The Delusional Governess in Henry James' The Turn of the Screw

2431 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Critical essay henry james turn of the screw ambiguity

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 hallucinations.

In the prologue, Douglas gave a detailed account of the master from the governess¡¦s point of view. She regarded him as ¡§handsome and bold and pleasant, off-hand and gay and kind; he struck her¡¨ (James 4). Later on we learn from Douglas that the governess accepted the job at Bly for the master¡¦s sake, and of course the generous salary offered by the master. Without any experience, the governess¡¦s passions for the master supported her to accept the job and confirmed her decision to take the challenge even though she feared not having the ability to accomplish the job. ¡§The moral of which was of course the seduction exercised by the splendid young man. She succumbed to it¡¨ (James 5). With the love for the master, the governess had the courage to visit the master again and eventually took the job. ¡§He held her hand, thanking her for the sacrifice, she already felt rewarded¡¨ (James 6). Her obsession with the master was somehow repressed owing to the absence of the master and the condi...

... middle of paper ...

...ose cannot be the proof of the reliability of the governess.

The issue whether the governess was insane or not may never be solved. Not only because critics seem to be able to find as much evidence as possible to prove their arguments but also, the reliability of the account of the governess colors the whole story with great ambiguity. We are not certain of the state of mind of the governess when she wrote down the story and when she related the story to Douglas. However, as we closely examine the state of mind of the governess, her reliability does appear to be in question. Beidler provided two readings of The Turn of the Screw and in the second one he declared: ¡§the governess saw only what she wanted to see¡¨ (Beidler 9). She was so exhausted from her prolonged insomnia that she envisioned a story with ghosts for herself to fulfill her growth as a governess.

Show More
Related

  • Gender Criticism and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Turn of the Screw by Henry James continues to stir up an immense amount of controversy for such a short novel. Making a definite, educated decision on the actual truth considering the countless inquiries that develop while reading this story proves more difficult than winning a presidential election. That being understood, taking one particular side on any argument from a close reading of the story seems impossible, because the counter argument appears just as conceivable. Any side of the controversy remains equally disputable considerably supported by textual evidence from the novel. One issue which, like the rest, can be answered in more than one ways is why Mrs. Grose believes the Governess when she tells her about her ghost encounters. Usually one would second-guess such outlandish stories as the ones that the governess shares throughout the story, yet Mrs. Grose is very quick to believe our borderline-insane narrator. One of the explanations for such behavior could be the underlying fact that Mrs. Grose and the governess have a similar socio-economic background, therefore making them somewhat equals even if the governess does not always seem to think that way. This fact makes them susceptible to trusting and believing each other, and to believing that the ghosts are there, for the people that the ghosts are presenting used to be servants and therefore from a similar socio-economic background. To add on to that, Bruce Robbins proposes in his Marxist criticism of The Turn of the Screw that the idea of a ghost is synonymous to that of a servant, subconsciously making the two lower-class workers of Bly more vulnerable to believe that the ghosts were real; in other words, servants we...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin

    5228 Words  | 11 Pages

    ...g, "The next morning I was washing the front steps when Mr. Poole came out the door and spoke to me very coldly. "The Master has sent for you to come to the drawing room," he said , and I knew he was displeased and suspicious, for Master never pays much attention to servants, and hardly knows their names, or so it seems, though that may be partly due to how determined Mr. Poole is to keep Master from any bother having to do with the house and what a free rein has over everything that goes on, including who is hired and let go." This long excerpt says that Poole monopolizes the master's attention, and has influence over the whole house and every thing in it, except for Master. Mary Reilly explained this sort-of servant dictatorship as if she accepted it, not because she had to, but because she was taught to. This excerpt made me feel badly for Mary Reilly because it showed that Mary was content with her life. This is upsetting to me because I think that Mary had potential to be a successful writer rather then a servant. Each excerpt said a totally different thing about the character Poole. Because of the difference of narrator in the descriptions how the excerpts were said is not

    Read More

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

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through out the short novella, 'The Turn of the Screw,' by Henry James, the governess continually has encounters with apparitions that seem to only appear to her. As Miles' behavior in school worsens so that he is prevented from returning, and as Flora becomes ill with a fever, the governess blames these ghosts for corrupting the children, Miles and Flora, and labels them as evil and manipulative forces in their lives. But why is it that these ghosts only seem to appear to the governess even when the children are present at the time of the sightings by the governess? Evidence from the short story leads the reader to believe that the ghosts are not real but are merely the evidence of the fragmenting sanity of the governess.

    Read More

  • The Turn Of The Screw Argumentative Essay

    1431 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Turn of the Screw by Henry James has been the cause of many debates about whether or not the ghosts are real, or if this is a case of a woman with psychological disturbances causing her to fabricate the ghosts. The story is told in the first person narrative by the governess and is told only through her thoughts and perceptions, which makes it difficult to be certain that anything she says or sees is reliable. It starts out to be a simple ghost story, but as the story unfolds it becomes obvious that the governess has jumps to conclusions and makes wild assumptions without proof and that the supposed ghosts are products of her mental instability which was brought on by her love of her employer

    Read More

  • Essay on the Oppression of Ophelia in Hamlet

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.

    Read More

  • The Abuse of Ophelia in "Hamlet"

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.

