A Study Of Rhetorical Narrative In Rebecca

Rebecca is the most famous romance novel by British writer Daphne du Maurier.The novel is full of mysterious and suspenseful features,with delicate and profound descriptions,fascinating plots,and distinctive characters.It is loved by readers all over the world.Based on James Phelan’s rhetorical narrative,this thesis analyzes the narrative art of Rebecca from three perspectives: narrative progression,unreliable narration,and narrative judgments.This thesis first analyzes the narrative progression of the novel and points out that the development of Rebecca is triggered by the narrator “I”.The inner conflict of the narrator,the conflict with other characters,and the conflict between the characters and environment constitute instability.Simultaneously,the disagreement caused by unequal love between the narrator and Maxim also creates tension.Tension and instability together promote the narrative progression of the novel.Second,the narrative structure of Rebecca is divided into two levels: the inner narration and the outer narration.At the outer narration level,the author conveys her values through character portrayal,background descriptions,and many other ways,which reflects the existence of the implied author.A large number of estranging unreliability and boning unreliability appear in the novel,which deepens the unreliability of Rebecca.Finally,this thesis combines interpretative judgments,ethical judgments,and aesthetic judgments to analyze Rebecca from the perspective of narrative judgments.It points out that while the three judgments promote the development of the novel,they also realize the organic combination of narrative form,ethics,and aesthetics.Through the rhetorical narrative analysis of Rebecca,the work is not only an ordinary best-selling novel but also a classic work worth studying.Daphne cleverly uses rhetoric to advance the narrative progression of the novel and deepen the unreliability of the content.The purpose is to enable readers to make narrative judgments that are beneficial to the narrator “I” under the guidance of the author.