Rebecca: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

The narrator learns more about Rebecca in the coming weeks. The servants ask the narrator if she’ll be hosting many guests, and when the narrator replies that she’s unsure, they often note that Rebecca was “so very popular.” The narrator also becomes conscious that there’s now tension between herself and Maxim due to her outburst about the cottage. He’s always polite with her, but there’s a distance between them now.

One day, the narrator pays a visit to the wife of the local bishop. She says that she’s here to pay her respects and greet her new neighbors. Together, she and the bishop’s wife talk about hosting parties in the near future. The bishop’s wife remembers the wonderful parties organized by Rebecca, and the narrator blurts out, “Rebecca must have been a wonderful person.” When the narrator says this, she feels instantly relieved. She’s been thinking about Rebecca for so long that saying her name out-loud is a massive relief.

The narrator gets up to leave. The bishop’s wife tells the narrator to pass on her respects to Maxim, and to ask him to reorganize a ball that Rebecca used to host at Manderley. For the rest of the day, the narrator finds herself obligated to pay visits to the houses in the area. She quickly becomes exasperated with these visits, however—she finds them cloying and insincere, since most of the people only want to know when the next party at Manderley will be. Sometimes, the guests bring up Rebecca, and sometimes they imply her presence, as if she’s still alive and living in Manderley.

At the end of the day, the narrator drives back to Manderley and finds Frank Crawley waiting there. He greets the narrator, and the narrator thinks that she finds him very formal. The narrator asks Frank about the Manderley ball, and he explains that this ball was an annual affair, attended by hundreds of people from London and the country. The narrator confesses that she wouldn’t be good at planning a ball.

The narrator asks Frank about Ben, the mentally challenged man who was working on the Manderley grounds. The narrator mentions the cottage that she entered. She explains that inside, it’s dirty and dusty—clearly no one enters it anymore. Frank seems uncomfortable discussing the cottage—eventually, the narrator asks, point-blank, if the cottage is full of Rebecca’s things. Frank says that it is.

The narrator, sensing that Frank is going to be honest with her, asks Frank how Rebecca died. He explains that she was sailing on the ocean when her boat capsized and sank—Rebecca must have drowned while trying to swim back. It took two months for a body to be found. She asks Frank how the police were able to identify the body, then immediately feels ashamed for asking such a gruesome question. She apologizes for her line of questioning.

The narrator tries to explain herself to Frank. She tells him that everyone in her new life compares her to Rebecca. She admits that she’s beginning to feel that she should never have married Maxim. Frank assures her that she’s done Maxim a “great good” by marrying him. He adds that while the narrator doesn’t come from a noble background, she’s kind and sincere—far more valuable qualities. The narrator is surprised with Frank—at first, she’d thought him a quiet, trivial man. She tells Frank that she’s glad they’re friends now.

The narrator and Frank walk back to the front of Manderley. The narrator asks Frank if Rebecca was beautiful, and he admits that she was extremely beautiful.