Rebecca: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

The narrator remembers having to leave Manderley recently. She and her husband (unnamed for the moment) are staying in various hotels. Strangely, being away from Manderley has reminded the narrator that she and her husband have aged visibly.

The narrator remembers the rest of her time in Monte Carlo with Mrs. Van Hopper. Van Hopper asks her if she’ll accompany her to New York at the end of the summer. The narrator is reluctant to take Van Hopper up on this offer, but Mrs. Van Hopper tells her that she’ll be able to find men “in your class.”

Mrs. Van Hopper comes to the end of her time at Monte Carlo, and the narrator is seriously considering accompanying her to New York. On Van Hopper’s last night in Monte Carlo, the narrator cries herself to sleep.

The next morning, the narrator wakes up early and dines with Mrs. Van Hopper, who’s oblivious to her companion’s sadness. Suddenly, the narrator gets up and goes to Maxim’s room. She tells Maxim that she’s come to say goodbye. She explains that she’s going to New York with Mrs. Van Hopper, although she’ll be miserable there. Maxim nods and asks the narrator a question: would she prefer New York or Manderley? Surprised, the narrator says she’d prefer Manderley, of course. Maxim tells the narrator that he’s proposing marriage to her. She’s shocked—even though she feels strong feelings for Maxim, she never imagined that he’d want to marry her. Tearfully, she tells Maxim that she’s been crying all night, because she’d thought that she would never see him again. Maxim nods, and tells the narrator that she’ll be his companion, just as she is to Mrs. Van Hopper: she’ll dine with him, spend the day with him, etc.

The narrator imagines being Maxim’s wife, and has an almost hallucinatory vision of walking around Manderley with Maxim. She realizes that she’ll become Lady de Winter—she imagines writing this name on her letters, her checks, etc. Every day, she’ll go to parties, dine with her husband, etc.

The narrator ends her vision, and finds herself sitting before Maxim in the hotel. Maxim tells her that he’s going to break the news of the engagement to Mrs. Van Hopper. Together, they walk to Mrs. Van Hopper’s hotel room. Instead of walking inside, the narrator goes to her room next door, and listens through the walls as Maxim explains that he’s going to marry the narrator. Van Hopper obsequiously tells Maxim that this is a wonderful idea. In her own room, the narrator scans the volume of poetry that Maxim gave her. On the title page, she sees the “R” of Rebecca’s name—an “R” that gets bigger and bigger the longer she stares at it. She overhears Maxim telling Mrs. Van Hopper that he and the narrator are in love. This surprises the narrator, because Maxim didn’t tell her he was in love with her when he proposed. Frustrated, the narrator tears out the dedication page of the book and throws it in the fire.

After Maxim leaves Mrs. Van Hopper’s room, the narrator goes in, reluctantly and fearfully. Van Hopper is cold, and says that the narrator is lucky that Van Hopper had influenza. She faults the narrator for lying to her about her whereabouts, and reminds her that Maxim is years older than she is: he’s 42. Van Hopper asks the narrator if she’s been “doing anything you shouldn’t.” The narrator doesn’t know what this means, and Van Hopper laughs cruelly. She tells the narrator that she’ll be hopelessly lost at Manderley—unable to survive at the balls and elaborate parties. In conclusion, Van Hopper says that the narrator is making “a big mistake, one you will bitterly regret.”

The narrator leaves Monte Carlo with Maxim. But she can’t stop thinking about what Mrs. Van Hopper told her: Maxim is only marrying her because he’s slowly going insane after his wife’s death.