"I ought to have known."

Mrs. de Winter returns to her room in complete disgust. Clarice is waiting for her, more of an emotional train wreck than Mrs. de Winter is. Mrs. de Winter rips the dress from her body and sits there in shame. Beatrice comes to the room and tries to rationalize the situation. She gives insight as to why the reaction was so horrid: "'It was what Rebecca did at the last fancy dress ball at Manderely Identical...You stood there on the stairs and for one ghastly moment I thought...'" (220). Mrs. de Winter is so distraught over the entire affair that she feels she cannot possibly go back down to the ball. She tells Beatrice to make up an excuse for her, to say that she has a sudden headache and will be down later.

Mrs. de Winters goes over to the window to look out on the rose garden. She overhears some of the guests talking...about her. Most of them were saying some incredibly insulting things, "Why that there's nothing wrong with her at all, they've had a colossal row, and she won't appear'" (224). "'What I mean is, people don't suddenly for no reason have violent headaches. I call the whole thing jolly fish!" (224). Mrs. de Winter was upset, but decided that she needed to get in her gown and go down to the event.

After Mrs. de Winter arrives at the party, it is as if she is not welcome. She compares her relationship with Maxim like two actresses: "We were like two performers in a play, but we were dived, we were not acting with one another" (229) Mrs. de Winter stood around all night as if she was in a coma. She hardly interacted with anyone, and looked like death all night long. Finally, the party concluded and Beatrice sent Mrs. de Winter up to bed to get some rest. Mrs. de Winter lied there, waiting for Maxim to come to bed, though he never came.

It seems as though the party was a success for everyone but Mrs. de Winter, who was the most excited for the party of all. This chapter shows the power of betrayal and the affects it can have on someone. Making a personal connection to this chapter, this past week the power of betrayal affected myself as well as my friends. It destroys one inside, and I can relate to how Mrs. de Winter felt when she was described as "looking like death." One feels as though there is no one else to blame but oneself, and in some cases that may be true, but in other cases it may be the fault of the person who created the atmosphere of trust, who created the atmosphere of friendship (like Mrs. Danvers), when in reality, all they wanted to do was look for out to get one in trouble and to destruct strong relationships that one has built. </end rant>

Vocabulary: 
draught (226)- British spelling of draft.

Literary Devices & Important Quotations

Characterization