Mrs Danvers

Mrs Danvers is the gaunt, black-clad housekeeper of Manderley whose fanatical devotion to the first Mrs de Winter, Rebecca, makes her the novel's most implacable antagonist. She uses her intimate knowledge of Rebecca's life and her control of the household to undermine the second Mrs de Winter, culminating in a psychological assault that nearly drives the narrator to suicide. Her presence is a living monument to Rebecca's memory, and her eventual disappearance after the inquest leaves a void that is filled only by the final destruction of Manderley itself.

Identity and Introduction

Mrs Danvers is first described by Maxim de Winter as "an extraordinary character" who will be "stiff with you at first" . When the narrator meets her on the threshold of Manderley, she is a terrifying figure: "someone tall and gaunt, dressed in deep black, whose prominent cheek-bones and great, hollow eyes gave her a skull's face, parchment-white, set on a skeleton's frame" . Her handshake is "limp and heavy, deathly cold, and it lay in mine like a lifeless thing" . She delivers a rehearsed speech of welcome, but her "little smile of scorn" when the narrator drops her gloves reveals immediate contempt . The narrator instinctively feels "a sensation of discomfort and of shame" .

Role as Housekeeper and Guardian of Rebecca's Legacy

Mrs Danvers runs Manderley with absolute efficiency. She submits the daily menu to the narrator as a formality, but the narrator defers to her: "Just order what you like, Mrs Danvers, you needn't bother to ask me" . She arranges all the flowers herself, stacking vases with "quick, deft fingers" . She has been at Manderley since Rebecca was a bride . The narrator learns from Beatrice Lacy that Mrs Danvers "simply adored Rebecca" and that she resents the narrator's presence because of this devotion . The narrator reflects: "She would have felt the same towards anyone who had taken Rebecca's place" .

Psychological Warfare and the West Wing

Mrs Danvers deliberately preserves Rebecca's bedroom in the west wing as a shrine. The room is "fully furnished, as though in use" , with brushes and combs on the dressing-table, scent, powder, a satin dressing-gown on a chair, and slippers beneath . The nightdress is still inside its case, "thin as gossamer, apricot in colour" . Mrs Danvers takes the narrator through the room, forcing her to touch the clothes and describing Rebecca's life in intimate, possessive detail: "I used to brush her hair for her every evening" . She whispers, "Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?" . The narrator feels "deadly sick" .

The Fancy Dress Ball and the Climactic Confrontation

Mrs Danvers suggests the narrator copy a portrait in the gallery for the fancy dress ball . The narrator does so, unaware that Rebecca had worn the identical costume at the last Manderley ball. When the narrator appears at the top of the stairs, Maxim's face turns "ashen white" and he orders her to change. Mrs Danvers watches from the west wing door with "the face of an exulting devil" . The next morning, she confronts the narrator in Rebecca's room, her voice "ingratiating and sweet as honey, horrible, false" . She describes Rebecca's death in gruesome detail: "The rocks had battered her to bits, you know... her beautiful face unrecognisable, and both arms gone" . She then pushes the narrator toward the open window, whispering, "Why don't you jump? It's easy, isn't it?" . The narrator is saved only by the sound of distress rockets from a stranded ship .

Alliance with Jack Favell and Disappearance

Mrs Danvers secretly receives Jack Favell, Rebecca's cousin and lover, at Manderley when Maxim is away . When Maxim discovers this, he confronts her: "I won't have him inside the gates, do you understand?" . After the inquest, Favell telephones her with the news of Doctor Baker's revelation about Rebecca's terminal illness . She immediately packs her belongings and disappears through the woods, never passing the lodge gates (E03671-E03672). The narrator reflects that Mrs Danvers "must have guessed, too. There was an expression on her face last night" .

Thematic Significance

Mrs Danvers embodies the novel's central theme of the dead's power over the living. Her fanatical devotion to Rebecca makes her a living extension of Rebecca's will, and her psychological manipulation nearly destroys the narrator. She is the human agent through which Rebecca's shadow operates, and her disappearance after the truth about Rebecca's illness emerges signals the end of that shadow's power—though the final destruction of Manderley suggests that the house itself cannot survive the removal of its presiding spirit.