湘潭大学课程论文

湘潭大学课程论文

题目：第一人称的影响和乐观的句子

——小说丽贝卡中悬疑的创造

Title：The impact of first person and upbeat

sentence

---the suspense created in novel Rebecca

学院：兴湘学院

专业：英语

学号：2011966208

姓名：李雯姬

指导老师：李素琼（教授）

Content

Abstract 3

Introduction 4 1. Previous Study of Rebecca 6

2. Present Study of Rebecca 7 2.1 Suspense created by flashback 7 2.2 Suspense created by characterization 8 2.3 Suspense created by environment 10

3. Suspense created by the leading lady 11

4. Suspense created by upbeat sentence 16 Conclusion 17 Work Cited 18

第一人称的影响和乐观的句子

——小说丽贝卡中悬疑的创造

摘要：悬念，是哥特式小说《蝴蝶梦》的典型特征。悬念是一种独特的文学结构形式，如英国戏剧理论家威廉.阿契尔的话说：预示出一种十分吸引人的事态，却不把它预示出来。本文也将在前人研究的基础上，深入“悬念”这一特征在《蝴蝶梦》这一小说中的运用。

在诸多学者看来，倒叙手法，环境描写，情景交融，人物刻画，侧面烘托等写作手法对《蝴蝶梦》中悬念这一文学结构形式的刻画功不可没。在作者看来，悬念的塑造固然离不开特定写作手法的渲染与烘托，而达芙妮作者本人独特的写作手法与安排才是《蝴蝶梦》这部小说引人入胜，经久不衰的原因。作者以一个相貌平平，性格柔弱的女子的视角为切入点，以她在曼德利庄园的婚后经历为主线，向我们揭示了小说主人公丽贝卡的真实面貌-----由相貌到能力到性格到心地。一步一步，剥丝抽茧。作者这样的安排别具匠心，比侦探小说更加真实，比恐怖小说更加震撼。同时，作者在每一章的最后都使用了断句，作者这样独特的写作手法也使每一章的最后一句话都埋下了悬念，让读者意犹未尽又欲罢不能。作者这种独特的安排与写作风格为文章增色不少。

关键字：悬念第一人称情景交融侧面烘托写作手法断句

The impact of first person and upbeat sentence

---the suspense created in novel Rebecca Abstract：

Suspense is the typical characteristics of Rebecca. Suspense is also a typical form

of literature organization. In the Dictionary of the Literary Terms (1979, p.220), suspense is defined as “a state of uncertainty, anticipation and curiosity as to the outcome of a story or a play, or any kind of narrative in verse or prose.”

Many famous scholars think that the use of flashback, the description of the environment and characters, the fusion of feelings with natural settings all play an important role in creating suspense. Besides the special writing skills, however, the author?s unique arrangement and writing techniques has added color to the creation of suspense in the novel. On the one hand, the plot developed with the leading lady?s personal experience in Manderley. On the other hand, the upbeat sentence at the end of each chapter has left suspense for the reader to move on to the next chapter. In that way, the author revealed Rebecca?s true portrait to us gradually. And it is realer than detective stories, and more vibrate than horror fictions.

Key words: suspense the first person upbeat sentence writing skills

Introduction

The first time I knew Rebecca was from a famous movie Rebecca directed by Hitchcock. My passion and curiosity did not fade away because of the late hour and the unclear images. Instead, I finished watching that movie by myself, for I was totally intrigued in the plot. To be more precise, I was eager to find out the appearance of Rebecca after hearing all the character?s comments about her. There?s

no doubt that Rebecca is prestigious in this region because of her beauty and intelligence. However, is she actually kind and perfect or is she dissolute and bleeding? However, Rebecca did not show up in the movie at the last minute and left us endless imagination. The movie was a big hit in that time and it won the best movie and best cinematography in that year?s Oscar.

Driven by the overwhelmed curiosity, I finished the book, the Chinese version in a month. The most distinguished feature of this novel is its suspension that existed in the novel all the time. First of all, the author told us that “I” and Maxim moved out of Manderley and would never come back. Then the scene flashed back to the coast hotel, where I first met Maxim and where I fell in love with him.

When they came back to Manderley and started their new life, suspension came one by one: Why was Maxim reluctant to talk about Rebecca? Is she still in love with her? If Rebecca is beautiful and gorgeous and has a good taste, why Maxim would marry me-----a homely, ordinary girl? Why the housekeeper Miss Danvers hates me? What kind of person is Rebecca? Is she an attractive, perfect person who won everyone?s admiration or is she actually slutty and bleeding? At the end of the story, all the mysteries are solved and they can live without horror and suspicion anymore.

