A Rhetoric-Narratological Study Of Daphne Du Maurier's View On Women In Rebecca

Some critics hold the view that the character narrator “I” in Daphne du Maurier 's Masterpiece Rebecca is an angel of the patriarchal society and Rebecca is a feminist forerunner.The end of the novel that du Maurier arranges a tragedy for Rebecca and a happiness for the “I” reflects that du Maurier resigns herself to the patriarchal society.Nevertheless,through an analysis of the thematic functions of the “I” and Rebecca by applying James Phelan's theory of character,this papar draws a different conclusion.This thesis is composed of five chapters.C hapter one provides a brief introduction of du Maurier,the background information of the novel,the literature review and the theoretical framework of the paper.Some scholars have questioned the reliability of the character narrator “I” and maintain the view that Rebecca 's attributes cannot be completely and authentically constructed from the narration of the “I”.Thereofore,C hapter two will look into the issue of the reliability of the “I” by applying the theories of rhetorical narratology on narrative reliability.Chapter two discovers that the “I” is a reliable narrator along all of the three axes proposed by Phelan,namely,the axis of facts/events,the axis of ethics/evaluation and the axis of knowledge/perception.Thus,Rebecca's attributes can be constructed entirely and veritably and Rebecca's thematic functions accordingly can be explored from the narration of the “I”.Chapter three and Chapter four respectively study the thematic functions of the “I” and Rebecca.The thematic functions of the “I” are her previous inferiority complex and her present courageousness,independence and confidence.The thematic functions of Rebecca,on the one hand,include her angelical attributes of intelligence,sociableness and fearlessness,but on the other hand,her thematic functions also contain her demonic attribute of egocentrism.C hapter five draws a conclusion of du Maurier's view on women in Rebecca.This chapter points out that it is inappropriate to say the “I” is an angel of the patriarchal society and Rebecca is a feminist forerunner.Instead,the “I” is a representative of immature girls with inferiority complex who grow up to be mature women.Relying on the thematic functions of the “I”,the implied author expresses her view on women that women need to overcome their inferiority complex and learn to be courageous,independent and confident.Rebecca is a complex female character.She is a hybrid of angel and devil.Through Rebecca's thematic functions,the implied author shows her appreciation on the qualities of intelligence,sociableness and fearlessness and her vehement hatred of egocentrism.In a word,Rebecca reflects du Maurier's positive view on women.