After the framed narrative ends we enter straight into the perspective of the young governess, having just arrived at Bly. Although first nervous, once the governess arrived at Bly, she was pleasantly surprised with her first impressions. She had a “thoroughly pleasant impression”, and described the sky as “golden”. As soon as the governess sees Flora, she describes her as a “civil person who dropped me as decent a curtsy as if I had been the mistress or a distinguished visitor.” The governess instantly had a liking for Flora, and her new job had started of well. This surprises us, as our expectations our subverted. With it being a Gothic novella we would expect it to be frightening, full of suspense and tension, and using devices such as pathetic fallacy. With our expectations having been subverted in such a way, we begin to ask questions and wonder why James has started of the novella in such a way. We then realise it is much more frightening to locate terror in a place where it is least expected…
As the governess’ narrative continues, we notice that the governess is more than happy that she choose this job, she describes Flora as the “most beautiful child” but feels that the housekeeper, Mrs Grose was “inordinately glad” to see her. And that she was “so glad – stout, simple, plain, clean, wholesome as to be positively on her guard against showing it too much.” The governess wonders why Mrs Grose would not wish to show her true feelings, making her feel suspicious and uneasy. We are completely aligned with the Governess at this time, and agree with her that it seems aminous that Mrs Grose is so much in the need of company and support. The governess’ uneasiness increases when at night she hears the “less natural” noises, the cry of a child, and even light footsteps near her door (but when opened she saw no one). As the governess becomes uneasy, we do too, as we are still completely aligned with her at this time.
Towards the ender of the first chapter the governess is so happy with her life that she feels she is living in a fairytale – “Wasn’t it just a story-book over which I had fallen a-doze and a-dream?” However the governess then feels as she “had the fancy of our being almost as lost as a handful of passengers in a great drifting ship. Well, I was strangely at the helm”. We get the impression that the governess although being isolated from the outside world, and being lonely, she feels as if she is in control of the situation that she is in! This makes us feel uneasy and alienated from the governess. We also notice that she users an excessive amount of emotional language, showing her absolute confidence and certainty, and it is this over confidence that begins to alienate us from the governess…
Later in the novella, after seeing Peter Quint we begin to feel even more alienated from the governess and we even feel slightly disturbed after reading the governess’ comments. The governess says she is “able to find a joy in the extraordinary flight of heroism the occasion demanded...” At first we do feel aligned that the governess is getting a joy from being able to look after the children, but as she continues we begin to feel very disturbed and alienated as the governess says “they had nothing but me, and I – well, I had them.” The governess seems desperately attached to the children, with an unsettling level of possession! The governess next “began to watch them in a stifled suspense, a disguised excitement…” this once more unsettles us and alienated us from the governess. She is getting an enjoyment from the children being in danger.
In the section of the novella where the governess first sees Miss Jessel our feelings towards the governess do change. Whilst the governess fears the ghost and is worried about whether Flora would see it too, “My heart stood still for an instant with the wonder and terror of the question whether she would see; and I held my breath while I watched for what a cry from her..” we empathise and sympathise with her as the ghost watches her. The governess then chooses to face the ghost, “then I again shifted my eyes – I faced what I had to face.” Again we empathise with the governess at this point, she shows great courage in our eyes to face the ghost directly. However, when Flora shows no reaction to the ghost, as if she could not see her at all, the governess is adamant that she had seen the ghost: “Not a word – that’s the horror. She kept it to herself! The child of eight, that child!” We are alienated from the governess after reading this, as it worries us that she is so confident that Flora, a girl of eight years is lying to her and hiding her true emotions!
As we move towards the end of the novella we become even more alienated from the governess. Flora had recently gone missing, and once she is found by the governess and Mrs Grose, the governess describes Flora as “an old, old woman.” This metaphor makes us feel very uneasy to see her describe what is most likely just an innocent young girl as a knowing and cunning woman. When the governess and Mrs Grose find Flora, who smiles at them, the governess describes it as “as if her performance was now complete” Again this makes us feel very uneasy that the governess is describing a young child as if she is plotting against an adult!
