Summary Of Schizophrenia In The Turn Of The Screw

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The novel The Turn of the Screw, describes a newly hired governess’ experience working in the household of Bly and was written years after the ordeal. In this novel the governess experiences multiple encounters with apparitions that seem to only appear around her. For this reason many people question the credibility of the author and theorize whether the ghosts in this novel are real. It is quite clear that these apparitions are merely hallucinations because of the governesses’ obsession with the master, lack of sleep, and faulty memory that resulted in her paranoid, repressed mental state.
When applying to work at Bly, the master’s one condition for the governess was, “That she should never trouble him—but never, never: neither appeal nor …show more content…

When the kids were questioning the governess to get to know her, the governess explains that she told the kids about the “particulars of the eccentric nature of [her] father.” This could be interpreted as her revealing that her father has some sort of disorder. Schizophrenia is a genetic disorder meaning it could be inherited from her father if he did have schizophrenia. Schizophrenia shares the same symptoms as insomnia such as hallucinations or compulsive behavior, but has a few extra symptoms that closely relate to the governess’ actions. These symptoms are a false belief of superiority, and memory loss. It is common throughout the book that the governess goes on sprees boasting about herself and thinking about how great she is at being the governess. This is the governess having a false belief of superiority. Some examples of the governess expressing her false belief of superiority are, “I could succeed where many other girl might have failed,” and, “they had nothing but me.” The other symptom of schizophrenia that resonates with the governess is memory loss. When speaking about weather the governess thought the children saw ghosts she first says, “I had then expressed what was vividly in my mind: the truth that, whether the children really saw or not—since, that is, it was not yet proved,” explaining that she was unable to say whether the children saw the ghosts or not. Shortly after, the governess changes her statement completely by saying, “what was most impossible to get rid of was the cruel idea that, whatever I had seen, Miles and Flora saw more.” This is clearly a sign of memory loss or mental confusion which are both symptoms of

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