Gothic Elements In Rebecca

As a result many gothic subtitles appear, and it is true to regard Rebecca as ‘detective mystery’ since it includes a murder case. 25
4.3.2 The Setting and Weather
The most eminent gothic elements revolve around the setting, Manderley. The setting in this story has a major contribution to the tone and mood of gothic. Rebecca is a classical- modern gothic literature. Manderley, is a colossal mansion secluded in its own world . As the classical gothic fiction is characterized by the traditional settings, haunted castle, gorgeous manors; Rebecca is the modern version of the classical gothic fiction. By the beginning of the gothic fictions around the late eighteenth century, the castle was an essential element . However, after the development of

Daphne uses the art of connotation; using a certain word to convey a hidden meaning. The narrator’s first impressions of Manderley, have an impact on her both perceptions, sight and sound . The ‘gates crashing’, the twisting ‘serpent-like drive’, and the ‘roof of branches’ are invulnerable by even sunlight. All of these images evoke a suspensions sense of dread, of being trapped, and of a hidden evil . Even the engine’s sound seems weird to the narrator. Her very feelings are changed from hope to dread. Besides this mixture of fear and uneasiness, there is a feeling of suspense and anticipation, for she compares the intermingled branches into an archway like the roof of a church. This comparison suggests something important, maybe coming to Manderley seems like a kind of sacrament to her, something holy. Manderley becomes a sacred place to the narrator and to the reader as well, shrouded in mystery, like a chapel with a long history and a supernatural mystique. By using connotation in describing a picturesque scene, Du Maurier explores her heroine’s feeling of sublimity and her relationship to her natural surroundings. Moreover, this curious nature of the heroine reflects the twentieth century inquisitiveness and thirst for the unknown.

As the secret of Rebecca is revealed, the fog disappear, the fog represents the veil that prevents Mrs. de Winter from the truth . 30 When she discovers the truth about Rebecca’s death the mist disappear: Rebecca 's power had dissolved into the air, like the mist had done. She would never haunt me again. She would never stand behind me on the stairs, sit beside me in the dining-room, lean down from the gallery and watch me standing in the hall (R., P.314).

The rambunctious sea is an important element in the novel, it forebodes for evil and help to establish the sense anxiety . 31 “ I could see the sea from the terrace, and the lawns. It looked grey and uninviting, great rollers sweeping into the bay past the beacon on the headland” (R.,P.130). The sea carries a great secret; the secret of Rebecca’s boat is in the bottom of it . So, as people’s mood is reflected on their behavior , the sea is treated as a person whose mood is reflected on [his] behavior, the sea behaves wildly and hits the waves to reflect the horror that [he] witnesses and the big burden [he] carries and signaling a warning to the strangers .
4.3.3. The Multiple Portrayal of the Gothic