Учебное пособие к элективному курсу «Зарубежная литература. Художественная литература Великобритании XIX-XX веков». Сборник упражнений для работы с романом "Ребекка" Д. Дюморье
методическая разработка по английскому языку по теме

__________________________________________________________________

Учебное пособие к элективному курсу

«Зарубежная литература. Художественная литература Великобритании XIX-XX веков»

Сборник упражнений для работы с романом Д. Дюморье «Ребекка»

Составитель:

Новицкая Ирина Владимировна

_____________________________________________________________________________

МЕТОДИЧЕСКАЯ ЗАПИСКА

Предлагаемое учебное пособие предназначено для практических занятий по курсу «Художественная литература Великобритании XIX-XX веков» в 9 - 11 классах.

Данное учебное пособие  представляет собой сборник коммуникативно-ориентированных заданий, направленных на развитие устной и письменной речи, логического и аргументированного высказывания, расширение словарного запаса учеников на основе чтения адаптированного романа  Д. Дюморье «Ребекка» (Rebecca. Серия «Английский клуб»/Advanced.  Айрис-Пресс, 2006).  

Пособие также ставит своей целью овладение учениками навыками самостоятельной работы такими как: нахождение в тексте необходимой информации, использование различных форм изложения мысли по прочитанному материалу (анализ, обобщение и др.).

Пособие рассчитано на девять языковых занятий. Восемь занятий отводятся проработке отдельных частей книги, а девятое (заключительное) занятие предполагает обсуждение произведения в целом: проблематики, главных персонажей, языка и стиля писателя, впечатления от прочитанного и т.д.

Каждый из восьми  разделов пособия имеет следующую структуру:

1. Активный словарь к соответствующей части произведения (Active vocabulary).  Предполагается,  что уже в процессе прочтения очередного отрывка произведения ученик обращает внимание на выделенный лексический материал, а затем активно использует его при обсуждении содержания данного отрывка.

2. Задания (темы и вопросы) для передачи содержания (Who or what in the chapters?  Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text. Say who made the utterances and under what circumstances). Данные задания обеспечивают концентрацию внимания учеников на наиболее важных и значимых моментах произведения. Эти задания призваны помочь ученикам при домашней подготовке к уроку по конкретному отрывку произведения.

3. Задания для анализа (Questions and topics for analysis). Эти задания ставят своей задачей развитие навыка неподготовленной речи, давая возможность ученику высказать свое мнение, принять участие в дискуссии.

4. Креативное письмо (Writing).

Девятый  раздел представляет список вопросов для заключительного обсуждения произведения.

Составитель  

ASSIGNMENT 1

(Chapter 1-3)

Active vocabulary:

reluctantly            to get over                              tranquility        to employ

artificial             to alter                   relentlessly        a reduction

Who or what in the chapter:

• Dreamt that went to Manderley again?
• Was wagging his tail when he heard his master’s footsteps?
• Couldn’t get over his wife’s death?
• Had been a snob?
• Had decided to be a model of politeness?
• Woke with a sore throat and temperature?
• Had a desire to share with that man her family secrets?
• Was neither sarcastic, nor snobbish.
• Felt that wanted some possessions of his?
• Was drowned in the bay near Manderley?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

• The house was a sepulcher, our tears and sufferings lay buried in the ruins.
• How different is my present companion, peeling a tangerine with well-shaped hands and from time to time smiling at me.
• She did not have to worry, however, for the waiter had long ago sensed my position as an inferior.
• It was not the sight that produced in me great appetite.
• I wanted to warn him of the ambush but did not know how to do it.
• Max from Rebecca. 17 May.
• I’m glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love.
• Where to go? If he had driven in circles it would not have mattered to m, for it was enough for me just to sit beside him.
• The gulf between us had been abridged after all.
• Max was her choice, the words were her possession, and I had to call him Maxim.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

• I wouldn’t tell him my dream. For Manderley was no longer ours. Manderley no longer existed.
• Not a single well-known personality!
• Funny to think that the course of my existence hung like a thread upon that quality of hers.
• Fashions change so quickly nowadays they may even alter by the time you get upstairs.
• Even if you had not knocked over that vase, I should have asked you.
• I should be flattered, but why does she consider me of any importance?
• A companion is a friend of the bosom.
• You cost more than ninety pounds a year.
• An empty house can be as full as a full hotel.
• Is that a compliment to good weather or to my driving?

