The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is a ghost story concerning a governess’ downfall into insanity. The governess is mentally unstable throughout her stay at Bly, constantly changing her opinions on the children and the “ghosts” that haunt them. Once she first claims to see the hallucination of Peter Quint, she expects to see more, allowing her mind to run wild. It becomes increasingly apparent as the ghost sightings increase that the governess’ underlying reasoning for her hallucinations is her desire to interact again with the master, for which she feels repressed. The governess is completely insane and her actions lead to the misery and death of Miles.
Although the governess is portrayed in the beginning of the story as a trustworthy character, it becomes clear that she is unreliable. Upon hearing of Miles’ expulsion from his school, the governess immediately comes to the conclusion that he was “an injury to the others.” Without any rationalization for this assumption, the governess is unknowingly conveying her own personal image. However, upon seeing Miles she instantly reverses her opinion and questions the school for throwing out such an angel. Her unpredictability is shown in the ways she makes decisions: based solely on emotions with no regard for fact. Later on in the book, she believes both children to be evil and becomes even more infatuated with trying to catch them conspiring with the apparitions. Her transformations and rapid changes of mind cause her to be an untrustworthy source.
The reason why the governess is able to see the apparitions is that she expects to see them and convinces herself that they will appear. The first time she sees Peter Quint, she thinks to herself that it would be “charming to suddenly meet someone. (p.27)” and it comes as no surprise that she sees a man watching her from on top of the building. At first, she thinks it may just have been an illusion, but she convinces herself that it was real. It’s all...

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