With close attention to content, style and themes, examine the ways that Henry James creates a nineteenth century ghost story in

With close attention to content, style and themes, examine the ways that Henry James creates a nineteenth century ghost story in “The Turn of The Screw”

The Turn of The Screw is a classic gothic ghost novella with a wicket twist set in a grand old house at Bly. The story is ambiguous; we never fully know whether the apparitions exist or not and we are left with many more questions than answers.

The Governess is left in charge of two young children, Miles and Flora, of whom she later becomes obsessed with, describing them as ‘angelic’. She has no contact with her employer from London, the children’s enigmatic uncle once there, sparking suspicions of the children being unwanted. The anonymous Governess’ obsessive nature is taken to another level, with the darker side of Bly appearing. Her sanity is called into question with her continued revelations of apparitions around the family’s country residence. The story itself could not have had a bigger twist in it, from being overwhelmed by the beauty and innocence of the two orphans under he care to being convinced that ghosts of her predecessor and the master’s former valet, Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, both who die in mysterious circumstances, have come to possess the souls of her charges. The Governess begins to take ever more desperate measures to protect them, but is it enough?

A typical Gothic story in many respects, The Turn of the Screw conforms to our expectations by sharing many key features, style and themes typical to nineteenth century horror fiction. A gothic story is a type of romantic fiction that predominated in English Literature in the last third of the 18th century and the first two decades of the 19th century. The setting for this type of story was usually a ruined Gothic castle or abbey. The Gothic novel, or Gothic romance, emphasized mystery and horror and was filled with ghost-haunted rooms, underground passages and secret stairways. You don’t tend to see this type of story anymore and the popularity that they enjoyed decades ago seems to be waning.

Setting is a key feature for Gothic Stories and The Turn of The Screw keeps in line with tradition, with the story being set in an ‘old family house in Essex’. As well as the setting being key to a gothic story, the choice and use of characters is equally as important, from the protagonist and central character through to the peripheral characters. The appearance of apparitions is a key characteristic of the gothic genre and the ambiguous and paranoid nature of the Governess, the protagonist, serves to create atmosphere and build tension. Henry James uses emotive language and the use of figurative language helps to provoke the reader into the story and encourages cinematic images, which allow the reader to feel more involved with the story, having a strong effect. At the time of writing, technology was not at the stage of televisions or computers; so all images were set in the mind. Henry James’ suspense laden structure also draws in the reader urging them to read on, with ambiguous content, mysterious behaviour, possessive behaviour, paranoia and “angelic and mesmerising beauty.” The obvious themes used are good vs. evil and this theme is closely linked to the theme of appearance and reality shown by Miles and Flora when they act innocent but evidently are not what they seem to be. Another theme used is the corruption of innocence against evil. This is where the Governess believes that Miles and Flora’s innocent souls are corrupted by the former Valet and Governess’ evil influence.

The governess is the primary narrator and central character in The Turn of the Screw. She presents the characters and the incidents as seen through her own eyes. She has just left home when she interviews in London for the position of governess to two children in a country house in Essex. Her new job puts an immense responsibility on her, since she has no one to supervise or help her. She is intelligent as well as sensitive and emotionally volatile. From the prologue, we know that she is smitten with her employer, and throughout the novel, she hopes to gain his respect or affection by succeeding at her job. However, she has no opportunity to see him or communicate with him after taking up the position of Governess of the two orphans. The governess may be a loving, strong woman, whose struggle against the evil ghosts she encounters for the souls of the children in her care shows her to be a good person. Or she may be mad - sexually repressed and delusional, imagining ghosts and evil that is not there - responsible for the destruction of young Flora and Miles. What is certain however, if that she is an emotional woman, often over-reacting or jumping to conclusions, and she develops strong feelings for people in very short time, such as the Uncle and Miles.