Although many contemporaneous masterpieces could create the suspicious atmosphere as successful as Rebecca, Rebecca is still unique among all of them. It is different from detective stories from Agatha Christine which create suspicious atmosphere by making up a crime and revealing it by a prestigious detective. It is also different from some stories from authors like Allan Poe who create suspicious

atmosphere by describing vivid emotional activities of some pathological characters. The uniqueness of Rebecca is that it started with a plain, ordinary girl instead of professional detectives. The story is told in the first person so that it intensified the suspicion by trying to involve the readers in this story. And every last upbeat sentence in each chapter intrigued the reader?s attention and gave them a motivation to keep moving on. What?s more, the story is told by a female character, which provoked the reader?s basic instinct to protect her. Anyway, Rebecca is successful in that aspect.

1. The Previous Study of Rebecca

The previous study of the novel Rebecca is mainly on three genres: the genre, the setting and the special characterization. English Literary Professors Avril Horner and Sue Zlosnik study it from the perspective of the genre. Both of them (1974, pp 59-60) agreed that “Rebecca is a Gothic novel, and characteristics of it are terror and suspense, usually settle in a gloomy old castle or monastery.” As a matter of fact, the author Daphne de Maure was a distinguished Gothic novel. And her novels were deeply imbued by the Bronte?s sisters. So Rebecca also had the following characteristics of Gothic novels: a gloomy setting, usually at an old castle, mysterious characters, pathological behaviors and little characters. A famous Chinese films critic Er Chou once mentioned: “The plot extends around the character Rebecca, but she has been dead at the beginning of the story and never comes out. All the things heard, discussed and remembered are around her. Rebecca is a mysterious character and also the source of suspense in the novel.”(ER. Chou, 1980, p.210)

2. The Present study of Rebecca

The present study focuses on suspense design in Rebecca from three aspects: the subject from the flashback, the subject from characterization and the subject from the description of the environment.

First of all, we have to clarify that the “suspense” we discuss here is different from that in the daily life. To demonstrate the point, we could make a easy contrast between the two different definitions from two different sources. According to the definition of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary（1979 ,p 280）, suspense is “a feeling of worry or excitement that you have when you feel that something is going to happen, somebody is going to tell you some news. But in the Dictionary of the Literary Terms(1979, p.220), suspense is defined as “a state of uncertainty, anticipation and curiosity as to the outcome of a story or a play, or any kind of narrati ve in verse or prose.” So it is easy to tell that suspense is a basic writing skill. 2.1 Suspense created by flashback

The flashback of the story is first presented at the beginning of the story: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and a chain upon the gate. I called in my dream to the lodge-keeper, and had no answer, and peering closer through the rusted spokes of the gate I saw that the lodge was uninhabited.” The author also mentioned at the last of the chapter: “We would not talk of Manderley, I would not tell my dream. For Manderley was ours no longer. Manderley was no more.”

The first sentence “last night I dreamnt I went to Manderley again” tells us that Manderley is a dreaming place in the leading lady?s heart. She wants to go back earnestly. But why do they leave that place? Why she said “Manderley was no more”? All the questions build up sentences in our minds, and force us to continue reading to find out the answers. Just as Sue Hill, a prestigious movie critic commented: “Miss de Maurie has the gift of burning the reader?s curiosity. One of her successful points is that she uses flashback deadly, and all the suspense starts from the flashback of settings-----Manderley.”

Flashbacks of characters mainly focus on two main characters: Miss Van Hopper and Miss Dauvers. Take Miss Van Hopper as an example.The flashback of Miss Van Hopper is “if Miss Van Hopper was not a snob, I would really do not know what my life would be.” It seemed very interesting that my life depended on the madam?s power.” From this flashback, first the readers may wonder the relationship between Miss Van Hopper and the leadin g lady. Secondly, the word “snob” is a derogatory one. Why does the leading lady feel grateful to the snobbish woman? Why does her life depend on such a person? In the following part of the story, the readers may discover that Miss Van Hopper is leading la dy?s hostess, and the leading lady knows about De Winter by way of Miss Van Hopper. In this sense, Miss Van Hopper does not treat the leading lady well, the leading lady also feels grateful. Here we could also tell the sarcastic tone of the author.