    Read More

  • The Governess in The Turn of the Screw

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most critically discussed works in twentieth-century American literature, The Turn of the Screw has inspired a variety of critical interpretations since its publication in 1898. Until 1934, the book was considered a traditional ghost story. Edmund Wilson, however, soon challenged that view with his assertions that The Turn of the Screw is a psychological study of the unstable governess whose visions of ghosts are merely delusions. Wilson’s essay initiated a critical debate concerning the interpretation of the novel, which continues even today (Poupard 313). Speculation considering the truth of the events occurring in The Turn of the Screw depends greatly on the reader’s assessment of the reliability of the governess as a narrator. According to the “apparitionist” reader, the ghosts are real, the governess is reliable and of sound mind, and the children are corrupted by the ghosts. The “hallucinationist”, on the other hand, would claim the ghosts are illusions of the governess, who is an unreliable narrator, and possibly insane, and the children are not debased by the ghosts (Poupard 314). The purpose of this essay is to explore the “hallucinationist” view in order to support the assertion that the governess is an unreliable narrator. By examining the manner in which she guesses the unseen from the seen, traces the implication of things, and judges the whole piece by the pattern and so arrives at her conclusions, I will demonstrate that the governess is an unreliable narrator. From the beginning of The Turn of the Screw, the reader quickly becomes aware that the governess has an active imagination. Her very first night at Bly, for example, “[t]here had been a moment when [she] believed [she] recognized, faint and far, the cry of a child; there had been another when [she] found [herself] just consciously starting as at the passage, before [her] door, of a light footstep.” The governess herself acknowledges her active imagination in an early conversation with Mrs. Grose, when she discloses “how rather easily carried away” she is. Her need for visions and fantasies soon lead her to believe that apparitions are appearing to her. It is from this point on that she begins to guess the unseen from the seen, trace the implication of things, and judge the whole piece by the pattern. After the first appearance of Peter Quint, the governess begins to make infe...

    Read More

  • Ophelia Character Analysis

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare’s Hamlet is set in the late middle ages, in Denmark. A time in history when women were not respected and thought of as the inferior sex. There are two women characters in Hamlet; Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, and Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest. Magda Romanska the writer of “Ontology and Eroticism: Two Bodies Of Ophelia”, argues that Ophelia represents the typical idea of women in the nineteenth century. I agree with this, but argue that it is not the only aspect of Ophelia’s character. Ophelia becomes the bearer of Hamlet’s hatred toward the world, and is also the character of lowest status because she is an average women. Ophelia surrenders herself to the cruelty of those around her, and sacrifices her sanctity to please and conform

    Read More

  • Female Role In Ophelia

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ophelia, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, represents a self-confident and aware female character. She analyzes the world around her and recognizes the multitude of male figures attempting to control her life. Her actions display not only this awareness, but also maturity in her non-confrontational discussions. Though she is demeaned by Laertes, Polonius, and Hamlet, Ophelia exhibits intelligence and independence and ultimately resorts to suicide in order to free herself from the power of the men around her.

    Read More

  • The Tragedy of Ophelia in Hamlet

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ophelia trusts the advise given and her obedience is very evident in this matter as she avoids contact with Hamlet until she is told by her father, with the King and Queens approval, to meet up with him by 'accident' in the lobby. Deceit not being in her nature, believing that her father, the king and queen are right and true; that Hamlet is mad; and probably curious to know if Hamlet is "mad in love" with her the young, obedient, powerless Ophelia does her part to search out the truth. But tragically this one forced step outside of her true character begins her downfall. In a precarious predicament, loyalty to her father compelled Ophelia to lie to Hamlet when he asked about her father?s location at that moment saying he was at home instead of behind a tapestry right the...

    Read More

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

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    In The turn of the Screw, the characters often communicated very indirectly with one another, hinting toward certain situations but never explaining them fully. At the beginning of this story, one of the first vague quotes, “he had been left, by the death of their parents in India, guardian to a small nephew and a small niece” depicts that Miles and Flora’s parents died in India (James 158). However, the details around their death are unknown and mysterious.

    Read More

  • Madness And Madness In Hamlet

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ophelia begins the play as an innocent, trusting, and spirited young girl, full of promise and full of life. But, all too soon her view of men and the world in general is tainted. Her brother warns her that Hamlet may be toying with her affections and to, "fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister..." (1.3.33). With these simple words he implants the seeds of distrust and betrayal. These themes of distrust and betrayal are interwoven throughout much of the play, from the murder of the King, to the constant spying of Polonius.

    Read More

  • Ophelias Role in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Hamlet, one of the many things Shakespeare shows us is how the world can change a person, how certain circumstances can knock a person so out of proportion with who they used to be that they take on a new persona, a new identity. One such character is Ophelia, a young, innocent girl, who, throughout the play is torn between father and lover, accused of not being as innocent as she seems, and finally driven to insanity. In the end, she is driven to suicide, an innocent victim of the world around her.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Ophelia Character Analysis

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the play Hamlet Ophelia is portrayed as an innocent young woman who does not have a say in anything. All the men control Hamlet, her father Polonius, and her brother Laertes. She is portrayed as inferior to all of them and lets herself be pushed around by them. She is unable to convey her opinions or emotions throughout the play. The men dominate her thoughts and behaviors. In Hamlet, Ophelia’s obedience to her father and brother, along with her dismissal by Hamlet, reveals that women were not allowed to assert their opinions, emotions, or desires in a courtly setting.

    Read More

  • Telematics Essay

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...eral trend moves towards using UBI policies, in the future, many people and governments might adhere to Telematics, leaving no choice for aggressive drivers, whereby eliminating the problem of adverse selection. Thus, Telematics can prove to be the solution to the problem of adverse selection and will help set effective insurance premiums that best suit customers.

    Read More

More about The Delusional Governess in Henry James' The Turn of the Screw

Open Document