Although the governess adores and when she first meets them, she quickly becomes suspicious of their every word and action, convinced that they hope to deceive her. She is fickle, however, and frequently switches back to being absolutely sure of their pure innocence. At these times, her affection for the children can be intense. She embraces them often and with passion, going so far as to kiss Miles. The ambiguous nature of the story allows these displays of affection to appear both harmless and irrelevant. The governess’ protectiveness over the two children is shown throughout the story until she literally smothers Miles at the end. She is always keeping her ‘pupils in sight’ and is keen to help them when she says ‘there were moments when I knew myself to catch them up by an irresistible impulse and press them to her heart’. Her obsessive nature over the children builds up until she fights Quint for Miles’ soul and ‘with a single bound and an irrepressible cry’ she had ‘sprung straight upon him’. The governess is portrayed as being terrified as ‘his little heart, dispossessed’ stops and she has succeeded in banishing the demons from him.

The governess, with her over concern for the children and her suspicions of them, may be regarded as either a heroine or a villain. On one hand, she seems to be an ambitious young woman who unwittingly places herself in a position in which she is forced to struggle heroically to protect her charges from supernatural forces. On the other hand, she seems to be a sheltered, inexperienced young woman whose crush on her employer and nervous exhaustion at being in charge of two strange children result in an elaborate and ultimately dangerous fabrication or hallucination. James provides only the governess’s side of the story, which may be inaccurate in whole or in part. In any case, the governess’s account is by no means the full account, which we never get to hear.

We never know for certain whether the ghosts and visions the governess sees are real or only figments of her imagination. No one else ever admits to seeing what she sees, and her fears, at times, seem to border on insanity.

The peripheral characters at Bly, surrounding the Governess, offer little help to her during her ordeal and arguably make things worse. It is through her interactions with these ambiguous peripheral characters that the darkness of the Governess’ dilemma becomes apparent.

There is a complete mix of characters thrown in beside the protagonist, the Governess, from ...

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There is a complete mix of characters thrown in beside the protagonist, the Governess, from the enigmatic uncle through to the children all the way down the status ladder to Peter Quint, a former valet who died in mysterious circumstances. The book itself is very ambiguous, reflected by the mysterious circumstances surrounding some key moments in the book; Miles’ expulsion from school, the death of Peter Quint and Miss Jessell and the death of Miles at the end.

An illiterate servant at Bly, provides the governess with open ears and loyal support. Although the governess thinks she is a bit daft and worthy of her low standing in society, Mrs. Grose knows more of the story than the governess thinks she does but appears unwilling to pass on information. Although Mrs. Grose is the source for most of the governess’s information, the governess does not take her words at face value or ask Mrs. Grose for her opinions. Instead, the governess uses Mrs. Grose as a “receptacle of lurid things.” The governess frequently attempts to quiz Mrs. Grose as a way of getting to the bottom of what is going on. Like the reader, Mrs. Grose is willing to hear the governess out but doesn’t necessarily agree with her logic or conclusions. It can sometimes be difficult for us to judge whether Mrs. Grose is as strongly on the governess’s side as the governess thinks. Mrs. Grose cares deeply about Flora and Miles and consistently defends them against the governess’s accusations, which I think is they reason why she is reluctant to tell the whole story.

The owner of Bly and the uncle of Flora and Miles, the enigmatic uncle’s life and personality are shrouded in mystery. He is a young man described by the Governess as ‘handsome’, who uses his power over the governess to get them to agree to his demands. He is absorbed in his own affairs and refuses to allow the governess to contact him at all about the children. In that sense, he is indirectly responsible for the events that befall the children at Bly.

Ten years old, Miles is away at school when the governess arrives at Bly. She finds him to be just as angelic and beautiful as his sister and says that he possesses gentleness. Miles was expelled from his school for an unspecified offence; being told, “Miles may never go back to school.” might be either a cunning and deceitful plaything of ghosts or merely an innocent, unusually well mannered young boy. The governess repeatedly changes her mind on the matter, leaving Miles’s true character in question. When the governess first meets Miles, she is struck by his “positive fragrance of purity” and the sense that “he has known nothing but love.” She finds herself excusing him for any potential wrongdoing because he is too beautiful to misbehave. What is without a doubt is the control that he had over the Governess, at times referring to her as “dear” and “old lady”. He had a slight arrogant and rude sense to him, and he looked down on others, especially the Governess.

