Turn Of The Screw: The Governess

In The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, a young governess begins seeing ghosts at the estate she works at, causing her to become suspicious of the seemingly perfect children she watches over. Many argue whether the governess is sane or insane - she is either a victim of real ghosts or a victim of her own mind. Mayoclinic.org states that some symptoms of mental illness include “detachment from reality” “excessive worries” and “paranoia and hallucinations” which accurately applies to the governess and what she goes through. The governess in The Turn of the Screw is clearly insane because she confuses fantasy from reality, hallucinates, and acts extremely irrationally.
    The governess is evidently insane because she confuses fantasy from reality.

In the beginning of the story, the governess had fallen in love with her employer, but she never saw him again. She is forced to repress her feelings and carry on with her job. However, one day as she is strolling outside by herself, she begins to daydream. She states that “it would be as charming as a charming story suddenly to meet someone… someone would appear there” (James 15). At this moment, she is fantasizing about someone appearing to her, and how lovely it would be to meet someone. She eagerly desires for company in her daydream. As she fantasizes, she mentions that her “imagination had, in a flash, turned real” (James 15). Right after she imagines meeting somebody, she suddenly claims to actually see someone on the watch tower. This shows that she confuses her fantasy from reality because she allows her imagination to seemingly become real. There is no way to prove that someone really did appear, and it seems odd that this happened right after she daydreamed about it. Therefore, this incident portrays her as slightly less sane than she originally seemed to be. Her confusion between fantasy and reality is evident in the rest of the story because each time she thinks about Quint or Jessel, they suddenly appear to her. This shows how the ghosts are only a part of her imagination, and she is unable to differentiate what is real and what is not. The governess blurs the lines between fantasy and reality which proves that she has mental instability, and is therefore insane.
    The governess is insane because her visions of the ghosts are mere hallucinations that nobody else can see. She is the only one who is able to see the ghosts because they are figments of her imagination. When the governess tries to point out the ghost of Miss Jessel, Mrs. Grose asks her “where on earth do you see anything? … She isn’t there… and nobody’s there” (James 70). Mrs. Grose clearly states that she does not see the ghost of Miss Jessel because there is no ghost there. If these ghosts were real, surely Mrs. Grose would confide in the governess that she had seen them too. However, after all the supposed ghost sighting incidents, Mrs. Grose never mentions seeing anything strange. Flora also tells the governess “I see nothing. I never have. I think you’re cruel. I don’t like you!” (James 71). She cries out in frustration that she has never seen any ghosts, and she is obviously upset at the governess’s ridiculous claims. The fact that both Flora and Mrs. Grose do not see any ghosts gives credibility to the fact that the ghosts only exist because of the governess’s delusions. The ghostly apparitions are merely hallucinations that haunt the governess’s mind. The governess’s visions of the ghosts must be all in her head because she is the only one at Bly to ever see them.
    The governess is clearly insane because she acts extremely irrational by allowing her paranoia and suspicions to consume her mind.

She tells Mrs. Grose about her wariness of the children when she claims that “their unnatural goodness; it’s a game… it’s a policy… and it’s a fraud!” (James 41). She makes ridiculous accusations that these innocent children are secretly in a scheme with ghosts. The governess allows her skepticism of the children to control her thoughts, despite the children denying her claims. She does not trust the children, and she starts to believe the ghosts are out to get them. She unreasonably blames the children for acting up, becomes obsessed with the idea that they are up to no good, and worries that something bad will happen. Her unreasonableness, obsession, and excessive worries contribute to her insanity. The governess also admits that “in the state of my nerves… I must have gripped my little girl with a spasm” (James 41). At this point in the story, she is distressed because she believes Flora is lying, so she lashes out and hurts her. Even if it was unintentional, she still acted irrationally on the spot due to her current unstable mental state. This sudden, unreasonable action shows her extreme mental instability because she is unable to control her actions. On top of being delusional, the governess also acts senselessly upon her delusions, which clearly reveals her

insanity.
    Although there is evidence that implies that the governess is insane, many argue that she is actually sane. One of their reasons is that the governess was able to correctly describe Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. The governess wonders “how, if I had ‘made it up,’ I came to be able to give… a picture disclosing, to the last detail, their special marks” (James 33). The governess suggests to herself that she must be sane because she clearly saw the ghost of Peter Quint without even knowing it was him. However, Mrs. Grose is the one who identifies the governess’s description of Quint to be accurate. Although Mrs. Grose claims that the man the governess describes is Quint, there is no way to be sure that she is telling the truth.  Mrs. Grose is the governess’s companion and she is also inferior to her in rank, so it is likely that she is easily influenced by the governess and what she says. She could be lying or possibly going along with whatever the governess says, and is therefore an unreliable source of reassurance for the governess. Many people also believe that Miles sees the ghost of Peter Quint, since he shouts out his name at the end of the story, and thus the governess is not insane. However, as Miles shouts “Peter Quint - you devil!” there is uncertainty as to what he means (James 86). Because the dash is there, it is ambiguous whether or not Miles is talking to Quint or about Quint. This quote can be interpreted many ways, and because Miles dies right after, there is no way to be sure what he means when he says it.
    Although it may seem too harsh to call the governess insane, it is proven that she has an unstable mindset, thus implying that she has a form of mental illness. She is forced to repress her feelings and bottle up her emotions, thus driving herself towards insanity. Her absurd thoughts and actions throughout the story strongly suggest that she is not completely sane. Her confusion of fantasy and reality, her hallucinations, and her irrational actions establish her as a mentally unstable woman, who is therefore insane.