All of a sudden the governess screams, “She’s there, she’s there!” feeling excitement at the presence of Miss JEssel. She describes herself as having a “thrill of joy at having brought on a joy”. She almost seems like a child, pleased and excited at her victory. But all of her hope is lost once she realises that no one else can see the ghost. In desperation the governess says to Flora, ““She’s there, you unhappy little thing –there, there, THERE, and you see her as well as you see me!” I had said shortly before to Mrs Grose that she was not at these times a child, but an old, old woman…” After reading this we feel as if we are completely alienated from the governess, and almost in another world. Describing Flora so dramatically creates a lot of discomfort for the reader, leaving them fully alienated.
After failing to convince Flora of the ghost’s presence the governess attempts to convince Mrs Grose. She describes the ghost as “… as big as a blazing fire! Only look, dearest woman, look!” Once Mrs Grose does look, she gives the governess a “deep groan of negation, repulsion, and compassion”, showing her mixed feelings of pity, compassion and disgust towards the governess. The governess realises that “with this hard blow of the proof that her eyes were hopefully sealed I felt my own situation horribly crumble, I felt – I saw – my livid predecessor press, from her position, on my defeat…” The governess realises that she has lost her chance of proving herself, and all that she had worked for to be ruined. At this point, we are not sure whether to feel alienated or aligned, because whilst we do feel sympathetic towards the governess for all she had gone through, to be destroyed, we also feel a definite sense of uneasiness towards the governess due to her reaction to Flora. There is a deliberate sense of ambiguity, leaving no straight forward answer.
Flora then speaks up and wails “Take me away, take me away – oh, take me away from her!” When the governess realise that Flora is talking about her, she realise that everything has gone wrong. James has created irony in that the governess had wanted to protect Flora from danger all of this time, and now, the governess has become the danger.
Right at the end of the novella, when Miles sat with governess, she very disturbingly thinks to herself, “yet he wanted, I felt, to be with me.” She realised that only one child has turned against her and that she still had one left… With this we are left greatly disturbed, afraid of what the governess might do next. In the final stages of the novella, whilst Miles is talking to the governess, she sees Peter Quint, and is delighted to have the chance to prove herself again, she describes to Miles where he is and Miles in his fear screams “Peter Quint – you devil!” The governess then once more tells Miles where he is, and Miles then “jerks straight round”. The governess describes how she held him with passion, “I held him – it may be imagined with what a passion, but at all the end of a minute I began to feel what it truly was that I held. We were alone with the quiet day, and his little heart dispossessed had stopped” As well as feeling emotional at this point we also are curious to how Miles had died, and although there is no mention of it in the novella, we believe it is a strong possibility that the governess was involved in his death. We are very shocked that the novella ended in such a way – with the death of Miles as there are a lot of unanswered questions left.
The framed narrative is never closed, leaving us with several questions to answer, starting with “Why did Names leave the framed narrative open?” I decided that he left it open to use the Gothic genre to disturb us even more than usual, but more importantly to force the reader to speculate on what has happened. James knew that the unknown is capable of being more frightening than the known, and he took full advantage of that, leaving us very emotional by the end of the novella. Another important question raised is “Why did James not tell us the name of the governess”, I feel this is so we do not feel too aligned with the governess. How is it possible to believe and understand what someone is telling you when you don’t even know their name?
I feel that the early critics of the text who believes that the governess was a “kind, benevolent character, fighting against evil ghosts to protect Flora and Miles” are totally naïve, and have misjudged the novella altogether. There is a lot more to this novella than just the governess protecting Flora and Miles. I however do agree with most modern critics that now acknowledge that “the key feature of the text is its ambiguity and that almost every incident can be used to prove both that the governess is hallucinating, and that the ghosts actually exist. James’ powerful uses of language should be discussed rather than what is ultimately an irresolvable controversy”. It is down to James’ powerful uses of language that our thoughts on this novella are so mixed, and I believe the questions will never be satisfactorily answered.