Questions and topics for analysis:

• Speak of the heroine’s dream and its connection with reality.
• The heroine as a young woman. Speak about her occupation as a companion to Mrs Van Hopper.
• Dwell on the character of Maxim de Winter, the owner of the famous estate known as Manderley.
• Comment on the way the heroine finds herself falling helplessly in love with the older man. Why cannot she imagine him ever returning her feelings?

Writing (choose only one topic):

• Prove that a sense of loss infuses the opening pages of the novel.
• What does the lack of heroine’s name symbolize?

ASSIGNMENT 2

(Chapter 4-6)

Active vocabulary:

to be drowned        to put off                      bewildered        miscellaneous

to flatter        courtesy                      to make up with smth        a reproach

Who or what in the chapter:

• Felt a little sick every time the waiter came near their table?
• Had not said anything about being in love?
• Was forbidden, prompted by demons?
• Took out her nail scissors and cut out the page, looking over her shoulder like a criminal?
• Was standing by the window, smoking a cigarette, her ridiculous hat perched sideways on her head?
• Was tall and thin, dressed in deep black with big hollow eyes on a white, skeleton face.
• Thought how little she knew of Maxim’s life at Manderley?
• Tried to stress that the room was second-rate for a second-rate person?
• Was impressed by the magnificence of the breakfast offered to them?
• Looked more like a museum?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

• Monte Carlo was suddenly full of charm. I loved it.
• Perhaps women do not make those confessions to men. I had a lot to learn.
• And I should make violent love to you behind a palm tree?
• They wanted to see what I was like.
• I guessed at once she considered me to be ill-bred.
• I shivered as though someone had opened the door behind me.
• I found this hardly comforting and asked myself if sometimes it was better to be not too sincere.
• These were the things to be acquired painfully and slowly, costing me many bitter moments.
• As I wrote I noticed for the first time how bad and unformed was my hand writing.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

• We are going too. I’m tired to death of Europe.
• If you are looking for Mr de Winter we had a message from Cannes.
• Which would you prefer? You can take your choice.
• One day you may realize that philanthropy is not my strongest point.
• Bless you for that, one day I’ll remind you of this moment and you won’t believe.
• Well, still waters run deep. How did you manage it?
• He is only forty-two and I look older than my age.
• You have only got to be yourself and they all will adore you.
• Not from this wing. You can’t even hear it.
• Don’t mind her. She is a very extraordinary character in many ways.
• I’m afraid you have made a mistake. Mrs de Winter has been dead for over a year.

Questions and topics for analysis:

• Speak about the way Maxim proposed marriage. Comment on Mrs Van Hopper’s reaction. Was she sincere in her warnings?
• The greeting scene at Manderley.
• Heroine’s first months as mistress of Manderley. What explains the fact that despite their love for each other the distance between them becomes more and more obvious? Who is the true mistress of Manderley?
• Speak about Mrs Danvers. Prove that Mrs Danvers is the perfect representative for the dead woman. Do you agree that though she may look skeleton-like, her powers overcome physical reality?

Writing (choose one topic you like!):

• Do you agree that the heroine’s quest for herself has strong Oedipal overtones? Prove that the Electra complex (the female reversal of the Oedipal complex) is acted out in these chapters. (The marriage takes place but the victory is not complete. Who is the real ‘older woman’ that stands in the heroine’s way? Why is it difficult to overcome such a maternal figure?)
• Explain why Rebecca is not a typical ghost story.

