Essay about Henry James' The Turn of the Screw

One of the most critically discussed works in twentieth-century American literature, The Turn of the Screw has inspired a variety of critical interpretations since its publication in 1898. Until 1934, the book was considered a traditional ghost story. Edmund Wilson, however, soon challenged that view with his assertions that The Turn of the Screw is a psychological study of the unstable governess whose visions of ghosts are merely delusions. Wilson’s essay initiated a critical debate concerning the interpretation of the novel, which continues even today (Poupard 313). Speculation considering the truth of the events occurring in The Turn of the Screw depends greatly on the reader’s assessment of the reliability of the governess as a

The Turn of the Screw is one of the most controversial works in literature and the text has provoked a variety of critical interpretations from its publication in 1898. In this novel, the governess tells her experience with two apparitions that no one but she could see. And the governess accuses the ghosts of servants for corrupting the children, Miles and Flora. Critics concerning about the truth of the story are divided two basic camps based on their acceptance or rejection of the governess's credibility as a storyteller. Some critics believe that the ghosts are real and the governess is a rational and credible narrator, while the others believe that the ghosts are hallucinations of the governess and regard the governess as an incredible and mentally abnormal narrator. Also, we could speculate the author’s intention on the basis of his life experience and other works of Henry James. This essay will examine the reliability of the governess on the basis of the text and interpret Henry James’s intention on the basis of other sources.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James continues to stir up an immense amount of controversy for such a short novel. Making a definite, educated decision on the actual truth considering the countless inquiries that develop while reading this story proves more difficult than winning a presidential election. That being understood, taking one particular side on any argument from a close reading of the story seems impossible, because the counter argument appears just as conceivable. Any side of the controversy remains equally disputable considerably supported by textual evidence from the novel. One issue which, like the rest, can be answered in more than one ways is why Mrs. Grose believes the

On the other hand, readers are reluctant to rely on her as a narrator because her inner thoughts display her defense mechanisms that alter her reality. While some readers might assume James uses first person narration to heighten the mystery and horror of his Gothic Tale, those who consider the Governess’s narrative in light of Psychoanalytic criticism see that The Turn of the Screw exposes the subjective nature of reality.

The Turn of the screw by Henry James is regarded as one of the most fascinating psychological thrillers of all time. Published in the late nineteenth century, this novella sets up a narrative story of a young lady who appears to have seen the ghost of the former dead employers of the place where she was working. In this novella Henry James combined drama, suspense, and mystery to make it one of the most preferred stories among the readers of all generations. The Turn of the Screw raises many questions, however: Is the governess going crazy? Is she really seeing the phantoms of those dead former state workers? Is she innocent? Is she the villain or the heroine of

Lustig asserts that James's story "uses its blanks to undermine all attempts to establish relations and to join references into a coherent pattern" (255). This "coherent pattern" is what the New Critics believe a text's essential organizing principle to be, and that it is present in the text whether a reader notices it or not. For formalists, a text's essential effect lies in the text alone and is completely independent of a reader's response to elements that create effect in him. Likewise, Lustig's precise analysis of form and subsequent deconstructionist reading of The Turn of the Screw does not mention what a possible reader's process might be when faced with the twists of Bly. But for whom is the effect valuable, if not the reader?

Although The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James is a century older than Margaret Atwood’s “Death by Landscape” (1990), it is not impossible to connect the stories to each other. The stories’ contents are different – The Turn of the Screw is a Gothic ghost story, whereas “Death by Landscape” is a more psychological story of a woman who tries to deal with a childhood trauma, namely the death of her friend –, but there are some aspects in which the stories are similar. Both texts have an open ending, which is particularly interesting in terms of building up the ‘unresolved’ suspense of the story. The suspense created in the narration is not only achieved by the open ending, but also by literary techniques and the ambiguous readings of the

