An Analysis Of The Turn Of Screw

1089 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary devices in turning of the screw

The Turn of Screw is a gothic novella dictated by Henry James to his typist and originally published on 1898. It is considered an essential classic in the history of world literature.
The title could be a symbol alluding to the fact that, as we go deeper on the text, the narration could have various interpretations and each reader can give a twist different from other readers.
This excerpt is the starting point of Chapter XIII. In the previous chapter the governess suspects the children are corrupted by the apparitions and they are pretending to be innocent. Mrs. Grose accepts her interpretations and suggests telling the children 's uncle but the governess refuses because she wants to solve the situation on her own without bothering the uncle, …show more content…

We receive her point of view, and is she who speaks here. It is a homodiegetic narrator who tries to reproduce her own impressions in an internal focalisation; we see the story throughout her eyes. She is an overt narrator with a distinct personality who makes her opinions known. We can distinguish her presence very clearly and it is the main reason for the sense of mystery surrounding the story. On the other hand, she is an unreliable narrator; we cannot be certain the information the governess is presenting is completely trustable, not because she is not sincere, but because we only have her personal point of view and she may not be aware of the implications her feelings …show more content…

23), 'the friends ' (l. 20). She cannot utter their names because they are the incarnation of evil and they represent everything she is afraid of or repressed, like sexuality.
However, 'all roads lead to Rome ' (ll. 16-17), meaning that every conversation was driven to the same point and no matter the subject she always ended up almost touching the 'forbidden ground ' (l. 18); an euphemism used again to avoid alluding to supernatural beings. 'Forbidden ground ' is also anadiplosis because an extra emphasis to the theme of the return of the dead is added by repeating this set of words in the next sentence.

Hyperbaton is used across the text, thus words or phrases trascend their conventional practices and result in a more complex structure and intriguing sentences. This literary device adds more depth and appeal to the narration: 'It was not, I am as sure today as I was sure then, my mere infernal imagination ' (ll. 5-6), 'this strange relation made, in a manner, for a long time, the air in which we moved ' (ll. 7-8) are some

Show More
Related

  • Secrets Found in Gimli by Diane Alexander

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    The narrators of the story are the author Diana Alexander, and sometimes the characters, which narrates while dialogue. Alexander narrates the entire first paragraph, and her point of view in that piece is trusted, because she narrates the historical fact. The second paragraph though is from the point of view of the members of council, who is a character of the story and is also trusted. The member expressed his feelings, which should...

    Read More

  • What Is The Turning Point In The Screwtape Letters

    1441 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Screwtape Letters is a book made up of letters sent from one demon named Screwtape to another demon named Wormwood. Wormwood is a tempter trying to coerce a human away from Christianity, and Screwtape, his uncle, is attempting to assist him in his work though letters of advice. The human Wormwood tries to tempt, called The Patient by Screwtape, does end up defeating Wormwood’s attempts to trick him and makes it to heaven. However, it was not an easy process, and it was filled with strife, and in some cases, failure. He converted, relapsed, then returned to Christianity, but his second conversion was very much different from his first. His second conversion marks a major turning point in the book, from the Patient being easily fooled, and

    Read More

  • The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    The theme that has been attached to this story is directly relevant to it as depicted by the anonymous letters which the main character is busy writing secretly based on gossip and distributing them to the different houses. Considering that people have an impression of her being a good woman who is quiet and peaceful, it becomes completely unbecoming that she instead engages in very abnormal behavior. What makes it even more terrible is the fact that she uses gossip as the premise for her to propagate her hate messages not only in a single household but across the many different households in the estate where she stays.

    Read More

  • Sandra Cisneros's “Never Marry a Mexican”

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.

    Read More

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

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the first interactions with the young children, the governess's infatuation with their uncle, her employer, eventually proved to be her own failure in every fashion. In talk with the head maid, Ms. Grose, the governess explained her meeting with her employer and how she had fallen in love with him on their first meeting. Ms. Grose then began to explain that that was the nature of the her employer, to draw a women he could entrust his estate to, and that the governess was not the only one so taken by him to leave the infatuated governess without further communication.

    Read More

  • How Is The Governess Insane

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Toward the end of the novel, the governess sees Ms. Jessel and tries to point her out to Flora and Mrs. Grose. However, Mrs. Grose questions the governess by wondering “[w]here on earth does [she] see anything?” (James 70). Even though Mrs. Grose claims that she does not see any figure, it is not certain that she is telling the truth. It is obvious that she is overwhelmed in this scene because Flora is fearful of the governess’ behavior. Mrs. Grose is merely trying to be rational and appeal to Flora’s anxiety over the governess’ temperamental and persuasive attitude. Another argument that could appeal to the governess’ insanity is that she is love struck by the master, causing her to be delusional. This is exemplified through her imagining that the master “would appear…and stand before [her] and smile and approve” (James 15). Nonetheless, she is not imagining any people because in the last scene of the novel, Miles recognizes Peter Quint’s presence by implying to the governess that he is in the room. If the governess was creating the ghosts in her mind, Miles would not verbally notice Peter Quint’s presence in the room. The governess is clearly sane and does not simply imagine the

