Governess

When writing is said to be uncertain in exactness with regards to the meaning of language it is ambiguous. Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is the perfect example of text that is ambiguous in nature. In the story a young woman takes a job as a Governess for two seemingly perfect children. Quickly after she starts her job however she starts to realize there are unnatural forces in the house with them. the nature of evil that is hinted at in this ghost story and the suspense it keeps the…

In Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, the reader is pulled in two directions as he or she decides for himself or herself if the ghosts are projections of the governess’ unconscious or if they are truly haunting both Miles and Flora. These two differing viewpoints are a direct result of James’ use of ambiguity of the text, which contribute to the overall eerie and uncanny feeling produced. The development of the uncanny and use of ambiguity within the text opens up a new perspective of the text…

battling a young governess for the souls of her two young charges. In the beginning, the governess’s job seems relatively routine, to care for the children at an estate named Bly. However only days into her new position, the governess spots a man on the tower during her daily stroll, little did she know that the man was no man at all, but the apparition of Peter Quint, a young former employee at Bly who had passed: “Yes. Mr. Quint’s dead.” After learning this fact, the governess undertook the…

female voice here at all? How might the story have been different if it had been written by a woman? If we were to imagine what, if any portion of the story would most resemble a woman writing possibly the closest example is the description of the Governess “battling” the male ghost, Quint, and her attempt to protect Miles from being taken by evil, “What does it matter now, my own?- what will he ever matter? I have you,’ I launched at the beast, ‘but he has lost you for ever!” (James 85).…

of structure, diction, and tone. Depending on the reader’s interpretations throughout the book, one may interpret that Miles and Flora are acquainted with the Ghost, Mr. Quint, and Jessel, but they are purposely messing with her mind, the Governess, and Mrs. Grose knows it ,but won’t admit it. Miss Jessel is the Governess’s predecessor. Mrs. Grose describes Miss Jessel as a lady, young and beautiful ,but infamous. Miss Jessel apparently had an inappropriate relationship with Quint, who…

Why is the Governess the only one to see ghost appear to her? Why not the others? Is what happened to her (The Governess) supposed to be her fate? What if she could live better with the kids (Miles and Flora) she was given the responsibility to educate? Now, should we confirm that the good and evil are meant to be together? The light and the darkness are two completely different things that it is very ambiguous to state that they are always together. However, we could still say that they work in…

the reader is pulled in two directions as he or she must decide for himself or herself if the ghosts are simply projections of the governess’ unconscious or if they are truly haunting both Miles and Flora. These two differing viewpoints are a direct result of James’ use of ambiguity of the text. James’ story then changes from a simple ghost story about a governess, two ghosts, and two children to a story filled with ambiguity and questions, which contribute to the overall uneasy, eerie, and…

the main character, the new governess. An unnamed governess was sent to watch Miles and his little sister Flora at the Bly Estate after the previous governess suddenly disappeared. She arrived when it was just Flora and the housekeeper Mrs. Grose. Flora was an angelic beauty, always well-behaved and even volunteered to show the governess around the house. One day she received a letter from Miles’ school that stated he could never return. It was strange to the governess because Mrs. Grose only…

The new governess uses the positive connotation of charming when describing her charges, surroundings, and even her employer. The first example of this is given when the governess meets one of her wards, Flora, whom she calls, “a creature too charming not to make it a great fortune to have to do with her” (James 30; par. 2). In this instance, charming is meant captivate or enchant, so much so that the governess feels blessed to have met and be in-charge of such…

corruption. The alternative is that the governess is mad and that the story is a psychological investigation into the governess’ actions. In his famous essay The Ambiguities of Henry James, Edmund Wilson asserts that "the young governess who tells the story is a neurotic case of sex repression, and the ghosts are not real ghosts at all but merely the governess 's hallucinations" it is Wilson’s suggestion that Mile’s is frightened to death by the governess at the end of the novella (Parkinson…