2.2 Suspense created by characterization

Suspense is created by characters? words and actions. Take Maxim?s sister as an example. At the end of her visiting, the last sentence she said to the leading lady is “You are so different from Rebecca.” The six words almost changed the orbit of the leading lady. She was now eager and desperate to find that what kind of person Rebecca really is. Is she attractive? Is she graceful? Does Maxim love her? Now the readers are completely confused by these questions as the leading lady. The author didn?t give the reader the answer directly. The readers, however, could infer from others? words that Rebecca is a beautiful lady with great ability. She is also, however, a slutty, evil and conceited woman who treats men as toys.

It?s also easy to find that suspense could also be created through characters? actions. For instance, when de Winter knows that his second wife goes to the cottage in the bay, “he didn?t reply. He walked very fast and threw the raincoat on the earth.” Why is he overreacting? Why did he forbid the leading lady to go to the cottage in the bay? Why did he care so much about an ordinary cottage filled with useless stuffs? The reason is very simple----Rebecca, the beautiful and slutty lady, used to meet her all kinds of lovers there. It was right in this cottage that she infuriated Maxim and tricked him to kill her.

Another typical scene that the readers would never forget is the party. “I came forward to the head of the stairs and stood there, smiling, my hat in my hand, like the girl in the picture. I waited for the clapping and laughter that would follow as I walked slowly down the stairs. Nobody clapped, nobody moved.” Why did everyone show their surprise and astonishment instead of amazement and appreciation? And

what was Maxim doing at that time? “Maxim had not moved. He stared up at me, his glass in his hand. There is no color in his face. It was ashen white. I saw Frank go to him as though he would speak, but Maxim shook him off.” “Then Maxim moved forwa rd to the stairs, his eyes never leaving my face.” Why was his face ashen white at that moment? Why did he ask me to change my dress? Why did Miss Danvers show me that dress instead of leaving me alone? Luckily, the author didn?t keep the secrets for too long. She revealed to the readers later.

2.3 Suspense created by description of environment

If the reader went back to the beginning of the story, he or she may find that Miss. Maurie described Manderley as “the private road was just a narrow ribbon and i ts stony surface covered with grass and beyond a muddy ditch made by the winter rain. No birds sang song and no people talked happily.” This tactic description showed the reader a gloomy and dismal picture. The reader may wonder what happened in Manderley. What is it like before? At the end of the story, we knew the truth.

Another example was in Chapter 14. The leading lady went into a beautiful room that she had never seen before. “It was the most beautiful room in Manderley, much beautiful than the east wing where I lived. The sheet on bed was soft and light. The curtain was red and with beautiful flowers on it. The best thing is that you could see the sea from the window.” The leading lady stared at each thing in the room, the dressing table, the closet. Then Miss Danvers came in, with a “triumphant, gloating, and excited in a strange unhealthy way” expression in her face. From this excited lady,

the reader found that this beautiful room once belonged to Rebecca. The sea which the lady could see from the window is the one where Rebecca was drowned. A Chinese movie critic Huo Jun once said: “The static description of environment is another characteristic of Rebecca. It not only pushes the plot forward, but also produces suspense to attract the reader.”

Except the static description, the dynamic environmental description was also attractive. “The pale sun was trying to shine, and the heavy cloud was lifting to the trees. When I reached the shore the cloud had almost gone, and I saw the ship at once, lying abo ut two miles out, with two small rowing boats.” The scenic description aroused our suspense at once: Why is there a small boat appearing in such a bad weather? In fact, the boat implied that the Rebecca?s body was found.

At the end of the novel, when the leading lady and Maxim went back to Manderley, “they saw the sky towards the horizon was not black at all. It was red like blood. And then the blowing smoke soared straight up in the sky forming like a big letter …R? and disappeared gradually.” This is the end of the story. And the author didn?t tell the readers what really happened to Manderley. She gave the readers enough room to imagine.

3. Suspense created by the leading lady

Despite the writing skills, the leading lady herself played an irreplaceable role in creating suspense. Just as an famous English drama theoretician William.Archer mentioned: it suggested an attractive start, but didn?t present it all. In a handbook to literature(1960, p.220), suspense is further specified as “the poised anticipa tion of the

reader or audience as to the outcome of events of a short story, a novel or a drama, particularly as these events affect a character in the work for which the reader or audience has formed a sympathetic attachment.”

