Jane Eyre influenced Rebecca

Rebecca's story runs along Jane Eyre's: a young, poor heroine marries an older, brooding master of a great house, a first wife overshadows the marriage, the house keeps a secret about her, and it ends in fire. MEDIUM, recorded on those parallels, which are the standard comparison between the two novels. Du Maurier was a massive, documented fan of the Brontë sisters—she even wrote a biography of their brother, Branwell Brontë. However, despite critics continuously pointing out that Rebecca fundamentally mirrored Jane Eyre from the very week it was published in 1938, du Maurier chose never to confirm that she purposely used Charlotte Brontë's blueprint.