Bookreport_Rebecca
Hello everybody...I made a bookreport about "Rebecca" (Daphne DuMaurier), perhaps you know something about the book because I’ve heard about the musical of “Rebecca" and there is also a movie about this story...but this film is very old, I think. In the first part there you can find an introduction and an information about the author. In my bookreport there are a summary of the book, a description of characters and of a scene and the last part is a vocabulary sheet... but look yourself around...enjoy it ;)
Rebecca - Daphne DuMaurier
Table of contents
Page Contents
1 Table of contents
2 Introduction/About the author
3/4 Summary of the book
5 Description of characters
6 Description of a scene
7/8 Vocabulary sheet
Introduction
I chose the book “Rebecca” (written by Daphne Du Maurier) because I like reading crime stories and I’ve heard something about the musical of “Rebecca”. Actually I wanted to see this musical, but I haven’t got enough time and so I’ve just read the book.
About the author
Daphne Du Maurier was born on May, 13th 1907 in England. Her father was one of the country’s most famous actor-managers. In 1932 Du Maurier married Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Browning and they lived on the coast of Cornwall in a mansion called Menabilly. This place was the inspiration for Manderley in “Rebecca”. Moreover, Daphne wrote historical novels, theatre plays and a biography about her father. Du Maurier’s most famous novels are Jamaica Inn (published 1936), Frenchman’s Creek (published 1941) and Rebecca (published 1938).
Daphne Du Maurier died in 1989.
Picture of the book
Summery of the plot
The story is told by a nameless woman, who tells about us her memories like a flashback. She is staying at a hotel in Monte Carlo, where she meets a man. His name is Maxim de Winter. He tells her that he has lost his wife, Rebecca. They live in an old house, called Manderly and one day Rebecca dies in a boat accident. They find her body two months she has been drowned and her boat is never found.
One year after Rebecca’s death, Maxim dives to Monte Carlo. He quickly married the narrator. After their wedding, the couple drive to Manderely.
However a dark cloud hung over their marriage. Maxim’s second wife doesn’t feel good at Manderley and she thinks that Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper doesn’t like her. She feels as if everyone is comparing her to Rebecca and she also thinks that they can never be happy there because Maxim will never stop loving his first wife.
One day, there was a fancy dress party and this ball end in a disaster. On Mrs. Danvers’s suggestion the narrator wears a costume that turns out to be the same dress that Rebecca wore at the last party, before she died. Maxim is horrified and convinced that he will never really love her.
The following day, a ship gets into distress. Divers find, beside this sunken boat a second ship. They find out that it was Rebecca’s sailboat and there was her body in it. So the woman who lies in the family tomb wasn’t Rebecca.
Now Maxim is forced to tell his second wife his terrible secret. The truth was that he has never loved Rebecca and she is false and crafty. After their marriage she showed her real face. The people saw them as a perfect couple but his wife often drove to London and had an affair with her cousin, Jack Favell. On the night of her death, she was waiting for Favell but Maxim went to Rebecca and he had demanded a divorce and she had refused and told him that she was pregnant with Favell’s child. Maxim drove very crazy and shot her. Then he sank the boat with Rebecca’s body in it. He describes to his second wife how Rebecca died with a smile on her face.
The narrator is very surprised but she still loves her husband and didn’t say a word.
The police examine this case in-depth and they find three bullet-holes in Rebecca’s sailboat, so they assume that she has committed suicide. Jack Favell didn’t believe that she killed herself and accuse Maxim of the crime. Colonel Julyan, the peace of justice came and has to solve this case. Rebecca has gone up to London to see Doctor Baker. Baker tells Julyan that the victim was dying of cancer. Rebecca lied to Maxim and told him that she was pregnant. This fact, that she had an incurable cancer was a motive for Rebecca’s supposed suicide and Maxim was saved. . All were shocked and after Favell had told Mrs. Danvers that Rebecca had a cancer, Mrs Danver’s love towards Rebecca turned into hatred. She wanted to destroy all memories of Rebecca and put Manderley in flames. Nobody found out that Maxim had killed his own wife.
This was the end of the story.
Description of Characters
Rebecca:
Rebecca’s role is quite easy to describe. She is a crafty person who destroys Maxim’s life. Maxim will never again be as free as he was before he had married Rebecca. Rebecca tried to represent a picture of a “perfect family” but she didn’t love Maxim. She only loved his money and lived a carefree life. As a ghost, she haunted at Manderley and tormented Maxim’s second wife.
