“Far from being an ‘exquisite’ love story, Rebecca raises questions about women’s acquiescence to male values that are as pertinent today as they were 60 years ago.” Sally Beauman depiction of Rebecca represents the typical conventions that are apparent to the romantic genre. These conventions include the acquaintance of women and the romantic setting. Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac and Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca both describe these conventions apparent to the romance genre. Additionally, embodiment of women in the Romantic genre is established in Cyrano de Bergerac through the use of character and language devices. “She is a mortal danger to all men. She is beautiful without knowing it, and possesses charms that she 's not even aware …show more content…
In Cyrano de Bergerac setting is represented by a sweet rose. “She is like a trap set by nature - a sweet perfumed rose in whose petals Cupid lurks in ambush!” Nature imagery is employed to represent the woman’s personality as sweet and beautiful. The rose in this extract clearly symbolises the woman’s grace as it symbolises desire, beauty due to its statuesque qualities and distinctive scent. Nature Imagery is also illustrated through Du Maurier’s Rebecca. Nature Imagery and Symbolism is most prominent in the Setting of Manderly and especially when the narrator arrives at Manderly. “But vividly alive, having something of the same glow and brilliance that the rhododendrons had massed there beneath the window.” Similarly, like the rose in Cyrano de Bergerac, the rhododendron is a symbol of the Female subject. Rebecca is a powerful women as a force of nature. Her seductive, autonomous nature adds to the deep domination and power of nature that she controls. The Rhododendron is a symbol of Rebecca’s personality and grace. Du Maurier excerpts this by employing adjectives including “glow and brilliance” to emphasize on the beauty and presence that the setting. “For to me, a rhododendron was a homely, domestic thing, strictly conventional… and these were monsters…massed like a battalion too beautiful I though too powerful,” We can see that her