The symbolism comes to its logical (and inevitable) conclusion at the end of the novel, when Manderley is engulfed in flames—presumably set on fire by the heartbroken or vengeful Mrs. Danvers. Manderley is the fictional estate of the character Maxim de Winter, and it plays a central part in Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel, Rebecca, and in the 1940 film adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock.. These crimson flowers also grow outside the windows of the morning room that the first Mrs. de Winter favored and are also arranged throughout the room, symbolizing Rebecca's overwhelming presence at Manderley .

Quickly, we jump into pre-Manderley flashbacks: they begin with a whirlwind romance set against the exotic backdrop of Monte Carlo in the French Riviera. As the novel progresses, the meaning of this symbolism becomes apparent as readers learn of Rebecca's sexual exploits with "a host of nameless" men.

When Rebecca began filming, her sister had just finished playing Melanie in Gone with the Wind. We know she misses this place, and that it was beautiful. The most obvious and evocative symbol in Rebecca is Manderley, the manor house in which Maxim, and later the narrator, live. Rebecca opens with an unnamed narrator remembering her dream of Manderley. Her new bedroom at Manderley, as Mrs. Danvers points out, doesn’t have a view of the sea like Rebecca’s did: Du Maurier’s grandfather was George Du Maurier, author of the famous novel Trilby.

Manderley is a centuries-old estate, ruled by the de Winter family for… (read full symbol analysis)

At the precise time when Maxim and the narrator are finally ready to forget Maxim’s sordid past with Rebecca, they find that Manderley has been destroyed. Manderley.