摘要

   《蝴蝶梦》是20世纪英国小说家达芙妮.杜穆里埃的名著。达芙妮.杜穆里埃在小说中充分利用了悬念这一手法。整部小说充满了悬念，营造了一种恐怖神秘的氛围，不断增强读者的阅读兴趣，带给他们无尽的兴奋与快乐。小说中的悬念不仅是情节的布局手段，更充分体现了作者文学创作的能力。本文将通过对《蝴蝶梦》情节的分析，解析小说中产生的种种悬念，尤其是存在的主要悬念，指出因为悬念手法的运用，小说中的人物和情节富有神秘性，整部作品更富有跌宕起伏的戏剧美感。

关键词：《蝴蝶梦》；悬念；哥特式小说

Abstract

    Rebecca is a masterpiece of 20th century written by English novelist Daphne du Maurier, who gives full play to the roles of the technique of suspense in it. Suspense overwhelmingly shadows the whole novel, which creates an atmosphere of terror and mystery, thus strengthening readers’ interest in reading and bringing them thrill and joy. Moreover, the suspense in the novel arranges the whole plot artfully, which shows the author’s ability of literary creation. On the basis of the whole plot, this thesis tries to analyze the different levels of suspense created in Rebecca, and to point out that by using the technique of suspense, the characters and the plot are full of mysteries, the whole novel are more vivid with artistic aesthetic feelings.
 
Key words: Rebecca; suspense; gothic novel

1．Introduction
1.1 Introduction to Rebecca
    Rebecca is a novel written by English female author Daphne du Maurier, who firstly rose to prominence and became one of the most popular writers of the day since its publication in 1938. Rebecca is regarded as one of her best works. It is highly appreciated by readers of all times because of its plot twists and exquisite emotional description.
    As English professor Gina Wisker said, “She (Daphne) disturbs a classic romantic fiction with the psychologically thriller.”(2003:86) Professor Brewer and professor Lichtenstein (1982) suggested that a suspenseful story should be structured as a sequence involving an initialing event that is leading to a significant outcome, intervening events and the outcome. Rebecca is undoubtedly such a suspenseful story. The novel is characterized by plot twists. The heroine, who remains nameless, met with Maxim de Winter, a wealthy English gentleman, whose first wife Rebecca died a year ago. They soon got married and went back to Maxim’s ancestral estate of Manderley. However, a dark cloud hung over their marriage. The heroine was haunted by a mysterious and horrible spirit. It seems that Rebecca’s ghost still hovered over Manderley and was still in charge of it by her devoted housekeeper, the sinister Mrs. Danvers. One day, the truth of Rebecca’s death surfaced. She did not die in an accident but was killed by Maxim with a gun. The reason why Maxim killed her was that she was not a good wife as people thought and even had love affairs with many other men, her cousin Favell included. Fortunately, Maxim succeeded in escaping the sanctions with the help of the heroine. However, Mrs. Danvers set fire and ruined Manderley.