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| The Turn of the Screw
Story Guide |
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| Title: |
The
Turn of the Screw |
| Author: |
Henry
James |
| Published: |
1898 |
| Duration: |
05:30:00
(5.5 hours) |
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| Summary
of Novel | Author Bio | Essay: The
Hidden Meaning |
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| Summary of
Novel |
An
inexperienced governess takes charge of two orphaned children living on
a rural estate. She falls in love with them instantly. Yet, she soon
detects that supernatural forces are at play in this idyllic scene.
These forces seem to prey directly upon the little ones themselves; and
only the governess appears to see and hear them. Real or imagined, can
the governess fight these forces, or will she be overwhelmed to the
point of destruction?
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| Author Bio |
| Henry
James was born in New York City on
April 15, 1843. His father, Henry James Sr., was a wealthy
intellectual who wrote about philosophy and theology. His
elder brother William was a philosopher and became one of the founding
fathers of American psychology. The James’ family
traveled extensively throughout Europe, which exposed Henry to numerous
cultural experiences and provided fodder for his future work.
He attended Harvard for legal studies, but abandoned the law to pursue
writing instead. James contributed stories to
publications such as the still-thriving Atlantic Monthly in Boston,
made a failed attempt as a playwright, wrote travel essays, literary
criticisms, short stories, and a lengthy list of novels such as The Turn of the Screw,
The
Portrait of a Lady, and The Aspern Papers.
James became an expatriate who lived in England and eventually became a
British citizen near the end of his life. On February 28,
1916, James suffered a stroke and later died in Rye, England.
He was 73. |
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| Essay |
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The
Hidden Meaning
by
Nikolle Doolin
After
reading The Turn of the
Screw,
the key point to consider is whether or not the paranormal episodes
actually happened. Remember that no one else but the Governess
witnesses the apparitions; and she often assigns meaning to the
children’s behavior that no one else (particularly Mrs. Grose)
does. While the Governess succeeds in making Mrs. Grose an ally (albeit
a somewhat reluctant and confused one), she does not have any solid
evidence to fully convince her. Mrs. Grose wants to believe her, on the
one hand, because she's a lovely young woman, but, on the other, she
doesn't want to believe that Flora and Miles are connected to anything
sinister. Essentially, we, the readers, are like Mrs. Grose. We are
left questioning the Governess’s story at times and wondering if
we should believe it, at other times.
So, either you have a woman who is the only one able to see ghosts; and
therefore the only who can save the children from unspeakable harm. Or,
you have an inexperienced, imaginative, young woman who conjures up
fantastic ideas. If the latter is true, then what's behind her flights
of fancy?
Well, in a nutshell, it is suggested that she suffers from sexual
repression and/or unrequited love. Recall that she develops an intense
romantic view of the children's uncle. She takes a position that few
would want based on a sense that he personally asked her as a favor.
This is a rather intimate view that she assumes (stepping beyond the
simple employer-employee relationship). For, in the Preface we learn,
"...but what took her most of all and gave her the courage she
afterward showed was that he put the whole thing to her as a kind of
favor, an obligation he should gratefully incur." He is described as a
very charming man who has a way with women; and he's had no luck in
filling this vacant position, so he's obviously bent on settling the
matter. No matter how charming he may be, let's not forget that the man
states he doesn't want to hear from her--"not a word."
When she arrives at Bly, she is wholly unused to such a gargantuan
estate, and her imagination is sparked. There is a in which the
governess states..."it would be as charming as a charming story
suddenly to meet someone. Someone would appear there at the turn of a
path and would stand before me and smile and approve. I didn't ask more
than that--I only asked that he should KNOW; and the only way to be
sure he knew would be to see it, and the kind light of it, in his
handsome face." That's a very pregnant statement.
She's walking around a great estate with architecture that lends itself
perfectly to ghost stories and romantic tales and she's often thinking
of this handsome, charming, refined gentleman she met briefly (and who
doesn't want to hear from her). She sees him in this place; perhaps she
sees herself with him in this place. Yet, there is no real hope of that
ever coming true. So, one may conclude that, because she can never be
with the object of her desire, she lives a repressed life stolen away
on a country estate far from any real romantic possibilities.
She then becomes quite intrigued by the story of the former and
deceased governess and her lover who is also deceased. They were there
at Bly apparently carrying on an affair, though Mrs. Grose is hesitant
to speak ill of the dead. The children were very close to both of them.
So, there's an immediate link in the governess' mind between the
children and the deceased.
The governess surmises that the deceased Miss Jessel and Quint are
using the children to assume a physical presence in the world again.
This presents all sorts of dangers and gets a bit murky, when James
brings the Governess to the point of associating the children with a
kind of depravity.
The children are shown in a paradoxical light. They start off seeming
beautiful and almost benevolent, then the Governess determines they
are, in effect, possessed by these wretched spirits who conducted
sinful lives. Yet, are the children ever really bad, or does the
Governess just think they are at times?
Miles was dismissed from school; and they didn't want him back again.
The children keep secrets and sometimes say things one would not expect
a child to say. Are the spirits manipulating them, or is the Governess
imagining that they are—suffering from paranoid delusions? Or,
did the children, who spent so much time with Miss Jessel and Quint,
when they were alive, just pick up on words they used, as children do?
All in all, James presents us with a ghost story; and you can enjoy it
for that, but you can't ignore the fact that the governess is the only
one who claims to see the spirits and is the only one who believes that
they possess the children. Mrs. Grose is her friend and her
subordinate. She has to go along with the Governess. The uncle is
blissfully ignorant. So, it's all in the hands of the very person who,
from all we know, is the one creating the problem.
One may say it is the Governess who is possessed--not by a ghost--but
rather, by a narrow, psychological view of what's happening around her.
Her own repression may have caused her to think too often of sex via
the unfortunate Miss Jessel and the cruel Quint. Even their story is of
a man and woman who are separated by distance (albeit a ghostly one).
They seek to reunite, as they are kept apart--unable to actualize their
desire, as the Governess is unable to actualize hers with the uncle.
The Governess is driven to distraction, can't get sensational thoughts
out of her head; and when she looks at the children, she thinks of
them. She must keep the spirits apart and thus keep in order with her
own separation, which she must force herself to reconcile as right and
noble, or else she negates her whole purpose.
Thus, there are two struggles presented. Firstly, there is the very
real internal struggle of the governess to suppress her own natural
desire—a desire which cannot be fulfilled. Secondly, there is the
questionable struggle between the world of the living and the dead. If
you believe that the Governess isn’t imagining it, then you have
a terrible ghost story of wicked spirits possessing children. If you
doubt her, then you have a terrible psychological tale of a woman
driven over the edge whose wild imagination endangers the lives of the
children she was hired to protect. Either way, James succeeds at giving
us an intense story filled with hidden meaning. |
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