ASSIGNMENT 3

(Chapter 7-9)

Active vocabulary:

to precede            to look deserted        to feel for                         fastidious

to be devoted            heady scent         to set off        disgraceful

Who or what in the chapter:

• Came with the heroine as though she were a guard and the heroine was a prisoner?
• Was met at once with a sea of faces and a general silence?
• Was tall, broad-shouldered, very handsome, very much like Maxim about the eyes, but not as snobbish as I expected?
• Always expected people to come without invitation?
• Was the heart of Manderley?
• Was smiling at the heroine, showing his toothless gums?
• Had opened up a road into the past again?
• Went up to Edgecombe to identify the body?
• Was the most beautiful creature Frank had ever seen in his life?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

• I wondered what Beatrice would say if she realized that I knew nothing of that preceding year.
• When you came into the morning-room before lunch you have knocked me down with a feather.  
• I must have been the first person to put on that mackintosh since the handkerchief was used.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

• We were thinking of sending out a search party.
• Quite different from what I expected. Doesn’t answer to your description at all.
• But you are an absolute child. Tell me; are you very much in love with him?
• We always bicker like cat and dog when we meet. I congratulate you on his looks.
• Of course she is insanely jealous. She simply adored Rebecca.
• He likes me in a way he likes Jasper.
• Tact never was my strong point. And, as I told you, you’re not a bit what I expected. You are so different from Rebecca.
• We call this place The Happy Valley.
• Come back. We don’t want to go that way. This foolish dog must look after himself.
• She’s gone to the sea, ain’t she? She won’t come back no more?
• If you had my memories you wouldn’t want to there either, or talk about it, or even think about it.
• You would just be yourself and look decorative.
• Well, moonlight5 picnics and one thing and another...
• You think it’s just morbid curiosity. It’s not that I swear.
• I’ve never heard a word of criticism, and if I did I should take great care that it was never uttered again.

Questions and topics for analysis:

• The heroine’s state of mind in the vast halls of Manderley. Do you agree that in this part of the book the heroine is a prisoner of her assumption that Maxim adored Rebecca, that she was beautiful, brilliant, flawless?
• Speak about Beatrice’s visit. What is the effect produced upon the heroine? Do you think that Beatrice and her husband really liked Rebecca? Why?
• Prove that the heroine accumulates knowledge about Rebecca gradually and often accidentally. What was the information got form Beatrice, Frank Crawley, Ben? How can you explain Maxim’s unwillingness to share his secret with his young wife?
• Speak about Frank Crawley. Explain his reaction when the heroine compares herself unfavorably to Rebecca.

Writing (choose one topic):

• Comment on the role of Manderley in the novel. What does it symbolize?
• Interpret the moral implication of Frank Crawley’s comment “I should say that kindness, sincerity, and modesty are worth far more to a man, to a husband, that all the wit and beauty in the world”.

ASSIGNMENT 4

(Chapter 10-12)

Active vocabulary:

asylum        precaution        to exaggerate         to conceal

sinister        malicious         to resist         loose living

Who or what in the chapter:

• Felt like a guest at Manderley, waiting for the return of the hostess?
• Were out of place in that delicate room?
• Glanced hurriedly at the door, like a guilty child?
• Had hot, blue eyes usually associated with heavy drinking and loose living?
• Shall never forget the expression on her (Mrs Danvers’) face?
• Used to sit in the library and there was cigarette ash all around in the morning?
• Lay on the bed and closed her eyes feeling deadly sick?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

• Little things, meaningless and stupid in themselves, but I could not help seeing them, hearing them, feeling them.
• They upset a little chine cupid who had stood on the desk.
• It was quite a good name for a boat.
• It was only strange that she received them on the only day Maxim was away.
• Supposing this man was a thief and Mrs Danvers was in his pay?
• My first impression was one of the shock...

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

• I hope this is the sort of thing you like. Love from Beatrice.
• He’ll think you much more a fool now.
• I’m sorry. I did not think Robert would get into trouble.
• It looks as though Mrs de Winter thought you would put her in prison, doesn’t it, Mrs Danvers?
• I done nothing. I never told no one. I don’t want to be put into the asylum.
• You’ve never seen me here, you understand?
• Hallo, Danny, there you are. All your precautions were in vain. The mistress of the house was hiding behind the door.
• Isn’t it a charming invitation? By heaven, Danny, I want to accept it.
• We must lead the bride astray, must we Jasper?
• Put your hands inside the slippers. They are quite small and narrow, aren’t they?
• The rock had bitten her to bits, you know. Her beautiful face was unrecognizable, her both arms gone.
• Do you think the dead come back and watch the living? Sometimes I wonder if she comes back here to Manderley and watches you and Mr de Winter together.

