As in the first level of suspense, Rebecca and Maxim's relation doesn't expose unless Chapter 19. It’s a full-text suspense. Now, a second level of suspense forms. Readers may guess and look back again. We all wonder if there is something that shows. Yes, when Maxim tells "I" that he shoots Rebecca, readers may stop again to think over.
The poem appears in the front of the novel is a significant indication.
"The volume was well worn, well thumbed, falling open automatically at what must be a much-frequented page." [4](P36) Why does Maxim always read this page of the poetry? What is its importance? Daphne is a careful and smart designer. She wouldn't write words wastefully. Every word leads to suspense.
"I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
of my own mind; and in the midst of tears
I hid from Him; and under running laughter.
Up vistaed slopes I sped
And shot, precipited
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong feet that followed, followed after." [4](P36)
Maxim takes along this poetry and reads this page time to time. Is he fleeing something? What is he hiding from on earth? In the latter chapters, Mrs. Danvers mentions about Rebecca's laughs. Say, when Rebecca fights with her cousin and wins. She cracks her whip over his head and down he comes, head-over heels, cursing and laughing.
"So was everybody who knew her. She didn't care. She only laughed. I shall live as I please, Danny" [4](P256)
Rebecca makes men love her but she just laughs and doesn't care them at all. She won't love anything, except herself.
Rebecca's laughs shade Maxim always, they are curse to Maxim. After shooting Rebecca, he is living with fear to be found out.
Rebecca sits on the hills above Monte Carlo, laughing, tearing a flower to bits in her hands, after a bargain with her husband. She laughs at her husband's care about his Manderley. She laughs at his sacrifice on pride, honor, personal feelings, every quality about fame. After her bargain with Maxim, she laughs like the devil.
"She threw back her head and laughed."[4](P291) Because she knows that Maxim can’t prove anything against her, she has got a big triumph.
"She waited a minute, rocking on her heels, and then she lit a cigarette and went and stood by the window. She began to laugh. She went on laughing, I thought she would never stop." [4](P292)
Even when she is shot by Maxim, she is still smiling. "I fired at her heart. The bullet passed right through. She did not fall at once. She stood there, looking at me, that slow smile on her face, her eyes wide open..." Maxim hasn't realized this meaning of the smile until (in the end of the novel) they get files from the doctor that Rebecca has got a cancer before she dies. She foresees the whole thing. So she lies to Maxim on purpose. It is the last supreme bluff. She wants to be killed by Maxim that means to destroy him, also. That is why she laughs. That is why she stands there laughing when she dies. What a wicked and cunning laugh it is!
As in the poem, Maxim lives under Rebecca's damn laughs. All this strained shapes answers the second suspense: Maxim can’t bear any longer and kills Rebecca. It is neither an accident nor a suicide.
"...And in the daytime, Frith would hear him (Maxim) in the library pacing up and down. Up and down, up and down."[4](P180) In addition, Maxim doesn't want to go to the beach where the white cottage stands. He says impatiently," I never go near the bloody place, or that Goddamned cottage. And if you had my memories you would not want to go there either, or talk about it, or even think about it." [4](P122) Maxim kills Rebecca in that cottage one night. It is no wonder that he says such words in chapter 19. Another clue for the second level of suspense.
4. The third level of suspense: whether Maxim can escape from Rebecca's conspiracy?
The first two levels of suspense have given readers large space to image. We rely on our experiences and imagination to what is happening. The art of the suspense lies in this. People like unexpected answers and intricate plots. Daphne attracts not only reader's attention but also their abilities to investigate. There are two possibilities: Maxim will be sentenced because of murder if it is Rebecca who wins the game. Will she? Or can Maxim escape? At this point, suspense pushes the story to a new high tide.
4.1The first turning
Because a ship strands near the bay of Manderley, Rebecca's little boat is discovered, so is her dead body. Maxim told "me" everything about his murder of Rebecca. But to our surprise, they are lucky enough. Because the magistrate judges Rebecca is trapped there, in the cabin. The jury will believe. Every one is relaxed to read this phrase. Though in the inquest, holes made by Maxim are referred, the jury considers it as a suicide, without sufficient evidence to show the state of mind of the decease. Anyhow, Maxim and "I" are away from danger, no matter the judgement is an accident or a suicide.
转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net
共5页: 上一页 [1] [2] [3] 4 [5] 下一页
网摘收藏:
当前位置:
载入中...
-> 在百度中搜索：
-> 在Google中搜索：