Innocence In Turn Of The Screw By Henry James

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Innocence traditionally comes into mind with the idea of children; however, innocence can be easily lost, even in early childhood, through an outside negative influence. Similarly, in this eerie excerpt from Turn of the Screw, Henry James manipulates weather imagery with symbolism of silence and candles to display Mile’s corruption of innocence that occurs from the governess’s forceful behavior upon him. In the beginning of this paragraph, it is evident that the governess’s vigorous questioning and pleading provokes Miles to remain silent and grasp his last bit of innocence. The governess’s strong curiosity for wanting to discover “what happened before” Miles got expelled and the repetition of her questions causes the governess to come off as a threat to him. The governess recognizes that “for some time he was silent”, …show more content…

Mile’s silence symbolizes the last of his innocence before the governess corrupts it. Once the silence is broken by a “small faint quaver”, the governess is frantic to get answers from Miles before his innocence finally withers away. The governess desperately pleads and begs him because she believes she can “help [him]” or “save [him]”, in an act of heroics. She soon comes to a realization that it was her that has “gone too far”. Because the governess admitted that she has pushes Miles beyond his boundaries, it is evident that the governesses forcefulness is the source of Miles’s corruption of innocence. Miles’s innocence rapidly spirals downward the instant after the governess took it too far because of her strong influence and soon after the weather deviates. James illustrates

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