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Daphne Du Maurier Research Paper

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Daphne du Maurier is one of the most interesting female authors of Gothic literature in the twentieth century because of her unique style of writing and her background. She is famous for many literary successes during her lifetime. Her literature is unique because she was capable of adding a romantic twist to her gothic style of writing. She borrowed ideas from many other gothic authors and mixed them together so that the finished product was her very own (Buzwell). Some of her fans also believe that Daphne’s different style of writing resulted from her odd childhood (“Birth”).
Daphne was born on May 13, 1907 in London, England. On the night Daphne was born, there was a harsh thunderstorm. I think it is safe to say that the weather on that …show more content…

She took other famous authors ideas, blended them together, and the result was a dark love story. The first scenes of her novel Jamaica Inn are a lot like the beginning of Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula, but du Maurier’s book has a much more romantic feel to it (Buzwell). Daphne includes other literary traditions in her writing as well as gothic literature, she includes lost paradise and the loss of innocence (Magil 431). Daphne relates a lot of aspects of her personal life into her novels; her books were stories written about her own life in disguise. Not many authors have written about their own lives in so many different settings, and that is one of the things that stands out to me most about …show more content…

The theme of the book is how dangerous innocence can be, which was a huge belief that Daphne carried with her almost all of her life. One author, Frank Magil, says, “In Rebecca du Maurier is suggesting that in the real world, innocence can be dangerous, even fatal. It is experience, no innocence, knowledge, not ignorance, which enable the narrator to survive (432).” Daphne also showed how dangerous she thought it was for women to be too submissive to men in this novel, she thought it was deadly for both people in the relationship. Readers who have read Rebecca automatically assume that she relates herself to the protagonist of the book, Bride, but she actually relates herself to the antagonist, Rebecca (Magil 432). Just like Rebecca, Daphne cheated on her spouse a numerous amount of times, she was rebellious in her marriage and didn’t seem to regret it as much as she should have.
Daphne du Maurier is one of the most interesting female authors of Gothic literature in the twentieth century because of her unique style of writing and her background. She had a psychologically rough childhood and some of her confusion rolled over into her adult life as well. One thing was certain, she had a gift of taking a style and story and making it her own. Although she kept to herself most of the time, she had a free

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