Different from other contemporary novels, the leading lady is neither beautiful nor intelligent like the other heroines or heroes. She is neither logical as a detective nor pathological as a patient. The leading lady of this story is a plain girl, timid and homely, kind and feeble. She is just a maid of Mrs. Van Hopper. This identity has already presented suspense for the reader. How could this plain-looking girl become so lucky? During her trip with Mrs. Van Hopper, she ran into widower Maxim, the beloved man in her life. Then everything happened dramatically----he fell in love with her immediately and proposed to her. She, of course, thoroughly remould herself, became the hostess of Manderley.

It was supposed to be a conventional story. An ordinary poor girl was now the hostess of the most prestigious finca in England. Before the leading lady fell in love with Maxim, she was aware that Maxim once married a wife named Rebecca, who died a year ago. She heard from Mrs. Van Hopper that Rebecca was beloved by Maxim and he looked ill becau se he “could not get over his wife?s death.” Since then, she was compared to Rebecca by others, from appearance to ability, deliberately or unconsciously. It went by too quickly and too suddenly. It shocked every one, for the contrast between the leading lady and Rebecca was too distinct to be accepted. Rebecca is a good wife with “beauty, brain and breeding.” The leading lady, however, was sallow, plain and timid. If Maxim was still in love with Rebecca, how could he

marry a woman who seemed so different? Was he feeling so melancholy that he wanted to find someone to cure his loneliness? Was he trying to get over Rebecca? This marriage seemed weird. Mrs. Van Hopper teased the leading lady after hearing their engagement. The reason was simple: the leading la dy don?t know that milieu, she can scarcely string two sentences together at the bridge teas. The Manderley parties were famous when Rebecca was alive. How could she do?

The leading lady, however, married her beloved Maxim regardless of other?s comments. Her life, however, was not that happy as she hoped. She was under the pressure of Rebecca. From the day on she moved into Manderley, she heard others talking about Rebecca all the time.

The bishop?s wife said,…(Rebecca)she was a very lovely creature, so ful l of life.

…She was certainly very gifted. I can see her now, standing at the foot of the stairs on the night of the ball, shaking hands with everybody, that cloud of dark hair against the very white skin, and her costume suited her too, Yes, she was very beautiful.” (Chapter 10)

And in Mrs. Danvers eyes, Maxim could not live without Rebecca. After her death, he can?t go to sleep; he moves away from the bedroom and travels out for a long time in order to get over it.

Even for Maxim?s grandmother, Rebec ca has made a great fuss of her. The old lady has never forgotten her and asks for Rebecca all the time.

The leading lady became more and more melancholy, for she thought that her husband was still in love with Rebecca. She could not find someone who understood

her completely. She felt Rebecca when she was in Rebecca?s room, sat on Rebecca?s chair, and drank from her cup. “Rebecca”, she confessed, “wherever I walked in Manderley, wherever I sat, even in my thoughts and in my dreams, I met Rebecca. I knew her figure now, the long slim legs, the small and narrow feet. Her shoulders, broader than mine, the capable clever hands.”(Chapter 18)

She dressed up like a princess and appeared on the ball, only to startle her husband, for the dress she wore was once wore by Rebecca. It turned out that Miss Danvers wanted to fool around her. The reader could even feel the broken heart of the leading lady after the ball. The reader could even hear Mrs. Van Hopper whispered in her ear-----I?m afraid you will regret it. I b elieve you are making a big mistake.

The reader could even feel the desperation of the leading lady. Mrs. Danvers was the most crazy and loyalty fan of Rebecca. Her admiration was not only eager, but pathological. When she whispered to the leading lady and told her to jump from the window to end up her miserable life, the reader could even feel the contradiction in the leading lady?s heart and the hatred of Mrs. Danvers. The reader could even see what the leading lady saw, and feel what the leading lady f elt: “the fog came thicker than before and the terrace was hidden from me. I could not see the flower tubs any more, nor the smooth paved stones. There was nothing but the white mist about me, smelling of sea-weed dank and chill. The only reality was the window-sill beneath my hands and the grip of Mrs. Danvers on my left arm.” The reader could even feel the mixed feelings in the leading lady?s heart-------desperation, eager for love, hesitation, even relief, for she could forget about being unhappy and about loving Maxim. She

was beginning to forget Rebecca. At that moment, the readers? attention were held successfully.

