Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Résumé du document

The main character is a shy twenty-one woman, but we never know her name. At the beginning, she is the “companion” of Mrs Van Hopper, and old rich woman that is only interested in meeting new famous persons. She is not very nice to her, she treats her like a servant, but she need money. They went at the Hotel Côte d'Azur in Monte Carlo, there, Mrs Van Hopper met a man that is famous for his beautiful villa in England called Manderley. He is called Maxim De Winter, he is a polite widower his dead wife was Rebecca. When she died all the newspaper talked about her, but he never said a word, he didn't like to talk about her. At first he didn't really like Mrs Van Hopper, but when he met her “companion” he instantly like her! They went to have a cup of tea in the hotel then they went for a ride in town.

Every time she was talking about Manderley, he kept changing the subject. They began to be very close to each other, he even kissed her. Two days later, Mrs Van Hopper told her that she wanted to leave. But she didn't want to leave Maxim and she cried a lot. The day she had to left, she went to his room to tell him goodbye. At her surprised, he proposed her to marry him. She was much chocked, but she accepted.

When she first went to Manderley, the home she was going to live in, she noticed the people were very cold and strange with her, especially Mrs Danvers who was the housekeeper. She wasn't at ease at all. She had to get used to the routine of the house like waking up early in the morning. She thought a lot about Rebecca, she always thought about what Rebecca would do, what she would say, where she used to sit before dying.

Extraits

[...] He brought a note wrote by Rebecca that was written the day before her death. She was giving a date to someone. It was a proof that she didn't commit suicide. Favell guessed that Maxim killed her. Favell was a mean guy, and he always looked drunk so when he called the journalist to tell him the story, he didn't trust him. They had to bring a guy that is always around the cottage, to ask him what really happened, but he is so stupid that he didn't say a thing, he was very scared and he helped no one. [...]

[...] It was a little cupid. Maxim was very angry when he found out about it because she acted like a child and hide it in a desk. After that, he said he maybe has done a mistake marrying her, that she was too young for him. He apologized one more time, but she couldn't forget everything he kept telling her. Some days later, Maxim went for a business trip in London, she was going to be alone in the home. [...]

[...] Then, he told her that he killed Rebecca, she didn't die accidently. He killed her because she have been cheating on him for many years, he shot a bullet through her heart, took her body and left it in the cabin of a boat. That's the boat they have found today. Mrs De Winter was pleased he never loved Rebecca, but she didn't know what to think about the fact that he killed his wife. After that, he had to talk to the journalists and he had to go to the court to explain what happened, he was very scared that the media would know that he killed his wife. [...]

[...] Unfortunately the dog got lost in a cottage near the Happy Valley. She went to look for him, but Maxim didn't move and stood there. He didn't want to go to that cottage on the beach. When she came back with the dog, he was very angry because, somehow, the cottage remembered him bad memories, certainly memories that had something to do with Rebecca. He said a lot of mean things to her, like he should have never bring her back from Italy, but then he apologized for what he have said. [...]

[...] They read the page she wrote the day she died; it was written she had an appointment with a doctor. They went to see him, he told them she was going to see him because she was very ill at that time but she didn't want anyone else to know it. It was the proof, for them, that she indeed committed suicide. And that's how the story ends. [...]