Maximilian (Maxim) de Winter

Maximilian (Maxim) de Winter, middle-aged owner of Manderley. He is detached, moody, mysterious, at times gracious, friendly, and apologetic for his seeming rudeness, only to return unaccountably to his reserve. This reserve is finally removed with the lifting of the burden on his conscience.

Mrs. de Winter

Mrs. de Winter, Maxim’s young wife, the narrator. A shy, sensitive orphan, she first meets Maxim through her older traveling companion, Mrs. Van Hopper. Deeply in love with him, she happily accepts his proposal and marries him. Puzzled and troubled by Maxim’s strange shifts of mood and his abstracted manner and by Mrs. Danvers’ obvious dislike of her, she thinks herself unwelcome, an inferior successor to Rebecca at Manderley. Desiring Maxim’s love, she yet remains aloof because of her brooding insecurity and thus hinders his revealing his painful memories to her.

Rebecca de Winter

Rebecca de Winter, Maxim’s dead wife, a very beautiful woman who charmed many people but who tortured her husband with flagrant infidelities. When she learned that she would soon die of cancer, she taunted her husband with a false story of her unborn child by another man until she drove him to murder her.

Mrs. Danvers

Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper at Manderley. Tall, gaunt, with a face like a death’s head, she is cold, formal, and resentful of the new Mrs. de Winter, who has replaced the Rebecca she adored. She is the first to reveal to Mrs. de Winter what Rebecca really was like with men. After the closing of the inquiry into Rebecca’s death, Mrs. Danvers apparently sets fire to Manderley and disappears.

Frank Crawley

Frank Crawley, estate manager at Manderley. A thin, colorless bachelor, he is a devoted friend of Maxim.

Jack Favell

Jack Favell, Rebecca’s cousin, tanned and good looking, but flashy, with hot, blue eyes and a loose mouth. He is a heavy drinker who attempts to blackmail Maxim after the discovery of Rebecca’s sunken boat.

Colonel Julyan

Colonel Julyan, a magistrate who suspects the truth about Rebecca’s death but keeps it to himself.

Mrs. Van Hopper

Mrs. Van Hopper, an overbearing American social climber who forces herself upon Maxim at Monte Carlo.

Beatrice Lacy

Beatrice Lacy, Maxim’s sister, tall, broad-shouldered, handsome, tweedy, inquisitive, blunt, and chatty.

Major Giles Lacy

Major Giles Lacy, Beatrice’s fat and genial husband.

Dr. Baker

Dr. Baker, a London physician visited by Rebecca (under Mrs. Danvers’ name) the day of her death. He reports that she was dying of cancer, though she appeared in good health.

Frith

Frith, Maxim’s elderly butler.

Clarice

Clarice, Mrs. de Winter’s young maid.

Ben

Ben, a simple-minded old man.

In Rebecca, du Maurier delves into the interplay between past and present. For Maxim and his second wife, these two timelines are deeply intertwined. The wife's troubled past causes her to feel insecure in her new marriage, while Maxim's previous relationship with Rebecca disrupts his bond with his new wife. Manderley, Maxim's ancestral home, serves as the clearest symbol of this connection between past and present. Because Rebecca beautified Manderley, Maxim endured a marriage he despised. Ironically, his fixation on preserving his legacy ultimately leads to Manderley's destruction. The novel suggests that both clinging to the past and trying to escape it are fraught with danger. Maxim's wife learns that one can only find a tenuous peace with time by remembering the past while living firmly in the present.

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
The novel also portrays the struggle between good, represented by Maxim and his new wife, and evil, embodied by Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers. Good triumphs in the end, but Maxim and his wife bear lasting scars from their confrontation with evil. Interestingly, du Maurier illustrates that passive, naive goodness cannot overcome evil. When the wife is timid and ingenuous, she inadvertently aids the forces of evil. Only when she becomes strong can she assist Maxim in defeating Rebecca. This theme is further complicated by the narrator's motivation. She eagerly helps Maxim defeat Rebecca, not because Rebecca symbolizes evil, but because she learns that he never loved his first wife.

Rebecca, the titular character, is already dead when the novel begins; nonetheless, her presence permeates the entire story. She is the source of Maxim's unease, much of his wife's insecurity, and Mrs. Danvers's vengeance. Although Rebecca is depicted as entirely malevolent, her character remains believable because the reader only sees her through the eyes of other characters. The malevolent nature of her servant, Mrs. Danvers, is also credible, as du Maurier convincingly shows how a plain woman like Mrs. Danvers could be mesmerized by Rebecca's power and beauty. The narrator is excessively timid and innocent, while Maxim is portrayed as sophisticated and jaded. Maxim is also the most enigmatic of the four main characters, revealing little of himself to anyone. This elusiveness enhances the novel's ambiguities, leaving the reader uncertain whether Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers have completely broken his spirit.

Rebecca, the titular character, is deceased before the novel begins, yet her presence permeates the entire story. She is the source of Maxim's unease, much of his second wife's lack of confidence, and Mrs. Danvers's vengeance. Although Rebecca is depicted as entirely malevolent, her character remains believable. This believability stems partly from the fact that the reader only sees fragments of her and partly because these glimpses are always filtered through the perspectives of other characters.

The malevolence of her servant, Mrs. Danvers, is also convincing. Du Maurier effectively illustrates how Mrs. Danvers, an ordinary woman, could be enthralled by Rebecca's power and beauty. The second wife is shown as overly timid and naive, while her husband is portrayed as worldly and cynical. Maxim is the most enigmatic of the four main characters, revealing very little of himself to anyone. This mystery enhances the novel, as the reader is never entirely sure if Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers have ultimately broken his spirit.