creating a physical representation of her own feelings of
inadequacy is being able to take over as Mrs. De Winter. Mrs. Danvers wishes to
replace the heroine with Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers forces the intimate details of R
ebecca's life onto her as well as suggesting a costume for the ball that is exac
tly like one Rebecca had previously worn. By donning Rebecca's "costume," the he
roine is equating herself with the desires of Rebecca, instead of Maxim. What sh
e thinks is her own power in becoming the woman Maxim wants, is in fact a power
she is adopting from Rebecca; a power that is feared and despised by her husband
.
The heroine's identity is not only childishly inadequate, but unformed b
ecause she is constantly concerned with appeasing Mrs. Danvers (and subsequently
Rebecca), rather than her husband. In the projection room scene, the heroine sh
ows up in a black evening gown, equipped with elegant broach and hairdo. She doe
s not realize that dressing like Rebecca pleases only Mrs. Danvers, who wishes t
o mould the heroine into a re-creation of the first Mrs. De Winter, and only ang
ers Maxim. She is not fulfilling the desires of her new husband, but of her "mot
her figure" (Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca), and thus is only assimilating herself in
to the role of Rebecca, rather than equating her own desires with those of her h
usband: "The desire for the mother impedes the progress of the heterosexual unio
n" (Modleski 51). Maxim is furious, because her sophisticated appearance reminds
him of the powerful Rebecca, who represented a threat to his masculinity. Rebec
ca's sexual prowess, cold-hearted adultery and social competence only heightened
Maxim's own feelings of inadequacy. This is why he wants the heroine to remain
young and innocent. She is no threat to him as such and her naive adoration rein
forces his own masculinity. Maxim refers to her as a child, or a "good girl," an
d asks her to never grow-up.
The heroine and Maxim eventually overcome Rebecca, but when Mrs. Danvers
burns Mandeley to the ground, we (as well as Modleski) have to wonder if such a
powerful force as Rebecca cannot be destroyed by the equally powerful sea, can
fire do any better? The disembodied Rebecca represents a symbolic form of femini
ne power which is uncontrollable, untouchable and unforgettable. The pre-oedipal
mother was never truly stripped of her authority through castration. Although s
he lacks a form (and a phallus), she does not lack a somehow equally powerful en
dowment.