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Alliteration
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Allusions
Explanation and Analysis—Jane Eyre:
The entirety of Rebecca can be read as an allusion to Charlotte Brontë's gothic novel Jane Eyre. Many allusions appear as specific lines that echo other books or refer to historical events. In this case, though, entire plot points echo Brontë's novel. This resonance is undoubtedly deliberate and helps enhance Rebecca's meaning as a gothic novel.
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Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Bradshaws:
In Chapter 2, the narrator remembers Manderley as it was when she lived there. She uses an allusion and a metaphor to describe the way her memory works:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Color and scent and sound, rain and the lapping of water, even the mists of autumn and the smell of the flood tide, these are memories of Manderley that will not be denied. Some people have a vice of reading Bradshaws. They plan innumerable journeys across country for the fun of linking up impossible connections. My hobby is less tedious, if as strange. I am a mine of information on the English countryside.
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Chapter 20
Explanation and Analysis—Entailed Property:
In Chapter 20, when Maxim tells the narrator about how he came to murder Rebecca, he reports that she threatened to get pregnant by someone other than him. To understand this threat, it is important to understand an allusion to "entailed property":
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘If I had a child, Max,’ she said, ‘neither you, nor anyone in the world, would ever prove that it was not yours. It would grow up here in Manderley, bearing your name. There would be nothing you could do. And when you died Manderley would be his. You could not prevent it. The property’s entailed. You would like an heir, wouldn’t you, for your beloved Manderley?[...]'
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Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—Othello:
In Chapter 23, after Rebecca's death has been ruled a suicide, Jack Favell accuses Maxim of murdering her. Favell alludes to Shakespeare's Othello as he suggests what Maxim's motive may have been:
Unlock with LitCharts A+All married men with lovely wives are jealous, aren’t they? And some of ’em just can’t help playing Othello. They’re made that way. I don’t blame them. I’m sorry for them. I’m a bit of a Socialist in my way, you know, and I can’t think why fellows can’t share their women instead of killing them.
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Chapter 26
Explanation and Analysis—Roses of Picardy:
In Chapter 26, the narrator, Maxim, Favell, and Colonel Julyan learn from Dr. Baker that Rebecca was diagnosed with terminal cancer the day she died. The chapter ends with an allusion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+We came out onto the drive and went towards the cars. Doctor Baker pulled the Scotch terrier inside the house. I heard the door shut. A man with one leg and a barrel organ began playing “Roses in Picardy,” at the end of the road.
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