Questions and topics for analysis:

• Speak about the incident with the broken cupid. What proves the episode at the library, when the heroine is forced to apologize to Mrs. Danvers? Is Maxim’s behaviour towards his wife fair? Who is to blame for their marital difficulties?
• Comment on the way these chapters provide more pieces to the puzzle – the heroine sees Ben for the second time. Do you agree that Ben in his childlike simplicity perceived Rebecca’s true nature?  Why do you think the heroine fails to make a connection between Ben’s description of a ‘dark’ woman and the woman she knows as Rebecca?
• The heroine gets a taste of Rebecca’s family.
• A spine-chilling masterpiece of the west-wing scene. Comment on the episode when Mrs Danvers tells the heroine that Rebecca’s ghost haunts Manderley, watching everyone and suggests that Rebecca is certainly not happy with what she sees.

Writing

Why do you think Maxim keeps Mrs Danvers as a housekeeper and allows her to maintain the west wing as a temple to her departed mistress?

ASSIGNMENT 5

(Chapter 13-15)

Active vocabulary:

to prevent from        elaborate        to go with

clumsily        to restrain        to come across

to do in for        banister        to be enchanted

Who or what in the chapter:

• Must have cried when she slept, for when she woke up the pillow was damp?
• Was nearly blind?
• Had a strong resemblance to Maxim?
• Was leaving Eton and going to Oxford?
• Used to rock with laughter at whatever Rebecca said?
• Had an amazing gift of being attractive to everybody?
• Began to wear a new air?
• Looked quite attractive, quite different all together?
• Realized for the first time how beautiful the house was looking?
• Were like performers in a play, but were not acting with one another?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

• I could tell at once that such sort of house was kept by a big staff.
• I wished I could lay my hands upon her face and take the years away.
• I knew then he was not going to tell me about Mrs Danvers.
• I was surprised by her attitude so different from our last meeting.
• What a relief it was to have decided at last.
• It was new, this sudden unexpected sensation of being important, of having all the people looking at me and talking about my dress.
• Nobody clapped, nobody smiled. They all stared at me like dumb things.
• I shall never forget the expression on her face – loathsome, triumphant. The face of a devil!
• I went slowly down the stairs to meet them.
• But Maxim did not come.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

• It’s time you met the old lady, you know.
• You are not by chance starting an infant, are you?
• It’s so dull here, nothing for you to do.
• I want Rebecca, what have you done with Rebecca?
• Never mind who told me, that’s of no importance.
• Why don’t you copy one of the pictures in the gallery?
• You will both get the shock of your lives!
• Don’t be too long my dear, we are all so intrigued.
• Call out Miss Caroline de Winter.
• What are you standing there for? Go now, before the other guests arrived!
• You stood there on the stairs, and for one horrible moment I thought...
• He thinks you did it deliberately.
• I’ve heard the marriage is not a big success.
• You looked charming in your blue. Everyone said so.

Questions and topics for analysis:

• The heroine drives with Beatrice to visit Gran.
• Preparations for the fancy dress ball. Comment on the heroine’s decision to follow Mrs Danvers advice and dress as the lady in the painting.
• Comment on the effect produced by the heroine’s surprise with dressing up.
• Do you agree that the night after the ball when Maxim did not appear marks the nadir of Maxim and heroine’s marriage?

Writing (choose only one topic!):

Do you agree that the heroine’s decision to dress up according to Mrs Danvers advice marks a key moment in the novel’s psychological drama? Why?