Once the governess begins having her supernatural encounters, she comes to believe that Miles is plotting evil deeds with his ghostly counterpart, , and indeed Miles does exhibit strange behaviour. For example, he plans an incident so that the governess will think him “bad,” and he steals the letter she wrote to his uncle. tells us that Peter Quint was a bad influence on him, but we have no way to measure the extent of his influence, and Miles’s misdeeds may be nothing more than childish pranks, not out of question for a ten year old child. However, we are told that “Quint was much too free,” and “It was Quint’s own fancy to play with him, I mean- to spoil him.”

The fact that Miles is usually pleasant and well behaved suggests that his negative behaviour exists only in the governess’s mind. The governess eventually decides that Miles must be full of wickedness, reasoning that he is too “exquisite” to be anything else, a conclusion she bases only on her own impressions and opinions.

Like , eight-year-old might be either angelic or diabolical. She appears to be a completely wonderful little girl, even preternaturally so, well behaved and a pleasure to be around. The governess thinks Flora possesses “extraordinary charm” and is the “most beautiful child” she has laid eyes on. She is first described as “angelic” but later described at times of being "an old, old woman." Henry James used superlative adjectives such as ‘most’ to emphasise the impact that Flora had on the Governess. Flora seems, however, to have a personality quite distinct from these glowing descriptions. When the governess questions Flora as to why she had been looking out the window, Flora’s explanation is vague and unconvincing to say the least. Flora’s next turn at the window turns out to be, according to Miles, part of a scheme to show the governess that Miles can be “bad.” At this point, the governess has already assumed Flora to be conniving and deceptive, but this is the first instance in which Flora seems to be attempting to deceive her. Flora was left alone with her former governess Miss Jessel for many months, and she may now be carrying on a secret communication with the woman's ghost. The story remains inconclusive, however, and we never know for sure what Flora and Miles are up to. Flora may very well be the innocent child the governess thought her to be, her change existing only in the governess’s mind. Whatever Miles and Flora were up to, the Governess’ open suspicions drove a wedge in their relationship that had began so well, and Mrs Grose ended up taking Flora away to London with her, after Flora became ill from fear of the Governess.

Peter Quint was the former valet of the children’s uncle. At one point due to the master being ill, he was left in charge at Bly, where he would sometimes wear the master's clothes, and this seemingly was the case after his death as well with the Governess responding to Mrs Grose’s question about his appearance by saying that, "In somebody's clothes. "They're smart, but they're not his own." He was always seen with ‘no hat,’ considered shocking at the time of writing. He had curly red hair, red whiskers, sharp black eyes, and appeared handsome, but untrustworthy. When alive, Quint was a "hound" and had affairs with a number of women, including Miss Jessel, a woman above his station. He died under mysterious circumstances, just like Jessel. As a ghost or possibly a hallucination, Quint appears to the governess and seems to want Miles's soul. was “infamous” throughout the area of Bly. According to Mrs. Grose, he was a hound and “too free” with everyone, Miles and Flora included. Quint may also be a representation of the nineteenth-century stereotype of the sexually predatory male. Quint is dehumanised by the governess in her conversation with Mrs. Grose when she answers her own question of ‘what is he?’ and replies with ‘he’s a horror’, giving the reader a bestial and monstrous image.

At first the Governess struggled to describe him, “What is he? He's a horror." But then, she gave a detailed description of him after just one encounter with him, "He has no hat." Then seeing in her face that she already, in this, with a deeper dismay, found a touch of picture, I quickly added stroke to stroke. "He has red hair, very red, close-curling, and a pale face, long in shape, with straight, good features and little, rather queer whiskers that are as red as his hair. His eyebrows are, somehow, darker; they look particularly arched and as if they might move a good deal. His eyes are sharp, strange--awfully; but I only know clearly that they're rather small and very fixed. His mouth's wide, and his lips are thin, and except for his little whiskers he's quite clean-shaven. He gives me a sort of sense of looking like an actor."

Miss Jessel was the children's former governess. Like the current governess, she was “mysterious, young and pretty.” She seems to have had an affair with Quint and may have gotten pregnant. Miss Jessel died while away for her holiday and may have committed suicide. As a ghost, she appears wearing black and is often mournful. The governess believes that she wants Flora's soul.

