As a long time fan of Daphne DuMaurier, I've read My Cousin Rachel several times, but as I've learned more about people with sociopathic tendencies the past few years, I read it with a whole different outlook this time.
Another enticement of the book for me is that it is set in Cornwall where most of you know I lived for several years and love the area.
From the cover:
Rachel, a woman of exquisite beauty, descends on the great Cornwall estate of Philip Ashley. Despite his aroused suspicions, she soon enchants him. In this tale of good and evil, Philip must decide whether Rachel, the recent mysterious widow of his beloved cousin, is out to destroy him or is the innocent victim of devious men and with a tremendous longing to be loved.
My thoughts (spoiler alerts)
Throughout the book, Ms. DuMaurier leads us on a path which forks periodically toward good or evil. You may think Rachel is innocent but then she does something that might be construed as conniving. First of all, she is obviously a sociopath which means she has no empathy for others and every decision she makes is to further her goal. The goal of Rachel appears to be of reaching a status of independent wealth. Philip's cousin also seems to go through phases (shown in his letters) of adoring Rachel and believing she is out to get him. "She has done for me at last" he says in his final letter to his nephew.
I don't believe she intended to kill Ambrose, Philip's cousin and benefactor. She appeared to have been administering poisonous laburnum seeds but as this happened before he re-wrote and signed his will, leaving his estate to his new wife, I think this was more related to Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and to show her in the light of savior rather than bringing about his death (she did the same thing with Philip but he survived.) I also think that Rainaldi, the Italian who helped her with her financial affairs, was another pawn and in love with her. Rachel briefly considered marrying Philip until she found she only needed him to manage her estate in her absence after she manipulated him into giving her everything Ambrose had considered in his unsigned will. Again, there were seeds of doubt shown as Philip's godfather pointed out a clause that had financial implications if she re-married, leaving the reader to wonder if she would have married Philip if the clause hadn't been added.
At the end, Philip thinks he has misjudged her when he finds she has returned all the family jewels and heirlooms to the bank, but again she would still have had access to these if she needed them and her action was either to make herself look good in Philip's eyes (she needed him to run the estate) or to have another use for jewels. Remember, sociopaths never do anything out of the goodness of their heart.
For more information about sociopaths, I highly recommend Martha Stout's The Sociopath Next Door.
