Rebecca Love Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

The spell of the Happy Valley was upon me. This at last was the core of Manderley, the Manderley I would know and learn to love. (10.34)

Manderley is very much a love object in Rebecca. Much of this love is due to the beauty of nature there. But this beauty didn't just crop up on its own. Rebecca had much to do with cultivating it and making it extra special.

Quote #5

"You're not happy. Mr de Winter doesn't love you. There's not much for you to live for, is there? Why don't you jump now and have done with it? Then you won't be unhappy any more." (18.142)

Mrs. Danvers uses Mrs. de Winter's love for Maxim to make her hate herself enough to want to die. She very nearly succeeds. Why? Is it because Mrs. de Winter doesn't really like herself all that much, and she needs Maxim's love to validate her existence? What do you think?

Quote #6

At any rate I have lost my diffidence, my timidity, my shyness with strangers. I am very different from that self who drove to Manderley for the first time, hopeful and eager, handicapped by a rather desperate gaucherie and filled with an intense desire to please. (2.16)

We think this line says something about love, and possibly suggests that Mrs. de Winter has changed. Before, she needed the approval of others for fulfillment, now she has a degree of self-love and can relate to people without needing to please them. Or, maybe having Maxim's love is what fulfills her. What do you think?