Other characters which play a significant, albeit less significant part, include the narrator of the prologue, Griffin who tells a short ghost story in the prologue which inspires Douglas to tell his tale and of course Douglas. Douglas was the teller of the Governess’ tale at the Christmas Eve gathering mentioned in the prologue. Douglas knew the Governess and he was the only one who had heard the tale of everything that had happened at Bly, from the Governess’ own view of course. It is possible that he was in love with the Governess from many years before; he had kept her manuscript in a locked drawer in his home for many decades. Another character, this time actually involved in the happenings at Bly. Luke was a servant, and was expected to deliver the governess’s letter to the children’s uncle, but he cannot find it. We later found out that Miles took it. Miles uses Luke as an attempted escape route and asks to see Luke before telling the governess what she wants to know.

The inhabitation of Bly by these varied characters adds atmosphere to what is a typical gothic story, and a gothic setting will always add atmosphere to the particular story that is appears in. If you read any description of a gothic style story, they will all point out that the setting is one of, if not, the most important feature. A Gothic story is quite likely also to be quite a short story, very popular at the time, meaning that the whole story starts and finishes at the same place. In this case, it is a small town called Bly, in Essex. In a country house of this town, Miles and Flora live with their housekeeper, Mrs Grose. As the governess reaches the country estate she remembers it as “a most pleasant impression the broad, clear front, its open windows and fresh curtains and the pair of maids looking out.” She recollects “the lawn and the bright flowers and the crunch of my wheels on the gravel and the clustered tree tops over which the rooks circled and cawed in the golden sky.” The country house is set in the abundance of nature and lures its inhabitants to step out and view its beauty.

The house itself is grand and evokes a mystic aura for the governess. As she explores the house with Flora, she passes through “empty chambers and dull corridors, on crooked stair cases that made me pause, and even on the summit of an old machicolated square tower that made me dizzy.” To the imaginative mind of the governess, the house creates, “the view of a castle of romance inhabited by a rosy sprite, such a place as would somehow, for diversion of the young idea, take all colour out of story books and fairy tales.” However, contradicts that by saying, “it was a big, ugly, antique, but convenient house, embodying a few features of a building still older, half replaced and half utilized.” In this house the governess spends almost all her time with the children and the housekeeper, and if we are to believe her account of events, they were also in the company of the two apparitions.

On her first look around Bly, on a tour given by Flora, the Governess strangely goes from talking about the castle of romance to imagining herself at the helm of a ship lost at sea when she said, “I had the view of a castle of romance inhabited by a rosy sprite, such a place as would somehow, for diversion of the young idea, take all colour out of storybooks and fairytales. Wasn't it just a storybook over which I had fallen adoze and adream? No; it was a big, ugly, antique, but convenient house, embodying a few features of a building still older, half-replaced and half-utilized, in which I 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!” This could be foreshadowing the fact that under leadership, the ship would get lost at sea.

The atmosphere and tension in the story is well sustained by the choice of structure. The timing of the appearances of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel plus the exposition of plot during frenzied conversations between Ms Grose and the Governess help maintain tension. Perhaps of most interest is the manner in which James chooses to start his story. The plot within plot technique shown in the prologue serves to add mystery and tension, as well as providing us with some background knowledge. The journey to Bly in chapters 1 and 2 convey the pattern of things to come.

The novel opens as a group of friends sit around the fireplace of an old house in 1890s England, telling ghost stories. A man named Griffin tells a ghost story featuring a little boy, and a man named Douglas proposes to tell a true story about two children. He keeps the manuscript of the story locked in a drawer at home in London. It was written by a woman, now dead, who was once his younger sister's governess and with whom he was in love. Three days later, the manuscript arrives by the post, and Douglas begins his story.

Before reading the manuscript, Douglas explains that the young woman had interviewed for her first governess job with a gentleman on London's Harley Street. She was quite smitten with him, and he was able to convince her to accept the position of governess to his niece and nephew at his country house Bly. The previous governess has died and the boy is now away at school and the girl in the care of the housekeeper. There is one condition: She cannot contact him at any time and must deal with all problems herself.

