tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560998460017131667.post3464403886273448001..comments2023-09-25T07:56:03.884-04:00Comments on Thoughts and whimsies: My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du MaurierMahathihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15634759388208812392noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560998460017131667.post-14393084231891147982020-03-21T14:35:43.623-04:002020-03-21T14:35:43.623-04:00I have just read My Cousin Rachel after seeing the...I have just read My Cousin Rachel after seeing the film with Rachel Weisz. I read the book as a teenager and say the film with Richard Burton also. So after my present reading, I formed the following conclusive opinion. Both Philip and Ambrose are highly inexperience men as far as dealing with women is concerned. I would certainly call Philip misogynistic.. He just does not understand how women think or act. That he falls completely in love with Rachel is beyond doubt. That he cannot handle this is also beyond doubt and reflects his inexperience. That he is a "dolt" is plainly not true. He is just besotted and this happens to all men (and women). Rachel has been left with little money or future. In those days women could not work and were forced to look for men to support them. She actually likes Philip and they form a kind of sweet relationship. After all one does not see a man every evening in one's boudoir without liking them. Philip reminds her of Ambrose whom she loves. So he gives here all his money and the family silver. This is normal behaviour for a man who is passionately infatuated with a woman. She is not going to refuse this. But the crux is: is she a murderess? There is certainly no evidence of this. None at all. This comes out at the end of the book. That she leads him on since she is flattered by his devotion, yes; that she accepts the money since she knows that he is besotted with her, yes; that he is misogynistic and does not like Ambrose understand the way women work, yes; but that she is a manipulative murderess, defintely no. Unless she is a psychopath, there is no motive. She already has the money and plans to spend most of the year later in Florence, why should she want to kill him? Personally I have lived in Cornwall and worked for some time in Florence. The people and culture are so different and can be compared as chalk from cheese to coin a cliche. So this is another aspect of the misun derstanding between the two parties which can be gleaned from the story.uiendehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02834665831747875418noreply@blogger.com