Downfall of the Governess in The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The governess has a deep obsession for the little boy Miles. He is charming, handsome, and so many other things she desires in a man and an obvious sexual tension is present between the two throughout the entire novel. The governess says, "…everything but a sort of passion of tenderness for him was swept away by his presence. What I then and there took him to my heart for was something divine

The existence of the ghosts in The Turn of the Screw has always been in debate. Instead of directly discussing whether the ghosts are real or not, this essay will focus on the reliability of the governess, the narrator of the story. After making a close examination of her state of mind while she is at Bly, readers of The Turn of the Screw will have many more clues to ponder again and to decide to what extent the governess can be believed. While critics like Heilman argue that there are problems with the interpretation that the governess was psychopathic, textual evidence incorporated with scientific research show that the governess did go through a period of psychical disorder that caused her insomnia, out of which she created

The fear of Peter Quint had caused his heart to stop. He was dead, and the ghosts had gotten to him. The governess’ worst fear had com to life, no matter what she did she could not prevent what had occurred.She tried her best, but didn’t come through for Miles. She let the poor boy down, and it cost him, his life. The governess’ greatest mission was now a major failure. She promised herself that she would protect both of the children at all cost, but she could not keep keep her promise, as Miles fell to the hands of the apparition of Peter Quint.

The grandmother is a good person on the surface—at least the community thinks so—but she is also ‘mean.’ She forces her family to obey her; she sees them as an extension of herself; and she seizes ‘every chance to change’ reality. Because she convinces her son to turn the car toward the house with the ‘secret panel,’ causing the family to meet The Misfit, she seals everyone’s death. She tries to adopt the Misfit, giving him well-meaning advice and false love. (21)

Mind over Mankind In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the view changing novel by Harper Lee, very few families in Maycomb live luxuriously, and every person has their own way of making life easier. This is crucial, as they live in a town where people's actions are scrutinized merely for entertainment. Those who strive for beauty are selfish, yet those who are less vain are pigs. Those who care about their families are mindless while those who have their own opinions are heartless.

"The Turn of the Screw" written by Henry James in 1898, is a “supposed” Gothic novel that tells the story of a governess who begins working on the Bly Estate and takes care of Miles and Flora. After a time of her arrival, the governess begins to see visions of the governesses that had come before her. This intensely enigmatic, and unfathomable tale, that is full of deficient assertions has stimulated a tempestuous dispute among those in the field of literature. Traditionally, ghost stories endeavour the idea of conjuring the sudden excitement of not knowing, or in some instances knowing, what is going to come next. Henry James executes this stunt perfectly by maintaining two mutual perceptions, through the use of the natural and supernatural.

The governess is insane because she is the only person at Bly to witness the ghosts of

Another particular important Victorian teaching was low crime-tolerance. Once more, a man by the name of Mr. Peter Quint was explained to be ‘too friendly’ towards one the two children. Peter Quint, implied many times to be an inappropriate man by the house’s caretaker Mrs. Grose, was also implied to have an inappropriate tongue. It is later found out to be the reason why Miles, was expelled from school. This fact isn’t highlighted by James’ in the actual novel, but rather a fact the reader comes to figure out gradually despite the governess’s obliviousness. Not to mention, the small fact Miles was also implicated to be victim to some sexual harassment and possibly even molestation by Quint. The governess’s lack of remorse, Mrs. Grose’s lack of involvement in the crimes she knew were committed by the dead folk the crazy governess claimed to have seen, and even the master of the house and his children, all appearing to be

One of example of which comes from the idea that Flora and Miles are both being possessed by Miss Jessel and Mr. Quint respectively. At the second lake incident, when the governess accuses Flora of witnessing the ghost of Miss Jessel, the governess states that, “she was literally, she was hideously, hard; she had turned common and almost ugly” (71). Then, Flora emotionally declares that she has never seen the ghosts and then hugs and cries to Mrs. Grose almost as if it was a theatrical production. Due to this ghostly possession, this is possible and thus a reasonable deduction that proves the ghosts are real and are communicating to the children, yet not presenting themselves to Mrs. Grose. It also makes the governess look silly to be discussing the ghosts because nobody else claims they witness any ghosts during the entire book and especially at a moment where the governess says that a ghost is there. Besides the fact of the public humiliation of the governess by those that do not see the ghosts, another factor that the ghosts are affecting are her ability to sleep properly. Her fear for the children interacting with the ghost has kept her up, in one situation where she stays up to a late hour and then goes to check on Miles under her “endless obsession” (61)). The problem of the ghosts have not just made the governess lose sleep, they have made the governess obsessed with saving the kids from the ghosts. It is also present that this puts the governess on edge and when Miles and Flora act suspiciously strange, she thus believes that the ghosts are involved in somehow possessing their bodies. Due to this, the fear of the apparitions reflects onto the children and she becomes afraid of them and whilst speaking to Miles she writes, “My voice trembled so that I felt it impossible to

