Emma Dean

English Composition 2 Section 617 

Professor Hammett

Essay 2 Rhetorical Analysis

Spring 2023

Word count: 1015

Rhetorical Analysis

Dame Daphne du Maurier was a famous playwright, biographer, and English novelist who wrote many absurd stories and plays. Her most popular book titled Rebecca is about the character, Rebecca, and her obsession, the deceitful things she did, and her jealousy which lead to her committing crimes and plotting to cause others to do the same (du Maurier 2018). Similarly, cruise ship crimes are caused by obsession over wealthy vacations, deceitful actions and words, and jealousy over other people’s belongings. Many of these crimes are committed to enable the criminal to elevate his or her status in life or in his or her own social circles. Daphne comments in her most famous novel, Rebecca, that “Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind” (du Maurier 4). Based on this statement and the fact that her writings suggest that an individual can affect the lives of others, it can be concluded that du Maurier would strongly agree that crime on cruise ships is an epidemic that is fueled by greed that all should work to eradicate. 

Though in absurdist fashion where the issues characters face are exaggerated by degrees, Daphne du Maurier’s writing has common themes through many of her stories that are reflective of the crimes that are committed on cruise ships today. One of the main themes often repeated across her works is deceit. Much like how criminals have always been, deceit plays a huge part in their crimes from lying to obtain what they want, access to valuables, or even such as Rebecca did when she portrayed herself inaccurately and even as she goaded her husband into committing murder (du Maurier 2018). This is no different for crimes on cruise ships. Nasrullah Mambrol explores this theme in her article titled “Analysis of Daphne Du Maurier’s Novels.” Mambrol relates du Maurier’s fascination with deceit: “I am passionately interested in human cruelty, human lust, and human avarice…” du Maurier stated in her interview with Barbara Nichols in the interview Ladies Home Journal (Mambrol). Taking this statement and applying it to cruise ship crimes, Daphne du Maurier would probably be interested in the reason behind the actions and the thoughts within the criminal’s mind as to why they would commit the hypothetical crime. 

Daphne du Maurier additionally had a tendency to include the ocean or sea in her writings. It typically is seen in her stories as an unsafe place. The Birds, a short story in her 1952 collection titled “The Apple Tree: A Short Novel, and Some Stories.”, was set by the sea (du Maurier 1952). In Rebecca, the ghost of the main character Rebecca comes up from the sea because of the fact that her husband shot her and stored her body in a sailboat that he sank himself (du Maurier 2018). The sailboat may not compare in size to a cruise ship or hold the amount of people one does, but this is still an oceanic crime. Lastly, “The Escort” was another short story published in 1980 by du Maurier in a different collection called “The Rendezvous and Other Stories.” In this writing, a ship was tracked by a German U-boat featuring danger, violence, and piracy (du Maurier 1980). Evidence of Daphne du Maurier’s connection to the sea and her belief that it could be a dangerous place can lead readers to believe that du Maurier understood what the hazards are and that people can cause harm to other passengers on a cruise ship.

True to form in the gothic genre, du Maurier addresses not just the physical aspects of crime but the psychological, as well. Just like the crimes committed in du Maurier’s stories, crimes that happen to vacationers on cruise ships encompasses so much more than the physical act itself. It leaves victims feeling unsafe and haunted. Since much of her writing deals with the emotional and mental effects of crimes committed, it is reasonable to believe that she would see the abhorrence of psychological trauma as a social blight in dire need of correction, especially in the case of one of the most common cruise ship crimes, categorized as sexual assault. Du Maurier’s writing has a central theme that often involves sex, lust, desire, and the crimes people commit against each other in those areas. In the analysis of My Cousin Rachel written by Julie Myerson, titled “My Cousin Rachel: Daphne du Maurier’s take on the sinister power of sex,” she wrote “It is strongly implied that [Rachel] has suffered violence at the hands of more than one man. There have been hands at her throat we are told” (Myerson). Knowing she saw such injustices as a social epidemic worth writing about, it only stands to reason that the same crime on a cruise ship would be viewed as one as well. 

As seen in many of du Maurier’s books, a single person can have an effect on a number of people, so she would encourage everyone to do their part in educating, preventing, and demanding justice for the atrocious crimes that happen upon the sea today. Furthermore, du Maurier has brought attention to the epidemic in writings like Rebecca, “The Birds,” and “The Escort.” “Her novels reflect her fascination with the sea in all its moods, and the people who worked at sea and ashore,” Helen Doe states in her article “I too would find my ship’: Daphne du Maurier’s Passion for the Sea” (Doe). Another theme Daphne du Maurier writes about is lust and jealousy, similarly, sexual assault happens on cruise ships due to feelings of lust and jealously over another person aboard. Along with those, deceit is famously showcased in Daphne du Maurier’s books and short stories, which also plays a role in crimes on cruise ships. Based on the evidence given above, it is quite clear that the absurdism author, Daphne du Maurier, would be on board and in full agreement that cruise ship crimes are a terrifying epidemic once again fueled by the greed of humans, and we can all do better to avoid them.

 

Works Cited

Doe, Helen. “'I too would find my ship': Daphne du Maurier's Passion for the Sea.” tandfonline.com, 18 March 2009, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09574040802684848?journalCode=rwcr20. Accessed 23 April 2023.

Du Maurier, Daphne. The Apple Tree: A Short Novel, and Some Stories. Gollancz, 1952.

Du Maurier, Daphne. My Cousin Rachel. Sourcebooks, Incorporated, 2017.

Du Maurier, Daphne. The rendezvous and other stories. Gollancz, 1980.

Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Analysis of Daphne Du Maurier's Novels – Literary Theory and Criticism.” Literary Theory and Criticism, 7 June 2019, https://literariness.org/2019/06/07/analysis-of-daphne-du-mauriers-novels/. Accessed 22 April 2023.

Maurier, Daphne du. Rebecca. Virago Press, 2018.

Myerson, Julie. “My Cousin Rachel: Daphne du Maurier's take on the sinister power of sex.” The Guardian, 17 June 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/17/rereading-my-cousin-rachel-daphne-du-maurier. Accessed 23 April 2023.