The "Hidden" Protagonist

Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) is a famous English novelist in the twentieth century. Her works cover a broad field such as short story, novel and biography. Her masterpiece Rebecca made quite a splash in literary circles when it was first published in 1938 and became an English and American bestseller, which was made into a film by the famous director Hitchcock in 1940, and the movie became very famous, too. Although Daphne du Maurier and her works were very popular at that time, people paid little attention to her writing style and her private life. Until recently, the foreign studies of the modern Gothic becomes more and more famous and the study of the Female Gothic are relatively mature. In view of the research situations above, the thesis is intended to give an overview of Female Gothic theory, from Rebecca, we can have some analyses of Gothic elements and let the "hidden me" stand out and become a mature lady who is not controlled by anyone.The thesis falls into five chapters.The first part of the thesis is introduction.From the introduction part, we can know something about Daphne du Maurier and her masterpiece Rebecca which is full of suspense and romance. Part two includes the introduction of the Gothic and Gothic's elements as well as the the relationship between Daphne du Maurier and Female Gothic writing style. Part three embraces the elements of Female Gothic writing style, and talk about the key to "hidden me" as well as the function. In part four, we can know something about Daphne du Maurier's private life and we can know her experiences have a large influence on the characters in her stories especially in Rebecca. In the last part of the thesis, the "hidden me" becomes the lady of Manderley and makes herself stand in front of everyone.Her individual growth in patriarchy and in the process of their identity quest, women, to a certain extent, necessarily subvert the traditional construction of their identity and shake patriarchy.