The inclusion of a prologue really sets the scene, providing us with some background information and also provides tension and creates an eerie effect even before the novella has even started. Douglas declares the story to be secretive, “Nobody but me has ever heard it, it is quite horrible,” prompting us to read on. Superlative language is used like, “dreadful, uncanny ugliness,” and “horror and pain.” The background information given to us leaves us with many questions left unanswered. We are told of an “enigmatic, mysterious male figure,” and an “old family house in Essex.” Douglas goes into quite a bit of detail about the ‘loss’ of the previous Governess and this could be seen as foreshadowing Miss Jessel’s appearance. In a typically Gothic way, we are only given a gradual release of facts, details and clues. We are told about the Governess’ reluctance to question the uncle, “not to trouble him,” giving us the greatest indication that there would be reason to trouble him.

The prologue has several functions. It builds expectations as to the uncanny nature of the story. The tension is further heightened because Douglas has to send for the document to be brought from his city apartment: he subtly convinces his friends it’s worth waiting for. The idea that the document has been inaccessible to any outsiders so far makes it the more interesting. On the one hand, he assures them the account is utterly "charming" for its "dreadful—dreadfulness",

"Nobody but me, till now, has ever heard. It’s quite too horrible". Many things are left unexplained in the prologue. There is no clear identity of the main narrator who opens the novel. The employer of the governess is also a mysterious character as neither his name nor his profession is mentioned. Also, his desire to stay away from Bly and not interfere in its affairs seems strange.

Chapter one is the real beginning of the story as the narration of the governess starts from here. It is thus in the first person and the readers are given a description of the place through her eyes. The lady travels to the place with doubts in her mind but when she reaches it, she is relieved and surprised. In her words: “I suppose I had expected, or had dreaded, something so melancholy that what greeted me was a good surprise. I remember as a most pleasant impression the broad, clear front, its open windows and fresh curtains and the pair of maids looking out; I remember the lawn and the bright flowers and the crunch of my wheels on the gravel and the clustered tree tops over which the rooks circled and cawed in the golden sky. The scene had a greatness that made it a different affair from my own scant home.” And in the midst of this pleasant scenery appears the little girl looking fresh and divine and the governess is swept off her feet. She is happy to take charge of such a charming girl and hopes that her brother also will be like her. She finds Mrs. Grose to be a pleasant companion and enjoys sharing her thoughts with her. Thus the governess is impressed both by the place and the people living there.

The governess is basically a romantic person who gets carried away by her imagination and feelings. She is flattered by the hearty welcome given to her. She is awed by the pleasing personality of the little girl and promises to shape her into a responsible lady. The gothic structure of the house, its numerous rooms and stairs create visions in her mind. She “had the view of a castle of romance inhabited by a rosy sprite, such a place as would somehow, for diversion of the young idea, take all colour out of story books and fairy-tales.”

After first meeting Flora she declared that she was a "vision of angelic beauty," and the governess looked forward to "teaching" and "forming" the child. Miles, the little boy, was due home in a few days for his school holiday, and according to Mrs. Grose, the governess would be equally "taken" with Miles. Both children seemed incapable of giving any trouble.

If the governess gets a surprise when she arrives at Bly, a day later she gets a shock. The screw starts turning in the novel and gives sudden twists to the story. A mysterious letter from the headmaster of the boy’s school notifies the dismissal of Miles from school. The letter is vague and creates suspense not only in the mind of the governess but also the readers. Why was Miles dismissed suddenly? What could a boy of ten do to invoke the wrath of his headmaster? These are questions that continue to haunt the governess as well as the readers. We are introduced to the idea that Miles is an ‘injury’ to others. The use of the words ‘corrupt’ and ‘contaminate’ give the reader images of disease.

The governess experiences a surge of contradictory emotions within a matter of few hours. As she nears her destination, the lady is torn with doubts. However, on reaching the place, she finds the surroundings congenial and the inmates friendly. She feels relieved and happy. The next day as she sits contentedly, she receives two letters by post. When she reads the contents of the second letter, she gets a shock. The boy that she had thought to be innocent and lovable now seems to have a blot on his character. The governess is confused and concerned. The vague reference to a young governess who had disappeared mysteriously and a man, who had a fascination for charming ladies, intensifies the suspense in the story. James provokes the readers to imagine the fate of a beautiful lady and a man with a doubtful character. What really happened to the lady? The readers have to wait in order to find an answer to this question.

