Literary Techniques In Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

The excerpt Rebecca takes the form of a flashback. The narrator, cannot help but remember Manderley. The reader, along with the narrator, slowly unravels the events that had previously taken place at Manderley. In the excerpt Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier uses enthralling patterns of literary devices, such as diction, detail, and imagery to convey a shift in mood throughout the excerpt. du Maurier demonstrates three different moods throughout the excerpt; mystery, nightmare, and nostalgia. In the beginning of the passage, Daphne du Maurier creates a mood of mystery with her use of diction, detail, and imagery. The narrator is having a dream in which she had arrived at a gate that leads to the path to Manderley. For example when the narrator …show more content…
For instance, “in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached up the drive with her long, tenacious fingers” (line 20-21). With du Maurier’s vivid use of detail about the drive being “insidious”, the narrator wants the reader to feel a sense of terror, thus creating a nightmarish mood. This makes the reader feel how haunting the drive is. Correspondingly, the narrator is traveling further and further down the path, and things are getting even more haunting. That is to say, “they crowded, dark and controlled, to the borders of the drive” (line 23-24). To create a nightmarish mood, du Maurier’s intense description of the drive being “dark”, is informing the reader just how frightening nature is being shown as. This provokes a thought, as to why the narrator is seeing nature as a very dangerous thing. Likewise, the narrator is traveling through the trees on the path. For instance, “the gnarled roots looked like skeleton claws.” (line 35-36). du Maurier’s evocative detail of the tree having “skeleton claws”, indicates that nothing on the path seems to getting less horrific and the mood is only becoming more nightmarish as the passage goes on. This makes the reader think about what the outcome will be, either pleasant or terrible, when the narrator reaches the end. As can be seen, with the use of detail, a …show more content…
The narrator has finally reached the end of the terrifying path, and has suddenly reached Manderley. To point out, “there was Manderley, our Manderley” (line 55). With the help of imagery to create a nostalgic mood, this is the part of the passage where things seem to be a lot more peaceful, and the narrator has finally seen her “her Mandelrey” du Maurier wants the reader to imagine how elated the narrator is to finally see Manderley again. In the same fashion, the narrator is finally seeing Manderley for the first time in awhile and she's nothing but jubilant. For this reason, “when i thought of Manderley in my waking hours I would not be bitter” (line 63-64). du Maurier creates a mood of nostalgia to show that the narrator really loves Manderley, because she “could not be bitter” when thinking back to her times at Manderley. The reader can infer based on how they’d imagines this scene, that the narrator has missed everything about Manderley. In the light of, the narrator is reminiscing about all the marvelous times she had at Manderley. Explicitly, “I should remember the rose-garden in summer” (line 66). du Maurier wants the reader to imagine that Manderley is a very peaceful place. The narrator seems to only be remembering positive things about Mandelrey, such as the “rose-garden”, which creates a nostalgic mood. As a result

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Literary Techniques In Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

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