ASSIGNMENT 6

(Chapter 16-19)

Active vocabulary:

to diverse        a circumstance         urgent        

to pick up                                    to torture        right away

to be in the way                          to lose touch with        remorse

Who or what in the chapter:

• We not suited to one another?
• Broke off and began to cry noisily with an open mouth and dry eyes?
• Wanted to come up to see Mr de Winter?
• Knew what would happen, knew she would win in the end?
• Thought he should go mad?
• Was incapable of love, of tenderness, was not even normal?
• Was lying on the divan with an ash tray full of cigarette stubs beside her?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

• It seemed clear to me that there was nothing so shameful as a marriage that had failed.

• I could fight the living but I couldn’t fight the dead.

• But in front of me was an old woman who was ill and tired.
• And then he got the fright of his life!
• She made a bargain with me up there, on the side of the precipice.
• It was to be settled one way or the other.
• When I killed her, she was still smiling.
• I knew I was no longer afraid of Rebecca. Maxim had never loved her; I don’t hate her any more.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

• Nobody wanted you here at Manderley!
• Why do you hate me? – You tried to take Mrs de Winter’s place.
• He’s made his own hell and there’s no one but himself to thank for it.
• He is still jealous, isn’t he?
• I shall live as I please and the whole world won’t stop me.
• It’s you that ought to be lying there in the church crypt, not here.  Why don’t you jump? It’s easy, it won’t hurt. Go on, don’t be afraid.
• It’s too late my darling; we lost our little chance of happiness. Rebecca has won...
• The woman buried in the crypt is not Rebecca. Rebecca was not drowned at all.
• How could I ask you to love me when I knew you still loved Rebecca?
• If I had a child Max neither you nor anyone in the world would ever prove that it was not yours.
• I would lie and perjure. I would pray.  Rebecca has not won. She has lost.
• I’m only worried about you, I don’t regret anything else.

Questions and topics for analysis:

• The heroine decides to confront the housekeeper. Comment on the episode when the heroine, having fallen into almost trancelike state, considers jumping? Is that natural that the heroine should think of killing herself in the temple of Rebecca? What breaks the trance? Is it symbolic?
•  Explain why the episode in the west wing where the heroine almost kills herself is the true turning point of the novel? What would have proved the possible suicide of the heroine?
• Explain why the discovery of Rebecca’s body represents both disaster and redemption for the novel hero and heroine?
• The heroine discovers the truth. Why does this discovery come as a shock to readers and characters alike?  How does this discovery help all the strange details of the plot fall into place? Does the author expect reader to sympathize with the admitted murderer?
• What transforms the marriage of Maxim and the heroine? Is it too late? What can bring down Maxim, as almost brought down the heroine?

Writing

• Is the fog that rolls over Manderley the morning after the party symbolic? What does it symbolize?
• What does the emergence of Rebecca’s body symbolize?

ASSIGNMENT 7

(Chapters 20-22)

Active vocabulary:

to lose consciousness         to beat about the bush        for the present

to regain consciousness        to get to the point        to fade

Who or what in the chapter:

• Didn’t want to listen to Maxim’s evidence?
• Looked very tired and old.
• Looked much the same as before but a little more untidy?
• Was not going to give way to blackmail?
• Had an engagement diary in her room?
• Was standing trial there for his life?
• Evidently saw Baker, whoever he was?
• Was a very well known woman specialist?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

• I watched him at the breakfast table getting whiter and whiter as he read the papers.
• It was the question of waiting now. Waiting until Tuesday.
• I didn’t know what I was going to say to him, but I was not frightened.
• I suddenly knew what Favell meant. Ben knew. Ben had seen.
• And in his eyes I read a message of farewell.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

• But if you allow me I should like to make one more statement.
• It’s my opinion, Sir that the boat never turned over at all. She was deliberately scuttled.
• Will someone take my wife outside? She is going to faint.
• Well, she’s cooked her goose.
• It’s all over.
• You and I know it wasn’t a suicide, don’t we?
• I can make things damned unpleasant for you.
• I’ve laid all my cards on the table. Why don’t we come to some agreement?
• Shall I ring up Colonel Julian and ask him to come over?
• It’s the first time I’ve heard of it.
• I never seen you and she in the woods!
• Payment for services, eh?
• I shall never forgive myself for that. Never till my dying day.
• I want to go quickly, to light out like the flame of a candle.
• He can’t go alone. I have the right to insist on it.
• Get your husband to bed early, if you can. It’s going to be a very long day.