In The Turn of the Screw, neither the anonymous narrator nor Douglas closes the novel. The novel ends with the end of the governess’ story, which normally doesn’t occur. If The Turn of The Screw were to be like a normal story, we would get to see the reaction of the people by the fire once Douglas had told the Governess’ tale.

Chapter 7 is significant as it is when the Governess draws her own conclusion about the children’s ‘special relationships’ with the two apparitions. A sense of urgency is established straight away at the beginning of the chapter as the governess is telling Mrs. Grose how she saw Flora with Miss. Jessel. Mrs. Grose’s reactions seem to validate the governess’ story. The use of fractured sentences along with abrupt punctuation show increasing panic within the Governess and add uncertainty about what has just happened at the lake. Instead of just an account given by the Governess, both the Governess and Mrs Grose maintain the tempo of the paragraph through questions coming thick and fast. The speed is maintained and suspense is added.

The repetition of ‘depths’ and ‘horror’ are double negatives and are used to show that the governess is losing sanity and clarity in her speech, again shown by fractured sentences. The use of verbs like ‘clutch’ and ‘grab hold’ add even more urgency to the passage. The governess uses oxymoron’s to describe Miss. Jessel, which casts doubt over whether the governess accurately recalls what she claims to have seen, and discredits her role as a witness. Mrs. Grose and the governess go so far as to call “God help us…” which demonstrates the governess’ desperation and also emphasises Miss. Jessel’s evil and how she is viewed as the devil. She uses beastial metaphors such as “hound” which dehumanises Quint. The Governess is melodramatic throughout the story and even more so during this chapter. She uses hyperbolic phrases like “horror or horrors” and the way it ends is fitting with a melodramatic phrase “They’re lost!” whilst “sobbing in despair.”

Immediately after returning home after the lake incident, the governess relates her experience to Mrs. Grose. She affirms that the children are aware of the ghosts and are influenced by it. She believes that Flora was aware of the apparition but had not mentioned it to her. As she describes the apparition to the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose guesses that the apparition was of Miss. Jessel’s. She concludes that the children have been consistently meeting with their ghostly friends. During her conversation with Mrs. Grose, the governess becomes aware that the former governess was having a sexual relationship with Peter Quint and that the lady had left the premises in disgrace. Later, she had died mysteriously. This piece of information disturbs the governess and she is afraid that, both Peter Quint and the former governess might have cast an evil influence on the children.

Mrs. Grose suggests that the governess write to her employer, asking him to take the children away. The governess rejects that idea, saying he will think her mad. Mrs. Grose throws out an alternative plan for the governess to make her employer come to her. At this, the governess foresees his amusement and derision at what he will perceive to be her loneliness. She threatens to leave if Mrs. Grose appeals to the children’s uncle on her behalf.

The Victorians lived under a strict moral code. The family was the basis of society and they were very uptight and it was not seen as right to show the family in public or any sort of public affection. In The Turn Of The Screw, Henry James satirizes at Victorian social customs and the story is repeatedly ambiguous about the possibility of relationships between characters. The governess’ desire of the uncle and the apparent relationship between Miss. Jessel and Peter Quint, are all vaguely drawn to put questions into the readers’ minds. You would not consult with people below yourself, and therefore Miss. Jessel and Quint’s relationship would have been seen as wrong.

The story is only seen from the Governess’ point of view and therefore the apparitions may not be true, just part of the Governess’ imagination. We can interpret the Governess as being brave and having the best interests of Miles and Flora at heart, protecting them from being corrupted by the supernatural. However, you could say that it is all a figure of her imagination and that something is seriously wrong with her.

Taking all of these points into account all of these points, I am sure that you now agree that The Turn of the Screw is a typical 19th century gothic ghost story. The story itself has many characteristics typical of a gothic story and it is based around two apparitions, which is a necessity in any ghost story. Gothic stories were very popular during this period due to Darwin’s book, ‘The Origin of Species’ which hugely questioned Christian beliefs. People were no longer sure of religion, and became very superstitious, with Ghost stories becoming very popular. They had always thought god came first; now science was starting to take over. In the 19th century people were unsure about what was real in the world. The Victorians did not know what to believe about in their world and spirituality.

Josh Levy