The Governess In The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James

In the book, The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, there are many different views on what is actually occurring. A woman was offered a job as the governess by the owner of a large estate. He told her that all she needed to do was to watch his niece and nephew and also take care of the estate. She took the job because she was enticed by the man and was eventually introduced to the others on the estate. Soon after she became acquainted with the others on the grounds, she started noticing strange situations transpiring. There is little mentioned by the others in the book to allow for a strong interpretation of the circumstances appearing to the governess which leads me to believe that she has a mental illness and shows multiple signs of

insanity.
The governess’s madness was first clear when she went on one of her occasional walks while the children were sleeping. A thought occurred to her that it would be nice to meet someone while on her excursion about the grounds. Just when she was thinking this, she saw a man. The governess had mentioned to herself while on her stroll, “What arrested me on the spot- and with a shock much greater than any vision had allowed for- was that my imagination had, in a flash, turned real. He did stand there!” (James 15). To her surprise she did spot a man atop of the tower that Flora had just showed her the previous day. The governess had known and been acquainted with everyone at the estate, leading to the belief that the man she saw was not really there.
There was another sighting of the same figure outside the dining room window. The governess did not tell anyone of the first sighting but this time she had told Mrs. Grose. Mrs. Grose had told her that the figure she saw was that of Peter Quint, a former worker who had been said to be dead. Mrs. Grose also explained how Peter was very close with everyone, especially Miles, the owner of the estate’s nephew. When the governess heard this she became uneasy after seeing someone, said to be dead, just outside of the window peering in. She had described the encounter saying, “I was a screen-I was to stand before them. The more I saw, the less they would. I began to watch them in a stifled suspense, a distinguished excitement that might well, had it continued too long, have turned to something like madness,” (James 27). The governess was starting to stress and become crazy due to the fact that even though Mrs. Grose identified the character as Peter Quint, the governess was the only one to actually see him. This shows that the governess is making up the sightings and is showing signs of insanity.
While along the water’s edge, the governess noticed another character near Flora. The governess became frightened but Flora had not seemed to notice anything off the beaten track. The governess described this situation saying, “My heart had stood still for an instant with the wonder and terror of the question whether she too would see; and I held my breath while I waited for what a cry from her, what some sudden innocent sign either of interest or of alarm, would tell me. I waited, but nothing came,” (James 29). Later explaining this encounter to Mrs. Grose, who again said nothing about seeing the figures herself, told her that the being she saw was the previous governess, Miss Jessel. Every time the governess had seen the figures they did not lead to anything climactic yet, she was still fearful that something bad will happen.
The governess at this time was starting to become deprived of sleep. She had said, “I laid down by book, rose to my feet, and, taking a candle, went straight out of the room and, from the passage, on which my light made little impression, noiselessly closed and locked the door,” and, “My candle, under a bold flourish, went out, and I perceived, by the uncovered window, that the yielding dusk of earliest morning rendered it unnecessary. Without it, the next instant, I saw that there was someone on the stair,” (James 39). When the governess gets up and walks around in the night, she has many sightings of figures. The lack of sleep may be causing her to hallucinate, leading to the multiple sightings.
After the governess had seen what looked to be Miss Jessel sitting on the stairs, she returned to check on the children.

She noticed that the kids were not where they were supposed to be. Flora was behind the window curtains and Miles appeared to be on the lawn. The children had a reputation of being innocent so the governess made the assumption that an outside factor had made the children act up. Soon after she made this assumption, Flora had gone missing. The governess thinks that the outside factor that was affecting Flora was Miss Jessel. While the governess was searching, she found Flora by the water where Miss Jessel was first spotted near her. The governess, stressed and confused, questioned Flora on why she was by the water and where the ghost of Miss Jessel was. Flora was very puzzled when the governess asked about Miss Jessel. Due to the fact that Flora had not seen the ghost and no one but the governess had seen the characters, it confirms that only the governess has seen the figures when it read, “She looked, even as I did, and gave me, with her deep groan of negation, repulsion, compassion- the mixture with her pity of her relief at her exemption- a sense, touching to me even then, that she would have backed me up if she could. I might well have needed that, for with this hard blow of the proof that her eyes were hopelessly sealed I felt my own situation horribly crumble,” (James 71). Now that the governess has noticed she was the only one seeing the

apparitions, she questioned whether she was sane or not.
The governess realizes that she is in a state of insanity and her stress levels are highly elevated.

She feels that she can no longer properly work and function in Bly and planned on running away. It did not take much time before she changed her mind. The governess saw Miss Jessel crying and realized she needed to stay and help the children from the ghosts. The governess says, “She looked at me as if she heard me, but I had recovered myself and cleared the air. There was nothing in the room the next minute but the sunshine and a sense that I must stay,” (James 58). She needs to stay because she still fears for the safety of the children. Since the governess does not know the difference between reality and make believe, she decides that it is in her best interest to stay and protect the children from the ghosts, even if the ghosts were not truly

there.
The governess was going off the deep end due to all of the stress and tension from the figures she had been spotting. She again spotted Peter Quint gazing into the window. She started to lose control of her tears and pointed to the window, in hopes that Miles would see Peter, but he did not. She grabbed Miles trusting that she could save him from the ghost. In this action she had eventually strangled and suffocated Miles to his evident death. Finally noticing what she had done she said, “I caught him, yes, I held him- it may be imagined with what a passion; but at the end of a minute I began to feel what it truly was that I held. We were alone with the quiet day, and his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped,” (James 87). She was only trying to save and protect the boy but she unmistakably took his breath away, and eventually his life.
The governess just could not handle the stress and responsibility of protecting the children. She had become insane from her misconceptions of reality, sleep deprivation, and destruction of the boy’s life. Only the governess could see the ghosts leading to the belief that there are, in reality, no ghosts and she has a mental illness.