Almost immediately after telling the readers about her first crush, the speaker, setting up for the second part of her story, begins to use vague phrases and abstract imagery to tell the rest of her story. The speaker remembers “lingering far past curfew [with the paperboy]” and the “gray [air]” that surrounded her (7-8). She tells of the “huge shadow of the hickory” that shrouded her with darkness, that allowed her to be in the shade (9). These vague details and the darkness offered by the tree’s shade allows for the interpretation that the speaker will soon fall asleep in the hickory’s shadow and begin to dream of the

In the novel, The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, the start of the book describes Flora as an angelic, beautiful little girl. She acts sweet-natured and absolutely loves the governess. But then she acts rather strange, working with her brother to have the governess notice that he is outside in the middle of the night. Then Flora disappears from the governess’s sight, which is odd for this angelic child to do. Eventually, when the governess finds Flora, she stares at the governess with the ugliest face while hugging Ms. Grose. Flora then tells Ms. Grose that she thinks the governess is cruel, mad, and that she wants to escape from her. This is especially bizarre considering Flora used to love the governess deeply. Moreover, Flora seems like

Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw has led to a great deal of discussion and analysis from scholars and students for over fifty years. James’s novella is a ghost story that is mostly told through the perspective of a young woman, a Governess, who is put in charge of taking care of two children, Miles and Flora, at an estate in Bly. The Governess adores the two children and considers them both charming, beautiful, and perfect, which is understandable given that Miles and Flora are portrayed as well mannered, innocent children; and as the Governess becomes more absorbed in her responsibilities, the children give her little to no trouble. One evening, the Governess takes a walk around the estate, and she begins to think, quite romantically, about her employer, the children’s uncle. This is before she sees an estranged man on top of the house’s tower, who stares down at her for a long moment, intensely. The Governess sees this intruder again; this leads her to discuss her sightings with the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, who tells her that the man she saw is Peter Quint, a former valet for the house who is now dead. Furthermore, while the Governess is out with Flora, watching her play, she feels the appearance of a second intruder, Miss Jessel, who Mrs. Grose says is the Governess’s deceased predecessor. In the context of the whole novella, how the Governess reacts to the ghosts shows three different states of mind that the Governess was possibly in throughout the story. Peter Quint

During those times, everyone was at a very difficult stage. The help needed jobs desperately and parents who were working diligently needed assistance with children, especially those with huge tasks. This is why when the governess is asked to watch over the children, she is more than happy. During this era, ghosts were not taken seriously. The men and women who claimed they saw the dead were viewed as crazy. Due to the belief system of that era, the governess was not taken seriously when she said she saw ghosts.

Additionally, James reinforces the female gothic conventions by utilizing the supernatural to drive the Governess into madness. After her encounter with Peter’s ghost, the house’s “darkness and quietness close in” onto her while she “circles about the place” as the overwhelming feeling of curiosity consumes her (James 27). This sublime of the truth “heightening or setting up terrible things” that will occur at the Bly mansion (Burke 381). The pleasure of knowing of this hidden truth drives the protagonist to seek it out even though there may not be a “ultimate truth”. The Governess’s obsession of finding this “truth” worsens throughout the storyline that her imagination portrays this ideal image of heroism of herself. The Governess seems to have a habit of fantasying of an alter reality where she is

“To see what you said about me,” Miles responded hastily. Her embrace of him tightening. She’d surely discover his secret if he told her everything, the mere thought made Miles heart thrum like wings of a caged bird. The Governess had since the beginning, seen Miles and his sister as little angels that were, although very intelligent and diligent, completely oblivious to what happened around them. But that was far from the truth, in actuality the children knew everything since the very beginning.