Summary The thesis of this article derives from the so called “moral crisis” (p. 54) that the governess experiences within The Turn of the Screw. Aswell argues that the governess creates Quint and Jessel’s activities in her mind, whilst also performing their roles of evil possession. This is an attempt by the governess to thus fulfil the ghost’s mission, allowing her to become the protector of the children and save them from this evil she herself is perpetrating. The governess’s repeated use of ambiguous language “reveal the deepest ironies of the story’s meaning” (p. 62)

Throughout The turn of the Screw by Henry James, the theme of ambiguous issues is constantly leaving the reader on their own. The ambiguity and uncertainty within this text causes the readers to come up with their own theories as to what the text really means. The ghost story perspective only adds to the infuriating vagueness. The title itself is about all of the twists within this story and basically foreshadows the confusion that the text will cause.

Douglas clearly cares about the governess, and maintains personal connection to the story even though it’s been sitting in a drawer for twenty years. Douglas feels attached to the story because he lived the story so many years ago.(as Miles) “Nobody but me, till now, has ever heard. It's quite too horrible.”(p. 292) This shows that the manuscript isn’t just a good ghost story for him to tell people because he’s never shared it before. He also finds that Douglas’s audience is more perceptive than he appears ready. They make inferences about he and his love, and Douglas reveals bits and pieces about her. “I liked her extremely and am glad to this day to think she liked me, too. If she hadn't she wouldn't have told me.(p. 293) In the story, she mentions several times that Miles was the most beautiful boy that she had ever laid eyes on, and over infatuation with the boy like that would easily lead Miles to believe he was the object of her utmost affection. To add to the fact that the woman he was in love with was the governess was when one of the guests mentions that

Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is an ambivalent novella, well-known for it’s disputable contents. The central character, known simply as the governess, is one that can be considered an unreliable narrator. She has experienced many interesting yet unusual encounters that can lead to a variety of interpretations regarding what’s actually taking place in the story. With all factors taken into account, it’s most plausible to assume that the governess is a victim of what appears to be a mental disorder. The disorder in question would fall under Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). The disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality states, often called alters (Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple

Charles Brockden Brown’s novel Wieland is characteristic of the American gothic, as it includes many elements of horror and suspense complete with an omnipresent sense of existential doom. What sets Wieland apart from other gothic novels of it’s time, is the way in which it carries a kind of political depth, reflecting upon some of the anxieties surrounding the construction of the Early Republic. Wieland is widely interpreted as an inherently political novel, as it paints a telling portrait of the invasion of Jeffersonian agrarianism upon the hollowed grounds of high-class life in a new-found nation. Nevertheless, Brown’s portrait excludes his own political leanings while he opts to imbue the novel with a specific strand of Pennsylvanian religious pragmatism in order to create a personal gothic nightmare specific to Philadelphian life during the Early Republic.

We are presented with a piece of gossip of a man named Wakefield who leaves his wife for twenty years to live in a house the next street over. If this story were workshopped in a present-day fiction writing class, it would be argued that this story has interesting elements but is not, as a whole, an interesting story-- that the story lies within Wakefield’s motivation for leaving or within the reaction of Wakefield’s wife upon the return of her presumed-dead husband, or that the point of view ought to be reconsidered in order to tell the full story. Much of

The insanity of the governess constantly shows throughout The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The governess believes the ghosts she sees control the children’s behavior. Rather than accepting that their misbehavior might just be childish Mischief, she blames the ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel. She also sees ghosts that do not appear to be seen by Mrs. Grose, Miles, and little Flora. The children, especially Flora, ultimately grow to fear the governess. The governess proves her insanity instead of her heroism through many of her actions and beliefs during The Turn of The

Henry James, like Shakespeare, had the exceptional quality in divining and rendering the poetry of female psyche. Only a few novelists who have shown better understanding of tender and dreamy hearts of women than James were Jane Austen, George Eliot, Sir Walter Scott, George Meredith and Thomas Hardy.