Comparing Rebecca with other Gothic Literature
Birmingham City University
Many of you will recognise the name Serena Trowbridge in connection with Daphne du Maurier. In recent years, she has become a regular speaker at the du Maurier Fowey Literary Festival, and she has encouraged some of her students to contribute their work to the Daphne du Maurier Website. Serena is Reader in Victorian Literature at the School of English, Birmingham City University. She teaches a module on Gothic Literature to her final-year students. In the module, they consider novels spanning several centuries, all in the Gothic genre, including The Monk by Matthew Lewis (1796), Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847), Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938) and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009).
This is the fourth year that Serena and her students have agreed to share some of their finest essays comparing Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca with other Gothic literature. This year, we are pleased to share our website with five of Serena’s students, each of whom achieved the highest marks within their study group. Across their five essays, the students discuss The Monk, Jane Eyre, and The Little Stranger, so Gothic fiction spanning nearly 230 years.
To read these superb essays and to learn more about the Gothic in literature, please click on the following links:
1). How is Women’s Madness Portrayed in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger? by Lucy-Mae Jones
https://www.dumaurier.org/data/uploads/2102_534585171.pdf
2). How do the Gothic novels Rebecca and Jane Eyre show that gender roles and expectations have turned human beings into monsters created by patriarchy? by Abbygail Brown
https://www.dumaurier.org/data/uploads/2103_1853604832.pdf
3). How is madness portrayed in gothic texts and what link does madness have with the concept
of repressing your sexuality? by Shakira Jefferies
https://www.dumaurier.org/data/uploads/2104_1093473311.pdf
4). How are ghostly appearances of unruly women used in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca to explore patriarchal structures? by Laura Grabher-Meyer
https://www.dumaurier.org/data/uploads/2105_1733510776.pdf
5). Shot with Crimson & Some Ravenous Shadow-Creature: Why do Rebecca & The Little Stranger end with the destruction of the Gothic castle? by Harry Smith
https://www.dumaurier.org/data/uploads/2106_815546364.pdf
To look back at the essays the students from Birmingham City University shared with us in previous years, go to our website’s Interesting Facts section and click on these three headings:
Gothic Literature and the place that Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca takes in the genre
Reading Rebecca as Gothic
Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca as Gothic
28th February 2025.