Turn of the Screw Turn Screw

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Turn of the Screw In Turn of the Screw by Henry James, there is a question of whether the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are real. They seem to only appear to the governess and she is the only one who admits to seeing them. F. W. H. Myers recognized apparitions as "a manifestation of persistent personal energy, --or an indication that some kind of force is being exercised after death which is in some way connected to a person previously known on earth." (P. 141) This fits the story perfectly for the ghosts appear to be nothing, just a "manifestation." The governess swears that Miles and Flora see the ghosts too, but that they refuse to admit it. She says, "whatever I had seen, Miles and Flora saw more-- things terrible and unguessable and that sprang from dreadful passages of intercourse in the past." (P.53) They are scared or intimidated. Some of the places the governess appears show many parallels to the sightings of the ghosts as well. The governess sees Quint in the glass door and up on the tower, a place where Mrs. Grose notices the governess. And the governess sees Miss Jessel sitting at her desk. She recalls, "In the presence of what I saw I reeled back upon resistance. Seated at my own table in the clear noonday light I saw a person" (P. 59) These reflections of herself upon the ghosts portray an idea that she is a ghost or it is in her conscious and Bly is driving her mad. This leads the reader to believe that the governess is actually a reflection of the ghosts. When she sees the ghosts, it's like a mirror image. And mirrors ultimately just show you yourself in full, obvious form. They are an ultimate reality. When the governess sees Miss Jessel across the lake, it could be her mirror image reflected in her mind. "Miss Jessel stood before us on the opposite bank" (P. 71) the governess recalled. "Where on earth do you see anything?" (P. 72) replied Mrs. Grose. However, sometimes mirrors show you what you want to see, for example, in Something Wicked this Way Comes. Or mirrors could portray a brutal reality like in Fall of the House of Usher. Reflections other than mirrors have the same meaning, for example, seeing yourself in water. In the end, neither the governess nor we the reader are certain that these ghosts are out to get the children. Being the one who sees them, the governess might actually be the victim.

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