What literary techniques in Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca promote passive reading?
One of the ways in which Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca follows in the
tradition of the Gothic novel is that, like other works of the genre, it is an
essentially passive reading experience. Although some literary theorists may
deplore this, in fact, considerable skill in a specific sort of literary
technique is deployed in creating this effect.
The point of the 19th century sensation novel and subsequent versions of the
Gothic was related to the discoveries of Marx, Freud, and Darwin, that we are
all at the mercy of unseen on uncomprehended external forces that act upon us
without regard to our will. It is this sense of the protagonist, and empathetic
reader, being swept away by irresistible forces that produces a combination of
suspense and horror.
The techniques include first, narrative filled with action, so that the plot moves swiftly, but we are missing key pieces of...
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information and don’t understand why certain things are happening. A second key technique is limited third person narration; thus our viewpoint character is in ignorance. Finally, the almost clichéd and ordinary language used by du Maurier enables us to read very quickly, enforcing the sense of being swept away in a flood of actions.
The novel follows a chronological structure from chapter 3 onwards, which in itself does not demand too much active reading. However, the first chapter is a dream sequence, in which the narrator describes the gothic grandeur of the setting, Manderley-
The house was a sepulchre, our fear and suffering lay buried in the ruins. There would be no resurrection. When I though of Manderley in my waking hours I would not be bitter. I should think of it as it might have been, could I have lived there without fear.
The reader is intrigued by the emotions created buy the setting, and reads actively to discover what the source of the narrator’s fear was.
The second chapter is told in reflection, in which the narrator reveals details of characters and events which the audience will not be able to place until later in the text. In this way, the reader is ‘awakened’ to the story, and reads actively to piece together the information which is revealed-
Mrs Danvers. I wonder what she is doing now. She and Favell. I think it was the expression on her face that gave me my first feeling of unrest. Instinctively I thought, “She is comparing me to Rebecca”; and sharp as a swordthe shadow came between us…
A third technique used by du Maurier to encourage active reading is that the antagonist carries the title of the book, and yet is dead before the story begins. In reading to piece together the story of Rebecca, we are led to the lives of the other characters whose lives she touched and destroyed – Maxim, Mrs Danvers and of course, the unnamed narrator.