    Read More

  • Louise Erdrich's Tracks

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Louise Erdrich’s “Tracks';, the readers discovers by the second chapter that there are two narrators, Nanapush and Pauline Puyat. This method of having two narrators telling their stories alternately could be at first confusing, especially if the readers hasn’t been briefed about it or hasn’t read a synopsis of it. Traditionally, there is one narrator in the story, but Erdrich does an effective and spectacular job in combining Nanapush and Pauline’s stories. It is so well written that one might question as he or she reads who is the principal character in this story? Being that there are two narrators, is it Nanapush, the first narrator, him being a participant in the story, who tells his story in the “I'; form? Or is it Pauline, the second narrator, who also narrates in the “I'; form? Upon further reading, the motive for both narrators’ stories become more evident, and by the end of the book, it becomes clear that one character is the driving force for both of the narrators’ stories. This central character is Fleur Pillager. She in fact is the protagonist of “Tracks';. Even though she is limited in dialogues, her actions speak more than words itself.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper from the Point of View of a Doctor's Wife

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, the narrator is forced to tell her story through a secret correspondence with the reader since her husband forbids her to write and would “meet [her] with heavy opposition” should he find her doing so (390). The woman’s secret correspondence with the reader is yet another example of the limited viewpoint, for no one else is ever around to comment or give their thoughts on what is occurring. The limited perspective the reader sees through her narration plays an essential role in helping the reader understand the theme by showing the woman’s place in the world. At ...

    Read More

  • Love in Henry James' Turn of the Screw

    1791 Words  | 4 Pages

    Parkinson, Edward J. The Turn of the Screw A History of Its Critical Interpretations 1898 – 1979. 6 April 2006

    Read More

  • Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw": Are The Ghosts Actually Real?

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, it is not the ghosts, as the governess suspected, that are corrupting the children, but the governess herself, through her continually worsening hysteria that is corrupting the children. Both Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are not real ghosts that have the peculiar habit of appearing before the governess and the governess alone but they are merely the signs of the fragmenting mental state of the governess.

    Read More

  • The Turn Of The Screw Argumentative Essay

    1431 Words  | 3 Pages

    The governess sees a woman on the other side of the lake and jumps to the conclusion that Flora has seen her and is choosing to act like she didn’t. The child was playing with a boat and had her back turned to the lake. Why would she think that she had to have seen her? There is no proof and does not even ask the child if she saw anything. She automatically assumes it’s Miss Jessel, the previous governess who died and that she is after Flora. She tells her story to Mrs. Grose drawing her in more deeply into believing her crazy hallucinations and Mrs. Grose asks her if she is sure its Miss Jessel and the governess replies “Then ask Flora—she’s sure!” and then immediately comes back to say “no, for God’s sake don’t! She’ll say she isn’t—she’ll lie” ((James 30). She comes to the conclusion that the child will lie about it when there is no reason to suspect that she would. Again, this is her jumping to conclusions, because there is not any proof to say that the children have seen or know anything about the ghost’s. “Thus a very odd relationship develops between the governess and the children, for the more she loves them and pities them and desires to save them, the more she begins to suspect them of treachery, until at last she is convinced that they, in league with the ghosts, are ingeniously tormenting her’ (Bontly 726). “The ghosts appear, thus, when the governess is both aware of the corruption which threatens the children and convinced of her own power to preserve them untainted” (Aswell 53). It’s the governess fabricating all this up in her mind again so she can play the part of

    Read More

  • Sexual Passion in The Turn of the Screw

    430 Words  | 1 Pages

    In a criticism on Henry James’s story The Turn of the Screw, Strother Purdy suggests that large amounts of sexual passion may be assumed to exist underneath the surface of the narrative. Purdy says that under a Freudian interpretation of the story, the sexual element is easily recognized and is used as the whole source of the action. According to this theory, the governess wishes to impress her master because she is in love with him and, therefore, exceeeding her authority with the children. Although the governess only sees her master twice, Purdy refers back to what Douglas had said,” it was the beauty of her passion.” Since the master is not impressed by her initial and ordinary course of governessing, she must make up some life-threatening danger to the children so she can rescue them and win the masters love and affection. She figures the danger must be terrible because he told her he did not want to be bothered with matters dealing with the children. He basically tells her he cares nothing for the children. Purdy suggests the governess is unconscious in doing this because she is sexually repressed and cannot admit her sexual motives to herself

    Read More

  • Ambiguous Issues: Throughout the Turn of the Screw by Henry James

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    James, Henry. "The turn of the screw." The turn of the screw and other tales. Ed. Kimberly C.

    Read More

  • The Turn of the Screw - A Look at a Criticism

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many different ways to interpret The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. Many critics over the past century have voiced their opinions about the story. Each critical analysis of the story disagrees with the beliefs expressed in another. Robert B. Heilman is a critic who wrote in the mid-twentieth century. He interprets The Turn of the Screw to be a representation of the conflict between good and evil. Heilman's points are clear and obviously well thought out, but there are flaws in his argument that make his interpretation questionable.

    Read More

  • Deception

    1894 Words  | 4 Pages

    In ‘Ghosts’ deception is used to show the tragic dimensions of the play in order to bring forth the authors intension and purpose. Throughout the play we see different characters using the tool of deception in order to conform to the rules of the society and hide their own follies. The female protagonist of the play, Mrs. Alving is shown to wear a mask in front of the society and her own son in order to hide her husband’s true identity. She does not tell anyone the truth about her husband’s frivolous activities as in those days it was expected out of a woman to maintain her husband’s reputation in society. We get textual evidence of this in Act I when Mrs. Alving is confiding in Manders, “When Oswald was born, I thought I saw a slight improvement. But it didn’t last long. And after that I had to fight doubly hard – fight a desperate fight so that no one should know what sort of a man my child’s father was. …” Later on we discover...

    Read More

More about An Analysis Of The Turn Of Screw

Open Document