Gonna spoiler the whole thing because I use the text liberally - it's been years since I last read Rebecca, it was nice getting a chance to read it again but I did touch on her briefly in my PhD, specifically in the context of women who were bad vrs mad.
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Du Maurier never gives the heroine a first name, and she later admitted it was because she couldn't think of one. What impact does this have on how much or little we come to care for the character?
Because the narrator doesn't have a name, you are sort of forced to focus on the characterisation of other characters, because the person of the narrator is almost irrelevant. She is irrelevant because all that matters is the ghost of who Rebecca was/is. Rebecca was perfect, Rebecca is missed, Rebecca mattered. That's apparently not what Du Maurier intended but it was the effect that I had from it.
With the final revelation of Rebecca's true character do we come to sympathise with Maxim de Winter? Or is the heroine blinded by her love and too eager to forgive him?
She is blinded!
Maxim: Oh hey I murdered my wife!
her: Oh phew! I thought you were gonna say you loved her!
I always wondered if she is as cracked as Rebecca but in a different way, like a mirror image of her, as obsessive as Rebecca appears to be heartless
Is Rebecca de Winter the real villain of the story or is it someone, or something, else?
I'm not sure if villain is entirely right, there are social forces in play on both of them, Maxim is apparently capable of murder after all, but it is important to note that a novel of the period which depicts the woman as a conscious, controlled abuser was pretty few and far between! Other novels with put upon husbands tend to depict the woman as animalistic or not in control of her abuse (Bertha Rochester for example). Rebecca knows she is being cruel and enjoys it.
Is Rebecca a ghost story? A love against the odds story? A Gothic Romance? Why or why not in any case? And what other genres does it overlap with?
It's again almost irrelevant. The 'ghost' of Rebecca, the idea, or memory of who she was known to be, turns out to be more important than the truth -
Much like the unravelling of the murder - which 'truth' is more important? - The truth of who Rebecca is? The truth that she was having affairs? The truth that Maxim killed her? The truth that she wasn't pregnant? The truth that she was dieing anyway? the truth that it was suicide by husband? There is no real answer because all of the truths are weighed and counter weighed by other 'truths' until you can't really tell which tipped the scales.
The influence of Jane Eyre is unmistakable however what similarities and differences did you notice?
I see differences in the presentation of the wife - but this is mostly based on the depiction - Bertha is uncontrolled, she cannot help being abusive and adulterous because she is batshit crazy and that isn't her fault. I see Rebecca as closer to someone like Lady Audley (Lady Audleys Secret), she knew exactly what she is doing, her malevolence is more cunning because it is more controlled and because she decides to do malevolent things.
Because the narrator doesn't have a name, you are sort of forced to focus on the characterisation of other characters, because the person of the narrator is almost irrelevant. She is irrelevant because all that matters is the ghost of who Rebecca was/is. Rebecca was perfect, Rebecca is missed, Rebecca mattered. That's apparently not what Du Maurier intended but it was the effect that I had from it.
With the final revelation of Rebecca's true character do we come to sympathise with Maxim de Winter? Or is the heroine blinded by her love and too eager to forgive him?
She is blinded!
Maxim: Oh hey I murdered my wife!
her: Oh phew! I thought you were gonna say you loved her!
I always wondered if she is as cracked as Rebecca but in a different way, like a mirror image of her, as obsessive as Rebecca appears to be heartless
Is Rebecca de Winter the real villain of the story or is it someone, or something, else?
I'm not sure if villain is entirely right, there are social forces in play on both of them, Maxim is apparently capable of murder after all, but it is important to note that a novel of the period which depicts the woman as a conscious, controlled abuser was pretty few and far between! Other novels with put upon husbands tend to depict the woman as animalistic or not in control of her abuse (Bertha Rochester for example). Rebecca knows she is being cruel and enjoys it.
Is Rebecca a ghost story? A love against the odds story? A Gothic Romance? Why or why not in any case? And what other genres does it overlap with?
It's again almost irrelevant. The 'ghost' of Rebecca, the idea, or memory of who she was known to be, turns out to be more important than the truth -
Much like the unravelling of the murder - which 'truth' is more important? - The truth of who Rebecca is? The truth that she was having affairs? The truth that Maxim killed her? The truth that she wasn't pregnant? The truth that she was dieing anyway? the truth that it was suicide by husband? There is no real answer because all of the truths are weighed and counter weighed by other 'truths' until you can't really tell which tipped the scales.
The influence of Jane Eyre is unmistakable however what similarities and differences did you notice?
I see differences in the presentation of the wife - but this is mostly based on the depiction - Bertha is uncontrolled, she cannot help being abusive and adulterous because she is batshit crazy and that isn't her fault. I see Rebecca as closer to someone like Lady Audley (Lady Audleys Secret), she knew exactly what she is doing, her malevolence is more cunning because it is more controlled and because she decides to do malevolent things.