I like Rebecca’s role because I liked the fact that she was always lying on this story, like a shadow, although she is dead and she never lost her power over her husband, even not after her death.
Maxim:
Maxim is a rich and lonely man, who is looking for a woman, who really loved him. His second wife, Rebecca was false and crafty and Maxim hated his wife for her affair with her cousin. Maxim will always feel guilty of Rebecca’s death although he hates her. He will always have to think about Rebecca and how he has murdered her but in the end, he finds the right woman, who will live with him forever.
Description of a scene in the book
I liked the part, describing the evening before the fancy dress party. In this scene, Mrs. Danvers and the narrator meet each other in Rebecca’s bedroom. The housekeeper shows her Rebecca’s room and you would think she has just gone out for a little while and she will come back in the evening. It doesn’t look uninhabited.
Maxim’s second wife feels very unwell because of Mrs. Danvers played friendliness and she is afraid of the things that the housekeeper says to her, like: “Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now? Do you think the dead come back and watch the living? Sometimes I wonder if she comes back to Manderley and watches you and Mr de Winter together.”
The narrator knows that Mr. Danvers doesn’t like her and she is confused when the housekeeper gives her advice, which clothes she can wear at the fancy dress party because the narrator has no idea what sort of dress she should wear.
Mrs. Danvers gives her the advice to copy a picture, which hangs in the corridor. On this painting there is a young headless woman in a white dress. This is the dress which Maxim’s wife wore at the fancy dress ball but she doesn’t know that this dress was worn by his first wife at the last party, too. This occurrence gets out of hand.
Vocabulary sheet
English German
eager begierig, eifrig
amuse amüsieren, unterhalten
awkward unangenehm, ungünstig
desire to please Wunsch der Verzeihung
valuable pictures wertvolle Bilder
scorn Verachtung
urgent dringend, eilig
foolish and dull dumm und unklug
distress Seenot
torment quälen
haunt spuken
x-ray Röntgenstrahlen
retire Rente
settle down sich niederlassen
widen breiter werden, verbreiten
faint schwach
dusty staubig
force Gewalt, Stärke
convince überzeugen
wreck Wrack
crafty listig, schlau
demand fordern, verlangen
divorce Scheidung
inquiry Ermittlung
incurable unheilbar
reinforce verstärken
mansion herrschaftliche Wohnung/Haus
impatience Ungeduld
Rebecca - Daphne DuMaurier
Table of contents
Page Contents
1 Table of contents
2 Introduction/About the author
3/4 Summary of the book
5 Description of characters
6 Description of a scene
7/8 Vocabulary sheet
Introduction
I chose the book “Rebecca” (written by Daphne Du Maurier) because I like reading crime stories and I’ve heard something about the musical of “Rebecca”. Actually I wanted to see this musical, but I haven’t got enough time and so I’ve just read the book.
About the author
Daphne Du Maurier was born on May, 13th 1907 in England. Her father was one of the country’s most famous actor-managers. In 1932 Du Maurier married Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Browning and they lived on the coast of Cornwall in a mansion called Menabilly. This place was the inspiration for Manderley in “Rebecca”. Moreover, Daphne wrote historical novels, theatre plays and a biography about her father. Du Maurier’s most famous novels are Jamaica Inn (published 1936), Frenchman’s Creek (published 1941) and Rebecca (published 1938).
Daphne Du Maurier died in 1989.
Picture of the book
Summery of the plot
The story is told by a nameless woman, who tells about us her memories like a flashback. She is staying at a hotel in Monte Carlo, where she meets a man. His name is Maxim de Winter. He tells her that he has lost his wife, Rebecca. They live in an old house, called Manderly and one day Rebecca dies in a boat accident. They find her body two months she has been drowned and her boat is never found.
One year after Rebecca’s death, Maxim dives to Monte Carlo. He quickly married the narrator. After their wedding, the couple drive to Manderely.
However a dark cloud hung over their marriage. Maxim’s second wife doesn’t feel good at Manderley and she thinks that Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper doesn’t like her. She feels as if everyone is comparing her to Rebecca and she also thinks that they can never be happy there because Maxim will never stop loving his first wife.
One day, there was a fancy dress party and this ball end in a disaster. On Mrs. Danvers’s suggestion the narrator wears a costume that turns out to be the same dress that Rebecca wore at the last party, before she died. Maxim is horrified and convinced that he will never really love her.
