The Silenced Voice of the Madwoman in the Attic:: An Intertextual Analysis of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
Author
Sort, Marlene Iona
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2016
Submitted on
2016-05-31
Pages
72
Abstract
This thesis explores the intertextual relationship between Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938) to reconsider how gender, power, and genre shape their reception. Drawing on intertextuality theory from Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes and, especially, Gérard Genette’s five modes of transtextuality, the study compares plot structures, narrative mirroring, and points of divergence across the two novels. It situates both works within the Gothic tradition, distinguishing male and female Gothic, and reads Rebecca as a product of the female Gothic. The analysis further examines characterisation and gender roles, the figure of the madwoman in the attic, the construction of the male as Other, and the Bluebeard myth as a shared narrative matrix. The central research question is whether Rebecca can be read as a feminist critique of Jane Eyre, and how such a reading reframes the canonical feminist interpretation of Brontë’s novel. The provided excerpt outlines the theoretical framework and method; detailed findings and conclusions are not included here.
Dette speciale undersøger den intertekstuelle relation mellem Charlotte Brontës Jane Eyre (1847) og Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca (1938) for at gentænke, hvordan køn, magt og genre præger deres læsning. Med afsæt i intertekstualitetsteori hos Julia Kristeva og Roland Barthes og især Gérard Genettes fem former for transtextualitet sammenlignes plotstrukturer, spejlinger og forskelle mellem romanerne. Begge værker placeres i den gotiske tradition med skelnen mellem mandlig og kvindelig gotik, og Rebecca læses som et produkt af den kvindelige gotik. Analysen omfatter også karakterfremstillinger og kønsroller, figuren som den gale kvinde på loftet, konstruktionen af manden som den Anden samt Blåskæg-myten som fælles narrativt grundlag. Det centrale forskningsspørgsmål er, om Rebecca kan læses som en feministisk kritik af Jane Eyre, og hvordan en sådan læsning påvirker den kanoniske feministiske tolkning af Brontës roman. Det foreliggende uddrag præsenterer teori og metode; detaljerede resultater og konklusioner fremgår ikke her.
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