When Im bad, I am bad In the light of this comment, discuss the presentation of both Miles and Flora in The Turn of the Screw.

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‘When I’m bad, I am bad’ – In the light of this comment, discuss the presentation of both Miles and Flora in ‘The Turn of the Screw’.

The children in the novella are very distinctive in a manner of how the reader can perceive them. They can be seen by many as good children or bad children. In Victorian times the majority of children were actually brought up in the lower class and the middle class, Miles and Flora were not, they were lucky enough to be in the upper class but they had to follow the ideals of their mother or father. They didn’t have a mother or father therefore the governess was the only option of a friend to have and confide in, this was seen as morally wrong in the society since many Victorians believed that their shouldn’t be friendships between different classes, they believed in a strict social hierarchy.

The children can be seen as innocent in the novella by the governess’ first views of them. On her first sighting of Miles, the governess describes him as being ‘angelic’, this can be seen as quite confusing to the reader since she has only just met him, it is a very powerful word to use on first impressions. But mainly it has religious connotations, it conveys a very strong image of Miles being this perfect little child, and sets him up as an innocent character throughout the entire novella. Also the governess is ‘carried away’ by Miles as well as the Master; this suggests that the governess is always in awe of strangers making her seem very vulnerable.

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Miles is constantly referred to as ‘little’ by the governess throughout the novella. She calls him a ‘little fairy prince’ which shows how highly she speaks of Miles, this suggests how little he is in physical appearance but mainly the innocence of him, small things are usually very vulnerable and innocent and need comfort and support from somebody bigger than them. The use of ‘prince’ not only shows how pristine he is but also correlates with his Victorian upper class position in society. This perception of Miles stays the same even until the end when his ‘little heart, dispossessed had ...

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