The following day, a ship gets into distress. Divers find, beside this sunken boat a second ship. They find out that it was Rebecca’s sailboat and there was her body in it. So the woman who lies in the family tomb wasn’t Rebecca.
Now Maxim is forced to tell his second wife his terrible secret. The truth was that he has never loved Rebecca and she is false and crafty. After their marriage she showed her real face. The people saw them as a perfect couple but his wife often drove to London and had an affair with her cousin, Jack Favell. On the night of her death, she was waiting for Favell but Maxim went to Rebecca and he had demanded a divorce and she had refused and told him that she was pregnant with Favell’s child. Maxim drove very crazy and shot her. Then he sank the boat with Rebecca’s body in it. He describes to his second wife how Rebecca died with a smile on her face.
The narrator is very surprised but she still loves her husband and didn’t say a word.
The police examine this case in-depth and they find three bullet-holes in Rebecca’s sailboat, so they assume that she has committed suicide. Jack Favell didn’t believe that she killed herself and accuse Maxim of the crime. Colonel Julyan, the peace of justice came and has to solve this case. Rebecca has gone up to London to see Doctor Baker. Baker tells Julyan that the victim was dying of cancer. Rebecca lied to Maxim and told him that she was pregnant. This fact, that she had an incurable cancer was a motive for Rebecca’s supposed suicide and Maxim was saved. . All were shocked and after Favell had told Mrs. Danvers that Rebecca had a cancer, Mrs Danver’s love towards Rebecca turned into hatred. She wanted to destroy all memories of Rebecca and put Manderley in flames. Nobody found out that Maxim had killed his own wife.
This was the end of the story.
Description of Characters
Rebecca:
Rebecca’s role is quite easy to describe. She is a crafty person who destroys Maxim’s life. Maxim will never again be as free as he was before he had married Rebecca. Rebecca tried to represent a picture of a “perfect family” but she didn’t love Maxim. She only loved his money and lived a carefree life. As a ghost, she haunted at Manderley and tormented Maxim’s second wife.
I like Rebecca’s role because I liked the fact that she was always lying on this story, like a shadow, although she is dead and she never lost her power over her husband, even not after her death.
Maxim:
Maxim is a rich and lonely man, who is looking for a woman, who really loved him. His second wife, Rebecca was false and crafty and Maxim hated his wife for her affair with her cousin. Maxim will always feel guilty of Rebecca’s death although he hates her. He will always have to think about Rebecca and how he has murdered her but in the end, he finds the right woman, who will live with him forever.
Description of a scene in the book
I liked the part, describing the evening before the fancy dress party. In this scene, Mrs. Danvers and the narrator meet each other in Rebecca’s bedroom. The housekeeper shows her Rebecca’s room and you would think she has just gone out for a little while and she will come back in the evening. It doesn’t look uninhabited.
Maxim’s second wife feels very unwell because of Mrs. Danvers played friendliness and she is afraid of the things that the housekeeper says to her, like: “Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now? Do you think the dead come back and watch the living? Sometimes I wonder if she comes back to Manderley and watches you and Mr de Winter together.”
The narrator knows that Mr. Danvers doesn’t like her and she is confused when the housekeeper gives her advice, which clothes she can wear at the fancy dress party because the narrator has no idea what sort of dress she should wear.
Mrs. Danvers gives her the advice to copy a picture, which hangs in the corridor. On this painting there is a young headless woman in a white dress. This is the dress which Maxim’s wife wore at the fancy dress ball but she doesn’t know that this dress was worn by his first wife at the last party, too. This occurrence gets out of hand.
Vocabulary sheet
English German
eager begierig, eifrig
amuse amüsieren, unterhalten
awkward unangenehm, ungünstig
desire to please Wunsch der Verzeihung
valuable pictures wertvolle Bilder
scorn Verachtung
urgent dringend, eilig
foolish and dull dumm und unklug
distress Seenot
torment quälen
haunt spuken
x-ray Röntgenstrahlen
retire Rente
settle down sich niederlassen
widen breiter werden, verbreiten
faint schwach
dusty staubig
force Gewalt, Stärke
convince überzeugen
wreck Wrack
crafty listig, schlau
demand fordern, verlangen
divorce Scheidung
inquiry Ermittlung
incurable unheilbar
reinforce verstärken
mansion herrschaftliche Wohnung/Haus
impatience Ungeduld
2ckjmax - 20. May, 11:07
