What is the Importance of the setting in Rebecca?

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What is the Importance of the setting in Rebecca?

With the exception of the opening chapters in Monte Carlo, Rebecca takes place at the country estate of Manderley.

The fact that Manderley is built by the sea-side is a very important factor in the book of ‘Rebecca’ because Max de Winters late wife Rebecca drowned in the bay near Manderley so if there was no sea-side, then that would have changed everything.

In the introduction of the book, author Sally Beauman explains that the setting of Rebecca was of personal importance to Daphne du Maurier as she was desperately homesick and longing for her home by the sea in Cornwall so she wrote a book about that type of place to ‘ease the pain’.

Also, Manderleys minutely detailed setting is clearly that of an actual house, Menabilly. Du Maurier and her husband both lived at Menabilly so when she went off to Egypt to write the novel, she wrote about her home.

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When the narrator is in Monte Carlo, the hotel is described and in my opinion, it seems like a very posh place.

‘At the Hotel Côte d’Azur, she staked the claim upon a certain sofa in the lounge, midway between the reception hall and the passage to the restaurant and she would have her coffee her after luncheon and dinner......’ This shows me that the Hotel Côte d’Azur is a very nice, posh place to be and this is important because it brings out the true personality of Mrs Van Hopper and her needs.

When she is still working ...

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