When the ugly truth about Rebecca was revealed with the discovery of her body, the readers found the true side of Rebecca. The truth was always hard to accept. After the shock, however, the reader could feel relieved just as the leading lady felt. All the truth about Rebecca was no longer important, because Maxim never fell in love with her. She became stronger and more mature in one night. It seemed impossible, but she did. She conquered her fear for Rebecca, for Mrs. Danvers. Nothing could threaten her anymore, because she had won one thing that Rebecca never possessed----love. She could bravely express her feelings in front of Mrs. Danvers, and she could conceal the horrible fact for her beloved husband.

From the perspective of the leading lady, the reader just went through a long journey of the heart with the leading lady, and witnessed her magnificent change in Manderley. She was timid and sentimental at the beginning, and became desperate under the influence of Mrs. Danvers, and became stronger after knowing the truth. The Manderley may be burnt down, the leading lady, however, rebirth from the ashes and started a new journey with Maxim. She eventually let go of Rebecca and started a new life with her husband. At the end of the story, the readers could feel relieved as the leading lady did. That is the special point of this novel, for the readers may have the similar experience as the leading lady. In romantic relationships, we may compete with a rival who is much more outstanding than us. We are compared by others and lose our confidence day by day. Then how could we continue fighting with the rival

without hesitating? The secret is love. The love of our companion will encourage and motivate us. Love is magical; it could make a feeble woman strong.

4. Suspense created by upbeat sentences

One of the writing characteristics of Daphne de Maurie is upbeat sentence at the end of each paragraph. She succeeded in arising the reader?s curiosity and motivated them to move on. She revealed one startled truth at the end of each chapter.

“Manderley was no more.”(Chapter 1)

“They say he can?t get over his wife?s death.”(Chapter 2)

“I was sitting in Rebecca?s chair, I was leaning against Rebecca?s cushion, and the dog had come to me and laid his head upon my knee because that had been his custom, and he remembered, in the past, she had given sugar to him there.”(Chapter7)“We listened, staring into the wh ite fog together. And then we heard the sound of footsteps running on the terrace beneath us.”(Chapter 18)

“It?s Rebecca who?s lying dead there on the cabin floor. Will you look into my eyes and tell me that you love me now?”(Chapter 19)

“Suddenly the tele phone began ringing in the little room behind the library.”(Chapter 20)

Every upbeat sentence seemed to be nature. Each promoted the developing of plot and left the author space to think. What kind of person is Rebecca? Is she a beautiful and perfect wife? Or is she slutty and evil? Did Maxim love her? Why he never spoke of her?

The reader all remembered the incident that Mrs. Danvers threatened the

leading lady to jump. The leading lady kept hesitating, and then she saw a boat at the bay. Both o f them were attracted to the boat. It turned out that Rebecca?s body was found. At the end of Chapter 19, Maxim confessed that he killed Rebecca. Then the author finished this chapter, leaving the reader room to imagine. Before the reader went to the next chapter, he or she must wonder how the leading lady would react. They were also eager to know that will the leading lady still love his beloved husband or sending him into prison for murdering. At the end of Chapter 1, the author told us that Manderley was no more. And it revealed to us the truth at the end of the story. At the end of the last chapter, we knew that Manderley was gone as well as Rebecca.

Conclusion

Rebecca is famous for suspense. The author used many methods to create suspense-----flashback, characterization, and description of environment. The author was successful in creating the character of the leading lady. The reader could easily feel the fear and hesitating, see the gloomy surrounding, and see the horrible Mrs. Danvers. Daphne de Maurie succeeded in creating suspense with her own language she used in the book. And that made Rebecca a masterpiece

Noted: The previous study and the present study of this essay are both quoted from an academic essay------Study of Suspense Design in Rebecca Zhang Rui, Foreign Language College, Xinjiang Agriculture University, Urumqi 830052 China

Work Cited

Anderson, Bruse. Oxford Concise Dictionary of literary terms.Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1980.

Avirl Horner &Sue Zlosnik.Daphne de Maurie writing, identity and gothic imagination. Palgrave USA, 1998.

Daphne de Maurie. Rebecca .HarperCollins US,1994

ER Zhou. Commentary of suspense film. Beijing: Chinese Social Scientific Press ,1974.

Huo Jun. Suspense in the film. Beijing:Beijing Youth Press, 1980

许琦. 《蝴蝶梦》的叙事模式和女性视角. Journal of Changsha University. 2008.11. 109-110

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王腊宝、沈韬. 重读《吕培卡》. 外国文学, 2002第三期. 77-82