Rebecca and Lesbian Desire
The nature of the relationship between Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers has long been a source of speculation. Many readers and scholars have suggested that the novel hints at the possibility of a lesbian relationship between the two women (Horner and Zlosnik 109). Mrs. Danvers is certainly obsessed with Rebecca. In this passage, Mrs. Danvers gives the narrator a tour of Rebecca’s old room and shows her Rebecca’s clothing:
She looked beautiful in this velvet. Put it against your face. It's soft, isn't it? You can feel it, can't
you? The scent is still fresh, isn't it? You could almost imagine she had only just taken it off. I would always know when she had been before me in a room. There would be a little whiff of her scent in the room. These are her underclothes, in this drawer. (du Maurier 172)
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- The Danger of Rebecca Carissa Rodenbiker