Discuss the role of jealousy in the novel in terms of Mrs. Van Hopper, Mrs. Danvers, and the narrator. How does jealousy affect the narrator’s marriage to Maxim de Winter?

Analyze how perceptions of social class impact the treatment of Maxim de Winter. How do these attitudes impact the treatment of the narrator?

Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of Rebecca and the narrator as role models for females. Which qualities possessed by the two women would be suitable in a heroine?

Does the ghost of Rebecca exist only in the narrator’s imagination? What evidence exists in the novel to support or deny Rebecca’s ghostly existence?

Is Rebecca primarily a work of Gothic literature, a romance, or a psychological thriller? Discuss the elements that enable Rebecca to be categorized as only one of these literary genres.

What role does Mrs. Danvers play at Manderley after Maxim de Winter marries a second time compared to her role during Maxim’s first marriage?

Discuss Ben’s relation to Rebecca’s character and the reader’s view of her. What’s Ben’s role in the plot?

Analyze the different stages of the narrator’s relationship to Maxim de Winter. How do the needs they fulfill for each other change over time?

Analyze the role of Frank Crawley in the novel.