Questions and topics for analysis:

• Manderley undergoes transformation – the heroine seems at home for the first time.
• After the truth is discovered the novel shifts into a kind of detective thriller. Speak about the suspense built by repeatedly having Maxim appear safe from danger, only to pull the rug out from him.
• Mr Favell’s accusation. What make him believe that Rebecca was killed? What is the purpose of his accusation?
• Colonel Julian speaks with Favell’s witnesses. Comment on the information got from Rebecca’s diary fetched by Mrs Danvers.

Writing:

In refusing to pay blackmail to Favell and calling on Colonel Julian, Maxim seems to be acting against his own interests. Explain why he does so.

ASSIGNMENT 8

(Chapters 23-24)

Active vocabulary:

to suspect        a long-distance call        to stand smth

to verify         a strain        astonished

Who or what in the chapter:

• Didn’t know what they should find in the end of their journey?
• Was pale, and there were shadows under his eyes?
• Looked amazed at the sight of so many of us?
• Was medium height, with a long face and a keen chin?
• Would have been under morphia in three or four months?
• Was going to be very different in the future?
• Was hot with crimson, like a splash of blood?
  

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

• No matter what tears were shed, the peace of Manderley could not be broken or its beauty destroyed.
• It seemed so long since I had used it, and yet it was only four month ago.
• The face in the glass stared at me and laughed.
• It twisted like a snake, and he took hold of it with both his hands and smiled at Rebecca and put it round his neck.
• And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

• She would never have done such a thin, and what’s more she had no motive.
• Could you possibly verify this for us?
• I saw a Mrs Danvers on the twelfth at two o’clock.
• We ought to go down on our knees and thank God that’s finished.
• We must hurry.
• I want to get home. Something’s wrong. I know it is.
• It’s not the northern lights. It’s Manderley. It is burning.
• You want to know if I can suggest any motive why your wife took her life.  I think I can.
• She kept it a secret from everyone, even Danny. What a damned thing, eh? Cancer! Oh, my God!
• That’s why she laughed. That’s why she stood there laughing when she died.
• Something rather odd happened.

Questions and topics for analysis:

• Comment on the scene in Dr Baker’s office. Do you agree that this scene is the second major great plot twist in the novel? What was the first?
• Do you agree that Rebecca provoked Maxim to kill her that night in the cottage? How? Why?
• Interpret the meaning of the heroine’s dream on the way home.
• Does the loss of Manderley come as a fitting end to the couple’s travails? Why?

Writing:

• What does the fact that Rebecca was sterile (could not have children) symbolize?

• Do you agree that the burning of the house is the price the heroine and her husband must pay for their triumph over Rebecca? Why?

ASSIGNMENT 9

General discussion of the novel

1. Interpret the title of the novel. What is its message?
2. The main themes in the novel.
3. What of the following critical opinions of Rebecca do you think right:

• Rebecca is a classic of modern gothic literature.
• Rebecca is more than a reflection of its era’s literary fads: the book is simultaneously an insightful psychological novel.
• Rebecca is a masterfully plotted suspense novel.

4. Why does the heroine remain nameless? Is this namelessness symbolic?
5. Discuss the role of the Oedipus/Electra complex in the novel.
6. Is Rebecca a ghost story? Why or why not?
7. Discuss the role of Mrs. Danvers in the novel.
8. Discuss the character of Maxim. How are his actions consistent or inconsistent with this character?
9. Is justice served at the end of the novel? Why or why not?
10. Discuss the role of Manderley in the novel--both the house itself and its grounds and beach.
11. How does setting contribute to the book's plot? To the book's tone?
12.  Discuss the elements that make Rebecca a work of gothic literature.
13. Discuss the role of Jack Favell in the story. Does he help to shed light on Rebecca's character? How does he impact the plot?
14. Analyze the heroine's marriage to Maxim. How does their relationship develop during the course of the novel?
15. Does the ending of the novel sound optimistic? Explain why.